Besom Productions
Bloody Sunday - A Derry Diary
Director/Producer: Margo Harkin
Co-Producer: Carl-Ludwig Rettinger for Lichtblick Film
Co-Production: Besom Productions Ltd. & Lichtblick Film (Cologne, Germany)
Broadcaster: Original Version (2007) Broadast on 29 January 2007 on ZDF/Arte and on 6 February 2007 on RTE at 10.15pm.
Billing
The documentary has been broadcast as an uncompleted work in the Hidden History strand on RTÉ 1 on 6 February 2007. It was transmitted on ZDF/Arte on 29 January 2007. Besom Productions is seeking a UK network broadcast to tie in with the publication of the Bloody Sunday Report, which the families have been told not to expect until late 2007 or early 2008. This film is still a work In progress as the filmmaker will record a final interview with the families after the publication of the Report.
Synopsis
On 30th January 1972 the British Army shot dead thirteen unarmed civilians on a civil rights march in Derry, Northern Ireland. At the subsequent Tribunal of Inquiry Lord Chief Justice Widgery exonerated the soldiers and blighted the reputation of those who were killed and wounded by describing them as gunmen and bombers. In 1998, in a move that was widely seen as significant in sealing the Northern Ireland peace process, Prime Minister Tony Blair announced a new Tribunal of Inquiry into the day that has become known as Bloody Sunday.
The events of 30 January 1972 have been covered countless times by journalists from throughout the world. This documentary is different in that it is the first account by a local director who was herself an eye witness to that tragic day. Bloody Sunday: A Derry Diary follows the course of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry from the point of view of the families of the victims as they attended venues between Derry and London over a six year period. We hear many new eye witness accounts by families and friends of the dead and those wounded on the day and view newly discovered archive footage uncovered during the course of the Inquiry. Derry journalist and campaigner Eamonn McCann, who followed the tribunal closely over a six year period between 1998 and 2004, interprets the complicated evidence by the main players from both sides. Key witness, Bishop Edward Daly, gives us his account of the tragic events and describes how he did his best to aid the wounded and dying. When called to give evidence to the Inquiry the filmmaker, Margo Harkin, documents her own moral dilemma over the potential impact of revealing all of her evidence.
Awards
June 2010 Final Verison
NOMINATED: ABC News Video Source Award category for the International Documentary Association (IDA) USA Documentary Awards.
NOMINATED: Best Documentary, Prix Europa 1997
NOMINATED: Best Documentary, Irish Film & Television Awards 1997
Domestic viewing copies available on DVD for £17 (inclusive of VAT) plus postage and packing. For Institutional rates and/or other teaching purposes, please contact Margo at margo@besomproductions.co.uk