documentaries

Vinny Cunningham

Ireland | 2004 | 60mins | 35mm | Colour

When the disaffected Catholic and Nationalist population in the Bogside area of Derry took to the streets to confront the Royal Ulster Constabulary, in the wake of a Protestant Apprentice Boys parade in the city the riots continued for almost 3 days and saw over 1,000 people injured. They were not a sudden unforeseen event as the pot had been simmering for some time before August.

The 'Battle' ended when, in an unprece-dented step, British troops were deployed into Derry. This decision by the British Government was to shape the future of Northern Ireland for over thirty years. Through the use of previously unseen archive footage as well as exclusive broad-cast clips of the pirate 'Radio Free Derry', Battle Of The Bogside takes us behind the barricades, into Stormont and Westminster, to reveal the inside stories surrounding the Battle and the political response to it. Interviews with key figures from within the Bogside, the RUC and the Northern Irish and British Governments recreate the drama as events unfold. Many of the contributors are speaking for the first time about those three days in August 1969.

John Murray

Ireland | 2004 | 70mins | Beta | Colour

With unprecedented access to one of the most insular and secretive countries on Earth, this film follows Bezad, a charismatic and highly articulate Qashqa'i nomad on his spectacular 500 km migration across Iran. Seen trough the eyes of this humble mountain shepherd, the documentary will challenge entrenched preconceptions and reveal a side of Iran almost never seen in the west. Once feared throughout ancient Persia, the Qashqa'i are an unruly tribe of nomads that still inhabit the mountains of South Western Iran. Despite the gradual attrition of their territories and power, they remain a proud and defiant people with a strong sense of identity and tradition. Resisting relentless pressure from the government to give up their nomadic lifestyle, they have tenaciously clung to their own language, music, dance and dress -and a unique culture with at its heart one of the oldest, most authentic and dramatic human migrations still in existence today.

Bezad is one of the very last nomads still living this extraordinary way of life. His life is hard yet his good humour and supreme confidence never falter.

Andrea Schuler, Oliver Ruts

Germany, Switzerland | 2004 | 92mins | 35mm | Colour | Subtitled

Herbert, the prosperous entrepreneur living amongst postcard Swiss mountains. Karlmann, son of one of Northern Germany's richest families. And Albert, the olde-style sailor. Three lifelong friends who devoted their lives to a common passion when this was seriously taboo: tattooing.

At first, the three give the impression of friendly, polite and well-to-do gentlemen around 90. And that's exactly what they are. But once they take off their shirts, their blue tattooed skin tells dramatic stories of a life firmly on the other side of convention.

Emotional stories of love and love lost, of friendship and betrayal, of standing up for what you believe in against all odds. Blue Skin is the loveable, sometimes tragic, sometimes very funny account of how the three once met, why they find it hard to get on nowadays and whether there's any hope of making up. And through their biographies, we catch a glimpse of more than one century of one the world's most beautiful addictions: tattooing.