Private Project

Armagh Stories: Voices from the Gaol

'Armagh Stories' is a 58 minute documentary on the memories of those who passed through the mainly female prison during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Returning to the site of the prison, this unique film in inclusive as it accompanies prison officers, prisoners (loyalist and republican), a chaplain, doctor and solicitor around the empty Victorian prison. Taken from the Prisons Memory Archive, the film focuses on how people perform their memory back at the site of the experience and also offers a way that our society might address the legacy of the conflicted past in a contested present, something politicians have yet to achieve.

  • Cahal McLaughlin
    Director
    We Were There, We Never Give Up, Unheard Voices
  • Cahal McLaughlin
    Producer
    We Were There, We Never Give Up, Unheard Voices
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    59 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    December 30, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    1,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Foyle Film Festival
    Derry, N.Ireland
    November 18, 2016
    Premiere as above
  • ACIS Worlding Irish Studies
    Notre Dame
    United States
    April 1, 2016
    American Conference of Irish Studies
  • University of St Andrews
    St Andrews
    United Kingdom
    March 30, 2016
    University of St Andrews
  • Conflict Research Institute
    Belfast
    United Kingdom
    June 15, 2016
    Public Records Office of Northern Ireland
  • Armagh Local History Library
    Armagh
    United Kingdom
    January 22, 2016
    Armagh Local History LIbrary
Director Biography - Cahal McLaughlin

• Co-Director (with Laura Aguiar), We Were There, Prisons Memory Archive; screened at Belfast Film Festival, Derry, Newtownabbey, Banbridge. (2014), Irish Film Institute, International Festival of Ethnographic Film (RAI), Bristol June 2105. Also Montreal, Sydney, San Paolo, London and Dublin.
• Director, We Never Give Up II, Human Rights Media Centre, Cape Town, screened in Belfast, London and Cape Town 2013.
• Director, Unseen Women: Armagh Gaol screened in Belfast, London, Armagh, Co Monaghan, Co Fermanagh and Co Kildare, 2011-12.
• Director, Unheard Voices: Stories from the Troubles, Wave Trauma Centre; screened in the 7 Borough Councils Good Relations Depts in Northern Ireland
• Producer/Director, Inside Stories; Memories from the Maze and Long Kesh Prison, Catalyst Arts, Belfast, 2005, and three half-hour programmes on NVTV, Belfast, Sept. 2005; Imperial War Museum, London, 2005; Constitution Hill, Johannesburg, 2006; Digital Research Gallery, South Bank University, London, 2006; Naughton Gallery, Belfast, November 7-15, 2008; Belfast Prison, Belfast, March 28-30, 2009.
• Director of We Never Give Up, a 70 minute documentary on reparations in South Africa, for the Human Rights Media Centre, Cape Town, 2002. Screened at the Institute of Comparative Human Rights Conference, Connecticut, 2002, and the Zanzibar, Durban, Belfast and Tri Continental (Cape Town) International Film Festivals: Community Channel, 2003; City Cinema, York, 2009.
• Director of A Prisoner’s Journey for An Coiste, Screened at Feile An Phobail (West Belfast Festival), Belfast, 2000.
• Director of Telling Our Story; the Springhill Massacre for the Victims and Survivors Trust, Belfast 1999. Screened at Kino Film Festival, Manchester, 1999 and Grass Roots Film Festival, Manchester 2000.
• Producer of Revenge of the Little People, for the ‘Fusion’ series, Channel Four Television, 1998.
• Series Director of Voluntary Service Television (VSTV), a monthly magazine, BBC2 Learning Zone, 1995-6
• Director of Living With Violence, 4 short documentaries for Channel Four Television, 1995.
• Director of The Slot, a short access series, Channel Four Television, 1993-5
• Location Director of Right to Reply, a weekly magazine on viewers responses to television programmes , Channel Four Television, 1993-5
• Co-director of Belfast Lessons, on integrated education in Northern Ireland, Channel Four Television, 1994
• Director and Co-Producer of Kicking With Both Feet, on identity and sport, for the Community Relations Council, Belfast, 1993
• Director of Behind the Walls of Castlereagh, on allegations of torture, BBC2 Open Space, 1992.
• Co-director and Co-producer of Pack Up The Troubles, on British attitudes to the ‘Troubles’, Channel Four Television, 1991
• Director and Producer of Moving Myths, on religious influences in Ireland, Channel Four Television, 1988
• Director of item on TV coverage of the ‘Troubles’ for The Media Show, Channel Four Television, 1987
• Researcher and Interviewer of Silent Scream; the use and abuse of plastic bullets, for Belfast Independent Video, 1987
• Production Assistant of Under the Health Surface, on societal health in Belfast, Channel Four Television, 1986

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Director Statement

This film is based on the archive, Prisons Memory Archive, which has 170 filmed walk-and-talk interviews back inside the Troubles' prisons. It is one of several films we hope to produce from the archive and makes a contribution to how we might address the legacy of a violent past through storytelling.