‘Boys of St Columb’s’ Doc Finishes Post | The Irish Film & Television Network

St Columb's College - over looking Derry's Bogside - was unusual for the crop of talented boys attending around the same time: poet and Nobel Prize winner Seamus Heaney; novelist Seamus Deane; author, and political activist - Eamonn McCann; songwriters, Phil Coulter and Paul Brady and Ambassador James Sharkey. It is the only school in the world which can boast two past pupils as Nobel Prize winners: John Hume and Seamus Heaney.

Speaking on how the documentary came about, director Collins said; “I met co producer Maurice Fitzpatrick in Japan when they were showing ‘Kings’ and he suggested that I direct the film. Although I’m from Derry, I wasn't at St Columb's…too thick. I was at the Christies (Christian Brothers) so it was a chance to see how these guys were educated, what made them special. They were the first of their generation to get free education from a British Act of Parliament. Initially the Unionists tried to stall it. My school was tough but the College boys got an old fashioned Irish Catholic education too…if you know what I mean.”

Collins is presently developing Seamus Deane's novel ‘Reading in the Dark’ with Ronan Bennet (Public Enemies).

Cut by Editor Brand Thumin (Death of a President) and produced by Kevin McCann, the doc was supported by RTÉ, BBC with additional support from Northern Ireland Screen and the BCI. DOP’s for the shoot were John T Davis (The Uncle Jack) and Donal Gilligan (Omagh) who shot the film over the month of January this year in Dublin and Derry.

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