Ballymun stories come to life in remarkable new film collection

A groundbreaking new film collection that captures more than 40 years of life in Ballymun has just launched online, offering a powerful and personal window into one of Ireland’s most storied communities.

Ballymun Community Films, now free to watch anywhere in the world via the IFI Archive Player, features 20 curated titles drawn from over 1,000 hours of footage recorded by local residents.

From street festivals to regeneration protests, youth theatre to local politics, the collection is a vivid portrait of a community that has often been misrepresented in national media.

The collection is the result of a five-year collaboration between the Irish Film Institute (IFI) Irish Film Archive and Ballymun Communications, a community-run video production and training initiative founded to give locals the tools to tell their own stories.

Virgin Mary School, Ballymun, 1987 (Courtesy of Ballymun Communications)

The digitisation and cataloguing of the footage was made possible with support from Coimisiún na Meán, as part of its commitment to preserving Ireland’s diverse moving image heritage.

“This isn’t just archive footage, it’s Ballymun through the eyes of Ballymunners,” said Niall Anderson, a native of the area who managed the project for the IFI.

“There’s music, activism, hardship, joy. These are stories that would have been lost without the foresight and energy of Ballymun Communications and the support we received to digitise the footage.

“The community spirit didn’t just show up on screen, it was alive in the cataloguing process too.

“If we didn’t know who someone was in a clip, we’d post it online, and within an hour someone from the area would tell us.”

The films reflect Ballymun’s evolving identity over the decades, from its beginnings in the 1960s as Ireland’s first high-rise housing project, to the community-led pushback against years of negative media portrayal, and the sweeping regeneration plans of the 2000s that transformed the area’s physical and social landscape.

Among the standout entries is The 4th Act, a critically acclaimed 2017 documentary from Bread & Circus, which offers a hard-hitting reflection on the challenges and contradictions of the Ballymun regeneration project.

Directed by Turlough Kelly and produced by Andrew Keogh, the film captures a moment of reckoning for a community promised renewal but left navigating deep changes.

The full Ballymun Communications Archive, a collection of over 550 digitised community films, is now also available to explore via ballymun communications.com, offering an even deeper dive into local stories, arts, sports, and activism captured on tape by those who lived it.

Ollie McGlinchey, a long-time Ballymun resident and driving force behind Ballymun Communications, says the project was always about reclaiming the narrative: “We set up Ballymun Communications to counter the stereotypes, the news headlines never told the full story of Ballymun.

“What we had, and still have, is a vibrant, creative, and proud working-class community.

“These films are proof of that.”

The launch event, held on Thursday, July 17 at Axis Ballymun, was a fitting celebration.

Locals featured in the films turned out in force for special screenings, live performances, and a panel discussion.

There were tears, laughter, and no shortage of stories as generations of Ballymun residents saw themselves and their neighbours on screen.

Rónán Ó Domhnaill, Media Development Commissioner at Coimisiún na Meán, praised the project’s impact.

“The archiving of the stories, voices and experiences of the Ballymun community is invaluable.

“Not only does it preserve an important part of Irish social history, but it ensures those stories are accessible for audiences now and in the future, both at home and abroad.”

The IFI Irish Film Archive continues to work on preserving and showcasing community-based film heritage across the country, but the Ballymun project is a standout example of what’s possible when locals are given the resources and respect to document their own lives.

The full Ballymun Community Films collection can be viewed for free at ifiarchiveplayer.ie/ballymun

The wider Ballymun Communications Archive is now live at ballymuncommunications.com

The IFI acknowledges the support of its primary funder, The Arts Council.