Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108connect 2017 • 21 political history. We really wanted a way to make that material accessible to people all around the world to get that real taste of Irish culture and Irish heritage. Visitors will find there are some really funny pieces and some moving pieces in there as well.” Visitors to the website can watch a wide variety of clips and films ranging from 5 min- utes to over an hour. From footage of President John. F. Kennedy’s historic visit to Ireland in 1963, produced by The Columban Fathers, to the now-humorous “Manners in Church” instruc- tional feature produced by Radharc in 1962, glimpses into Irish life unfold. Repatriating and Restoring— a gift to future generations “We were fortunate enough to get some fund- ing to ‘repatriate’ a large collection of historical news-reels from 1914 to 1924 that we identified a number of years ago as not being available to Irish audiences,” explains Kasandra O’Connell, Head of the IFI Archive. “During that period, Ireland did not really have indigenous film production so an awful lot of what was recorded during that particularly historic part of Irish history was by American, French and British news-reel companies. We felt that it was really important that this representation of Irish history was available and held and preserved in Ireland. So we began conversations with British Pathé and with the British Film Institute who owned so much footage of this period.” Once the assessment began, it was discovered that the films were held on original nitrate film, a highly flammable material also prone to disintegration if not cared for. It became clear that the desired material hadn’t been digitized to a high quality file format and so the IFI took a step back to see how they could first care for the footage. “It was a wonderful opportunity for us,” says Kasandra. “At first it was about making this material accessible to the public, but now we could also put in the time to restore it and to ensure there was a really high quality digital copy for future generations. So that’s the work that we’re doing now.” Over the coming months and years, this material, along with a host of other curated collections from the IFI Archive, will be released on the IFI Player allowing it to be enjoyed by a global audience for many years to come. Go to www.ifiplayer.ie to discover more. Portrait of Dublin: 1952 This short film was made for the Department of External Affairs’ Cultural Relations Committee by filmmaker (later archivist) Liam O Laoghaire (aka Liam O’Leary). The film was designed to promote the city of Dublin to its inhabitants and to potential visitors from abroad. President John F. Kennedy’s Visit to Ireland: 1963This documentary film produced by the Columban Fathers chronicles President John F. Kennedy’s historic visit to Ireland in June 1963, only 5 months before his tragic assassination. The producer, Fr Gerry Smith, a Cavan-born missionary priest had studied filmmaking in the U.S. and made a number of films about “the old country” before making this documentary which was intended to be shown at fundraising events for Irish-American audiences. There were several films made of the Kennedy visit, but his was the only professionally-made film shot in color.