Celtic Media Festival

As part of my first project at 'Bournemouth University', I created a product, which would be made for television and film festivals; this was when I came across the 'Celtic Media Festival'. Since September I have kept the festival in mind as a place where I would like to showcase my work in the future.

I signed up for the ‘Green Light’ course, which is part of the media festival, the course was for film students from a Celtic background.

I decided to apply to gain some advice within my career and also network. This was a good opportunity for me as I generally network within England, this was a chance for me to gauge what is happening in Ireland and meet with producers from Celtic areas.

The event was held in the Canal Court Hotel, Newry

21^st – 23^rd March, 2009

Broken Silence!

Suicide: Breaking the Silence is a 1 hr documentary about suicide which was produced by Tern Ni, which I watched via BBC iplayer this week after hearing and reading a number of stories about the film.

This documentary was extremely powerful for me, following 3 families testimonies surrounding their loved ones act of suicide. I was extremely touched by this documentary; I found the stories honest and reflective.

Suicide is a taboo topic throughout the world, although within Northern Ireland this is a topic which does not get touched on enough, we are losing individuals to suicide on a daily basis, we have more deaths due to suicide than road accidents. These deaths are brushed under the carpet, leaving families feeling embarrassed and angry rather than recognizing that this is a mental illness which individuals have, hopefully after the broadcast of this documentary families and individuals will be able to open up and meet suicide head on.

This documentary has inspired me and made me very proud of Northern Ireland, it is always brilliant to see good pieces of work coming out of the industry in N.I especially influential pieces like this which turn heads.

The only areas within the documentary, which I felt needed, changed would be the music, I felt the punctuation was irritating and in some areas dramatized the story.