In this moving, singular essay film, Donal Foreman draws on three decades of unique, never-before-seen archive, deftly weaving together a history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland with his own search for the father he barely knew, Irish-American political filmmaker Arthur MacCaig. Through forensic examination of MacCaig’s footage – including material from his seminal 1979 documentary The Patriot Game – Foreman comes to know his father anew, and in the process provokes a riveting exchange between two filmmakers born into different political moments. The result is a fascinating, candid portrait (and self-portrait) that collapses the boundary between the personal and the political.
Screens with:
Irish Voices, Arthur MacCaig, 1995, 13 mins
This screening is followed by a Q&A with director Donal Foreman.
The Image You Missed, Dir. Donal Foreman, Ireland, France, USA, 2018, 73 mins