This is a short film that I made with my friends and neighbours in Newtownards, County Down. It’s about the impact of The Great Hunger in a town that where officalidom has disremembered some parts of its history.
There are sites called Bully’s Acre all over Ireland - mass graves, where the victims of An Gorta Mór and harsh workhouse regimes lie buried.
‘The Forgotten Famine’ is about one of those Bully’s Acres, in a quiet corner of County Down where you might least expect to find it…
Despite the very sad subject, working with my friends on this film has been such a joy. So much so, that we decided to bring our work together in a little collective called Hearts of Down. We hope to do more work like this. Check out the website for the work we’ve already made.
The filming - and really so much of the creative vision of The Forgotten Famine - came from Gerard Black from the Creative Workers Cooperative. It became a labour of love for him as much as us, for which we will be eternally greatful.
Huge thanks also to the people of Newtownards for their generosity, stories and wisdom as we made this film. People really wanted to talk about it. On so many occasions, people spilled out of their houses to fill us in on bits of information about the site. Phone numbers and email addresses were scribbled in notebooks to keep in touch. The folk memory of Bully’s Acre never went away. Remembrance belongs to the people.