Mending Legends

#Teilifis: Documentary Mending Legends to air on TG4, Sunday 24th September

As the GAA season comes to a close for 2017, Galway UNESCO City of Film with Galway Film Centre, in association with the Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Research in Medical Devices (CÚRAM) in NUI Galway and Science Foundation Ireland has announced that Mending Legends, a sport and science documentary, will get a national broadcast screening on TG4 on Sunday 24th September at 5.45pm.

What happens when scientists and filmmakers collide and what stories emerge? This was the question posed by ‘Science on Screen’, an initiative from Galway UNESCO City of Film with Galway Film Centre, CÚRAM at NUI Galway and with the support of Science Foundation Ireland. Mending Legends is one of two documentaries that were commissioned as part of the Science on Screen project in 2016, which features the groundbreaking world of medical device research taking place in CÚRAM.

Directed by Paul Webster and produced by James Ryan of StationHouse Media, the documentary explores the physical and psychological impact of tendon injuries amongst athletes and visits the team of Galway-based scientists who are designing a new type of tendon implant, in the form of the world’s first 3D cell assembled tendon prototype.

Sports fanatic and seasoned sports presenter, Máire Treasa Ní Dhubhghaill, presents a number of informative interviews with scientists involved in this field of research and through the personal experiences of amateur and professional sports people. Contributors include Galway footballing legend, Pádraic Joyce, Denis Leamy, former Ireland & Munster Rugby player and former Ireland and London 400 metre relay runner and London 2012 Olympian, Jessie Barr. The documentary highlights the progressive attitudes towards scientific research in Ireland and what it could mean to the world of sport.

The documentary premiered at the Galway Science & Technology Festival in November 2016, in conjunction with SFI’s National Science Week. This new Irish language re-version of the film is funded by TG4 and will screen directly following the TG4 Ladies Gaelic Football Senior All Ireland Final.

Bigí linn on TG4 on Sunday 24th September at 5.45pm.

 

Mending Legends is directed by Paul Webster. Most recently, Paul directed ‘Let Those Blues In’, which had its premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh in July 2015 and was the winner of Best Short Documentary in association with RTE at The Sky Road Film Festival, Clifden, Co. Galway in October 2015. Paul is also a previous ‘Físín’ award winner from the Dingle International Film Festival.

James Ryan of County Galway-based StationHouse Media is producing Mending Legends. James has previously worked freelance as Co-Producer on TG4’s Garraí Glas, as well as Production Manager on the IFTA-winning Fleadh TV coverage and on numerous documentary series, such as ‘Guth’, ‘Mobs Cheanada’, and ‘Éalú’.