Abú Media are currently in pre-production with two series, namely ‘Mobs Canada’, a follow up to their previous historical doc series ‘Mobs Mhericeá’, and ‘Clontarf’, a 2 x one hour series for TG4 that will investigate the infamous historical Irish battle.
TG4 that will investigate the infamous historical Irish battle.
‘Mobs Canada’ a 6 x 30 minute historical documentary series will focus on Irish Canadian Mobsters. The series will start shooting around Ireland and Canada on September 23rd. The five week shoot will make use of several Irish locations and then travel over to Montreal, Ottowa and Toronto. ‘Mobs Canada’ will be directed by Dathai Keane (Bothar go dti an Whitehouse) and produced by Brid Seoighe (Garrai Glas) for TG4.
The director of photography will be Colm Hogan (The Listener) and the series will be edited in-house at Abú Media by John Murphy (Operation Transfomation) and broadcast in April 2011. The cast for the project which will feature achive footage, dramatic reconstructions and interviews is TBC.
October 1st will see the group’s ‘Clontarf’ start its shoot. The 2 x one hour historical documentary series will shoot for four weeks in Irish locations such as Galway, Westmeath, Limerick, Clare, Dublin and Armagh and will tell the story of the historic 1014 Battle of Clontarf through interviews, dramatic reconstructions and rostrum images.
The battle saw Brian Boru lead his forces against the Vikings and Norsemen of Dublin leading to a defeat of the invaders and victory for the Gaels. Then with this great victory assured Brian was cruelly beheaded by the evil Bordir who was fleeing the battlefield in defeat. Or at least that is what we were all taught at school up to now. Abú Media's ‘Clontarf’, however, looks to peel back the layers to see what actually happened based on fact, not fiction. They will look to answer questions such as ‘was it against the Vikings?’ and ‘was it actually on the site that is now Clontarf?’ The production will uncover new evidence to show this was more like a modern day battle of Munster against Leinster and the site is shown to be beside modern-day Croke Park and not Clontarf.
’Clontarf’ is to be directed by Niamh Sammon (Haughey) and produced by Pierce Boyce (1916 Seachtar na Casca) and the director of photography is Cian de Buitlear (Man About Dog) who will shoot on Red One. It will also broadcast on TG4 in April 2011.
Abú Media are currently in production with several other projects including ‘Garrai Glas’, a 13 x 30 minute gardening and lifestyle series for TG4 directed by Paula Kehoe; ‘Na Feirmeoirí’, a 6 x 30 minute observational doc directed by Marion Lynch looking at 3 small farmers lives and tribulations in a farming year; TG4 documentary, ‘The Crolly Doll Story’, the story of the Crolly Doll manufactured for years in Donegal which is directed by Tomas Seoighe and produced by producer Brid Seoighe; and finally ‘1916 Seachtra na Cásca’, a 7 x 1 hour series looking at the 1916 Easter rising leaders. The historical documentary series is BAI / TG4 funded along with Section 481 and will start its broadcast on TG4 on September 22nd at 9.30pm.
