Killanena-Flagmount finds silver screen immortality

In the parish of Killanena-Flagmount there was only one film to see this year and, despite all its Oscar nominations, it wasn’t Avatar.

Had you visited Glór last Saturday you’d be forgiven if you thought you were in Killanena-Flagmount and not Ennis, such was the turn out for the premiere screening of Inside Out Killanena-Flagmount: A Film About Our Parish.
Filmed by budding director, Eoin Canny alongside his crew from the Lough Graney Youth Club, the screening was a tremendous success.
As Eoin stood up on the Glór stage he expected to address a large group of friends, family and a representative group from his local community. However as the steady stream of people continued to pass through the doors it became apparent that extra seats would be needed.
“The whole parish was there it was amazing. The audience, the feedback was fantastic. It was such a great moment and there was such a buzz around. I couldn’t get over the crowd that arrived. We expected to fill the bottom half of Glór but the balconies were filled and there were people turned away,” Eoin outlined.
Inside Out was the most eagerly anticipated film of 2010 in the parish as its production team were hounded like movie stars for updates on the documentary in advance of the showing.
“Ever since we started making the film the community have been great, they had been asking us, who’s in it? How’s it going? Despite this, it was nothing like the buzz that was there after the film when we came out into the foyer.
“Some people were so excited about it, others were emotional about it. They were just so happy, because nothing like this had ever been done before in the parish. For others, it was like stepping into someone else’s shoes. They could see someone else’s point of view, how they viewed the parish and what it meant to them. The other thing that people said was that this was there for years to come, and I think the benefit of this will really come in 20 or 30 years’ time. I’m just so happy about how it turned out and that everyone enjoyed it,” Eoin revealed.
But this is not the end of the road for Eoin and we can expect to see his name on future documentaries, as he is currently pursuing a career in this field.
Eoin is currently studying film and television and has benefited greatly for the training he received from local filmmakers Hilary Dully and her husband, Joe Comerford.
“It was excellent experience. I was already thinking about doing film after school and when I did the documentary I was definite about it. Directing was all new to me. I enjoyed being in charge,” he said.
“It was great to have Hilary and Joe to teach us. I was honoured to have that. We learned that when we’d get to the site we had to look at the surroundings, check the light and not to position the cameras in front of the sun.
“Once, we had to send people a couple of fields over to stop a farmer from doing tractor work to get the shot. Everybody in the community was really supportive. In making the film we looked at every angle. We had young and old, people who moved out of the area and people who had moved in,” Eoin said.
He added that having seen the film on a number of occasions before the screening, it was a completely different experience to view it in the Glór setting and with such a large audience.
“It was amazing to see it on the big screen. I was glued to it, it was great. Everyone was so excited by it, no one was unhappy with it,” he added.
Eoin is satisfied now, following this experience, that film making is for him.
“I like the idea of making documentaries and directing documentaries. What’s interesting to me is hearing real stories and learning about people’s experiences and things I didn’t know before,” he said.
Eoin is now studying film and television at Galway Community College, where the skills he acquired during this project are being put to good use.
Inside Out was produced by members of the Lough Graney Youth Club, who range in age from 13 to 18, under the guidance of artist in residence Hilary Dully and project co-ordinator Kathleen McNamara.