Henry Glassie: Field Work - South Wind Blows

“intellectual integrity played out
at a studied pace”

Following on the success of ‘Song of Granite’, Henry Glassie : Fieldwork is the newly released TIFF selected feature documentary from director Pat Collins.

Henry Glassie, College Professor Emeritus at Indiana University, has done fieldwork on five continents, written twenty books, and received many awards for his work, including the Chicago Folklore Prize, the Haney Prize in the Social Sciences, the Cummings Award of the Vernacular Architecture Forum, the Nigerian Studies Association Book Prize, the Haskins Prize of the American Council of Learned Societies for a distinguished career of humanistic scholarship, and formal recognition for his contributions from the ministries of culture of Turkey and Bangladesh.

Three of his works — Passing the Time in Ballymenone, The Spirit of Folk Art, Turkish Traditional Art Today — were named among the notable books of the year by The New York Times.

With the arts increasingly being taken over by commerce, it’s refreshing to see true human artistic expression at a regional level. Glassie’s field work is more important than ever.
☆☆☆☆
In The Seats
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Captured with mesmerizing intimacy by director Pat Collins and cinematographer Colm Hogan, the process of these artists is awe-inspiring. His credo is to meet people in terms of their excellence, rather than their failings. If more of us could apply Glassie’s philosophy to our lives, the world would be a better place.
TIFF Programme,
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moving and fascinating

Seán Crosson, Film Ireland
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Collins provides extraordinary detail and patience in documenting the emergence of each artistic work he features from the materials used

Seán Crosson, Film Ireland
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The impulse to create art is celebrated with reverence and warm admiration in Henry Glassie: Field Work. Inspired by the experiences and ideas of the American folklorist, director Pat Collins has fashioned a beguiling documentary that showcases the best instincts of humanity. The combination of wise words and beautiful objects is comfort viewing for the soul and given the state of the world it has rarely felt more welcome.
Allan Hunter ,
Screen Daily
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…unhurried, quiet, thoughtful.
POV
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Collins has created a reflective piece of filmmaking that gradually draws you in until it becomes almost hypnotic

Cara O’Doherty, The Echo
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Immersive, keenly observed and frequently breathtaking, it’s another luminous work from the preeminent Irish filmmaker of his generation
☆☆☆☆☆

It revels in the creation of art and the skill involved in admiring cinematic detail
☆☆☆☆☆

Gareth O’Connor, Movies.ie
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☆☆☆☆☆

John Maguire, Business Post

Hypnotic glimpses of folk art in the making ☆☆☆☆

Andrew Pulver, The Guardian
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beautiful and meditative

Esther McCarthy, The Irish Examiner
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Mesmerising
☆☆☆☆☆

Hilary White, Irish Independent
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Opens the mind to Glassie’s enclosed but vital little world
☆☆☆☆

David Jenkins, Little White Lies
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A wonderful visual diary of the world and its inhabitants
☆☆☆☆

Akram Herrak, High on Films
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an utterly beguiling visual meditation on the transcendence of the creative act

Declan Burke The Irish Examiner

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Credits

Special Thanks: Henry Glassie and Pravina Shukla
Director: Pat Collins
Producer: Tina O’Reilly
Film Editor: Keith Walsh
Director of Photography: Colm Hogan
Location Sound: John Brennan

A South Wind Blows and Harvest Films production
Funded by the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon
in association with and Fis Éireann/Screen Ireland

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

How to watch

Watch in Ireland now via:

Cinema screenings:

On demand:

Watch on demand in the US now via:

Watch on demand in the UK now via:

Saffron Screen
Rio Cinema
Showroom Sheffield
Picture House Uckfield
Riverside, Woodbridge
Picturedrome Cinemas (Carlton Westgate/Century Clacton/Luxe Wisbech/Maxime BlackwoodPicturedrome Bognor Regis/Plaza

Biographies

Since 1999, Pat Collins has made over 30 films. His latest feature film Henry Glassie: Field Work received it’s world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival as part of the World Cinema category. ‘Song of Granite’, funded by the Irish Film Board, BAI, SODEC and Telefilm Canada, premiered at SXSW 2017 and has screened at numerous international festivals. It was released in cinemas by Oscilliscope Distribution in the USA, Thunderbird Releasing in the UK and Canada, and Wildcard Distribution in Ireland. ‘Song of Granite’ was the Irish nomination for best Foreign Language Oscar 2018. Fionnuala Halligan, Chief Film Critic of ‘Screen International’ wrote “In an era of safe filmmaking, especially within the art-house sector, it’s rare to view a title as formally audacious as ‘Song of Granite’.”

Henry Glassie, College Professor Emeritus at Indiana University, has received many awards for his work, including the Chicago Folklore Prize, the Haney Prize in the Social Sciences, the Cummings Award of the Vernacular Architecture Forum, the Kniffen and Douglas awards of the Pioneer America Society, the Nigerian Studies Association Book Prize, and formal recognition for his contributions from the ministries of culture of Turkey and Bangladesh. Three of his works have been named among the notable books of the year by The New York Times.

Pravina Shukla is Professor in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, at Indiana University. Her research areas are material culture, specifically dress and costume, folk art, museum studies, and foodways. A passionate teacher, Professor Shukla is a four-time winner of the Indiana University Trustee Teaching Award. In 2018, Shukla won the esteemed Indiana University President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching which honors “the most exceptional faculty, their devotion to students and their strong commitment to the university’s fundamental missions.”