Going to the Fleadh Nua (1974), a film by Michael Mulcahy

Michael Mulcahy bought his first movie camera in 1963 and made a short, silent film of members of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in Templeglantine travelling to the Fleadh Nua in Ennis in 1974. Mulcahy showed it once or twice and then archived it. He found it earlier this year while cataloguing his collection and Kerry Writers' Museum will screen the film for the first time in fifty years as part of Heritage Week.

Members of the Listowel Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann reconnect with the fleadh's legacy and provide a new musical accompaniment. Ian O'Shea will interview Mulcahy about his involvement in film and music networks, his memory of filming at the fleadh, and how this film contributes to our understanding of the cultural impact of that event.

In association with the Listowel Duagh Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann.

[Photo: Michael Mulcahy examines his film A Trip To The Fleadh Nua (1974) (© Kerry Writers' Museum).]

RELATED EVENTS

Kerry Writers' Museum contributes to Heritage Week with an exciting programme of workshops, screenings and talks that explore the heritage value of film and digital media used to generate personal and community memories and networks.

Daily screenings hosted by filmmakers will celebrate a vibrant and diverse movement in storytelling-in-film that has a long history in North Kerry; beginning with travelling road shows in the 1920s and continuing at the cutting edge of Irish art and climate activism.

A workshop in "pinhole" photography recaptures the extraordinary heritage of the camera obscura.

Musical heritage features in a short film about a trip to the Fleadh Nua in Ennis in 1974. Members of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann reconnect with the fleadh's legacy and perform a new musical accompaniment.

The Barna Way Organic Farm is the venue for an exploration of a new generation of community filmmakers.

We celebrate the art of cinema with the screening of a short film of the butchering of a pig in Kissane's farmyard in 1978.

Community storytelling - the most intangible of heritage assets - is explored through a film shot in Moyvane, shown in London and distributed though community networks that connected London, Manchester and north Kerry.

The week ends with workshops in analogue filmmaking and collection management/sharing for anyone who has film and digital media at home.

Kerry Writers' Museum acknowledges the support of the Heritage Council, the Listowel Duagh Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann and the department of Media Studies, Maynooth University.