A two-part series: Harp Media to premiere original documentaries in Longford

Harp Media’s Robert Higgins and Patrick “Paddy” McGivney have announced that two of their documentaries will be premiered locally in Longford. Clonfin and The Man Who Was Empire will be screened on December 10, and are both about 25 minutes long each.

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These documentaries will be screened in Valentine's in Longford town at 8pm, with a Q&A session with the makers themselves. This is part of Longford’s ongoing Night-Time Economy initiative.

Having not long ago had their original film Lakelands be featured on RTÉ, the successful Granard duo came to chat to the ‘Longford Leader’ about these two original documentaries.

“The pieces are two short documentaries,” introduced Robert when asked about what is going to be shown. “The first is called Clonfin, which tells the story of the North Longford Flying Column and the Clonfin Ambush during the Irish War of Independence. The second is called The Man Who Was Empire which is about Henry Wilson, a Ballinalee man who was one of the most famous southern Unionists from the same time whose assassination is considered by many to have been the catalyst for the Irish Civil War. We feel that between the two documentaries they paint an interesting picture of the times from two very different perspectives.”

Like Lakelands, Harp Media has fostered an appreciation of using Longford for its filming locations. The projects were filmed over a number of years but planned as a two-part series.

“Clonfin was filmed in the area where the actual ambush took place with a number of locals from Granard, Ballymore, Clonfin and Ballinalee involved. We received great support from the Clonfin Commemoration Committee and many of the descendants of the men involved, participated in the filming. The shooting of the recreations was a brilliant experience and gave us an interesting insight into the hardships endured by the members of the North Longford Flying Column during that period.”

Robert added that the documentaries took a number of months to shoot, followed by additional months to edit. Furthermore, they undertook significant research for both projects, getting support from local historians such as Bernard Sexton and Eileen Reilly to consult.

As the visionaries behind the operation in Harp Media, both Robert and Paddy wrote and directed the pieces. Keith Harrison edited Clonfin and Chris Higgins edited The Man Who Was Empire.

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Paddy added: “We were delighted to work with renowned historians such as Marie Coleman, Diarmuid Ferriter and Mel Farrell. We were especially delighted to interview Sr. Maeve Brady for the Clonfin project whose father Tom, participated in the Ambush. Martin Morris was Executive Producer on the projects and helped steward the films throughout. The projects were funded by Longford Library, Creative Ireland and the Decade of Centenaries project.”

Leading up the viewing in Valentine's, Paddy gave a final comment:

“We’re very excited to screen these documentaries together for the first time. We believe that together they paint an interesting picture of what life was like in Longford during the War of Independence and shine a light on a fascinating period in our history.”