Seoda, a new series of films from the Irish Film Archive is currently being broadcast on TG4. The series features a host of newly-restored gems which have been selected from thousands of films preserved in the national collection for their cultural and entertainment value.
The season offers a glimpse of Irish life and times from 1948-1970: travelling alongside President Kennedy on his 1963 cavalcade visiting Dublin, Wexford and Galway; a tram journey from Howth in the company of Cyril Cusack; contrast the bustle of 1950s Dublin (Portrait of Dublin) with the quietly abandoned village of Crookhaven in Cork; and the renditions of traditional music keenly observed by Louis Marcus in Flea Ceoil (1957).
The eleven films in the series cover a broad range of topics including emigration; politics; personal saving; TB; diphtheria; architecture. The programme themes are deeply rooted in Irish culture, heritage and experience and many are presented here as Gaeilge.
Introductions to the programmes have been written by Ireland’s leading documentary historian Dr. Harvey O'Brien and are presented in Irish by highly-respected actor Niall Toibin. The series, produced by the Irish Film Institute and IFI Curator Sunniva O’Flynn in collaboration with Lotus Films, is distinguished by the technical excellence of the archival images – all of the titles have undergone meticulous pictorial and audio restoration from original film formats using latest transfer technologies.
The series is broadcast each Wednesday at 9pm on TG4 until Wednesday 12th November. Repeats are on Friday nights from Friday 26th September, and on 7 consecutive Fridays thereafter until Friday 14th November 2008.
IFI Curator, Sunniva O’Flynn said: “Seoda opens a window on the collections of the Irish Film Archive and provides access for a larger audience than ever before. The films are guaranteed to fascinate, educate and illuminate”.
