Event: IFI Symposium puts film and documentary-making under the spotlight

How the media tells real life stories will be the subject of a symposium by the Mary Raftery Journalism Fund on at 4.30pm on Saturday, 24th May at the Irish Film Institute in Dublin.

The symposium will – in particular – examine how personal stories are treated in film and drama production, and it will ask if documentary, rather than drama, is a more realistic way of representing an individual’s story.

A panel discussion will open the symposium and it will include clips from selected documentaries and dramas.  The panel will be chaired by Fiach MacConghail (director, Abbey Theatre) with Paul Maguire (editor, RTÉ Investigations Unit), Anna Rodgers (independent filmmaker), Sheila O’Connor (Patient Focus), and Roddy Doyle (writer).

Saturday’s symposium will conclude a day-long programme of screenings at the IFI to mark 15 years since the broadcast of the ‘States of Fear’ documentaries.

The screening of the States of Fear series of documentaries were produced by Mary Raftery and broadcast on RTE television in 1999.  The anniversary event – States of Fear – 15 Years On – is being supported by RTÉ
and the IFI.

The programme for Saturday’s events will comprise:

  • 11.00:               Screening of States of Fear: Disability
  • 14.00 – 16.00:   States of Fear: Industrial School System (followed by a panel discussion)
  • 16.30:                Symposium: “How will you tell my story?”

Programming details for the ‘States of Fear’ anniversary event are available from www.ifi.ie/statesoffear.  Tickets for the full-day programme are €10, or €5 for individual screenings / events, and can be obtained from: IFI Box Office at 01 679 3477 / boxoffice@irishfilm.ie / www.ifi.ie/statesoffear