‘THE Myth of Us’, a ten-minute film short made by International Youth Theatre and set by Lough Gur, was screened at Youghal’s First Cut Film Festival at the end of February.
Written by film veteran Keith Bogue, who impressed with last year’s ‘All Washed Up’ starring Jon Kenny and Liam O’Brien, ‘The Myth of Us’ tackles difficulty around racist issues and immigrant integration. With a 20-strong cast, International Youth Theatre leader Fiona Quinn produced the work with Apate Films.
According to the Limerick based Bogue, “The challenge was how get across the story of racism without preaching. It’s a kids’ film and I took the ideas of townies and culchies as a metaphor. The idea is that nobody in Ireland is really Irish, we came down from Tuatha de Danann and other peoples”.
He’s right. Every myth can do with being debunked. History has some grand stories to offer with each revelation of fact over the fiction that pleased and flattered some of the people, some of the time. The ignorance that underpins racism is that of ascendency; who has precedence and superior value in any given culture; who gets to exercise that and how a civilised people(s) deals with consequence.
Enjoy the culchie/ townie stand off, the mix of nationalities and some grace under pressure exhibited on link https://vimeo.com/105037498
By the way, Brendan Canty, the filmmaker behind Hozier’s ‘Take Me to Church’ (150 million+ hits), opened last week’s festival, Youghal’s 7th.
