20 Feet over Belfast: The War of Art in Northern Ireland
The Forgotten Ten
Since the partition of Ireland in 1924, Northern Ireland has been the site of intense social, religious, and political division. The sentiments of its inhabitants—their fears and hatreds—have found expression in the giant murals that, depending on one’s viewpoint, either decorate or defame the walls of working-class neighborhoods in Derry and Belfast. This documentary explores the meanings of these murals and the conflicting reactions they provoke.
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The Forgotten Ten (An Deichniur Dearmadta)
Directed by Rosie Nic Cionnaith.
Ireland, 2002, digital video, color and b&w, 75 min.
Irish with English subtitles.
Between 1920 and 1921, during Ireland’s War of Independence, the British government executed ten young men in Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison. Charged as criminals, they were buried in prison soil, where their bodies lay for eighty years. In 2001 the bodies were finally exhumed and returned to family members. This compelling, emotionally charged documentary traces the lives of the "forgotten ten," the prolonged campaign to have their bodies released, and the state funeral that brought closure to an eighty-year history of historical erasure and social injustice.