As part of RTÉ’s factual autumn schedule, ‘Hair of The Gods’ will be broadcast on RTÉ One. The documentary will take a look at the phenomenon of hair and hair extensions, a craze which holds enormously different meanings for different people across the world.
The journeys of four different people - Hemlata from India, Thomas from Italy, Madge from Dublin and Jovita from Kilkenny - all interconnected by hair - will be explored and examined in an effort to understand different culture’s views towards human hair.
Hemlata is a young Indian woman from a small village in Bengal. With her family she is going on a 5-day pilgrimage to donate her hair to the temple of Simachalam in the Andra Pradesh region. Hemlata's route to purification is for her young son, who suffers from eye sight problems. They believe that if they offer up their hair to the Gods, luck will be on their side.
Thomas Gold is a young millionaire. With his father David, Thomas set up the business empire known as 'Great Lengths'. They have a direct, simple relationship with hair: it is a route to wealth. Thomas' conscience is "clear": he has been assured that some of the money the temples receive in exchange for the hair will be reinvested in community projects, and he wants to believe it.
Madge Curly is a middle aged glamorous lady from Dublin who makes regular trips to her hair salon to use 'Great Lengths' hair extensions. With her trusted hairdresser Hatim by her side we follow her as she gets human hair extensions put in for another big social event.
Jovita Urbanaite, who is in her twenties, lives in Kilkenny. Originally from Lithuania, a part-time model she hopes that having human hair extensions will improve her career. The documentary follows her journey as she gets those much wanted hair extensions. Will she be happy with the result?
‘Hair of the Gods’ is produced by Raffaele Brunetti for Italian outfit B&B Film. The doc was co-produced by Terra in collaboration with GmbH, NDR, ARTE and RaiTre. Irish crew involved on the project include Director/Producer/Camera Judy Kelly, Producer Sean Macgiollaphadraig, Voiceover Justine Mitchell, Sound Peter O’Brien, Dubbing Mixer Seán Higgins and Editor Oisin McGreal in RTE
Filmed from August to November last year, as an RTE in house production, the hour long documentary will be broadcast on RTE One Tuesday 11th August at 10.30pm
