Newly released archive and hitherto unseen film make for liberating disclosure as the impact of these events on the collective and personal memories of the Irish people unfolds through moving personal testimonies. It asks the question: can we ever truly arrive at the truth of what really happened?

‘Keepers of the Flame’ tells the universal story of a generation dealing with the consequences of war and civil war; of what is remembered and what is forgotten.

significant, hefty and worthwhile

The Guardian
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Most importantly, the reasonable, humane arguments are structured with the clarity you would expect from a professional historian. It is, in the age of online fury, refreshing to hear contentious issues pondered in such measures tones. An education.

The Irish Times
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Nuala O’Connor is a Writer and Director in the area of music and arts documentaries. In 1994 she won an Emmy award for writing a one-hour version of Bringing It All Back Home for the Disney television channel in the US. Since then, she has worked as writer, producer and director on a range of productions, documentaries, live studio performances, tv series and events including Ceiliúradh at The Royal Albert Hall, The Gloaming: Moment to Moment, An Droichead Beo, One Faithful Harp: The Life and Music of Thomas Moore, Freedom Highway.

Diarmaid Ferriter is Professor of Modern Irish History at UCD. His books include The Transformation of Ireland 1900-2000 (2004), Occasions of Sin: Sex and Society in Modern Ireland (2009), Ambiguous Republic: Ireland in the 1970s (2012), A Nation and not a Rabble: The Irish Revolution 1913-23 (2015), On The Edge: Ireland’s Offshore Islands, A Modern History (2018) and The Border: The Legacy of a Century of Anglo-Irish History (2019). He is a regular broadcaster on television and radio and a weekly columnist with the Irish Times.

Previous Festivals

Keepers of the Flame has been screened at
Dingle Film Festival
Galway Film Fleadh
Clifden Arts Festival
Revelation Film Festival, Perth
Dublin Festival of History, IFI
Triskel Arts Centre, Cork
Irish Cultural Centre, London
NYU, Washington DC
Irish Arts Centre, New York City

Credits

A South Wind Blows production,
made with the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland
in association with Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland and RTÉ

Produced with the support of incentives for the Irish Film Industry provided by the Government of Ireland

Original Concept: Diarmaid Ferriter
Director: Nuala O’Connor
Producer: Tina O’Reilly
Writers: Diarmaid Ferriter, Nuala O’Connor  
Film Editor: Eoin McDonagh
Director of Photography: Colm Hogan
Location Sound: John Brennan
Score: Colm Mac Con Iomaire
Executive Producer: Philip King