To coincide with the Channel 4: 40 Years of Revolution season at the BFI, the Queen’s Centre for Documentary Research, in association with the Belfast Film Festival, and the Institute of Irish Studies, has organised a symposium to explore the role of Channel 4 in supporting community-based and socially committed film production in and about Northern Ireland during the channel’s early years.

Confirmed speakers include: Anne Crilly (director of Mother Ireland, 1988), Rod Stoneman (former commissioning editor Channel 4 Independent Film and Video Department), Cahal McLaughlin (filmmaker and Professor of Film at Queen’s), and Sylvia Stevens (producer, director, and co-founder of Faction Films).

The discussion will be chaired by Hugh Odling-Smee (Film Hub NI).

(There will also be a screening of Ireland: The Silent Voices before the symposium at 12:15pm, in the Film Studio)

*Alongside the symposium, Belfast Film Festival will be screening Ireland: The Silent Voices (Rod Stoneman, 1983) on 10th November 7:00pm @The Beanbag Cinema; and Mother Ireland (Anne Crilly, 1988, 52 mins.) on 12th November at 10:30am in QFT. Please book separately for these screenings.