3 Review(s)

This timely collection of essays, Documentary in a Changing State: Ireland since the 1990s, examines the role of Irish documentary in film and television as Ireland experienced dramatic shifts in its social and political make-up in recent decades. Bringing together a diverse range of perspectives, this book tells it from the standpoint of the documentary-maker, the academic and the policy-maker. It reveals the role of documentary in telling stories that challenge the hierarchies of church and state, at the same time reflecting and representing the change brought about as a result in shifts to the political and social landscape. The writers in this book speak openly and vividly about the highs and lows of the battles they fought, not just with institutional powers but also within their own profession as documentary-makers. Documentaries discussed in this collection include the work of independents such as Alan Gilsenan, Louis Lentin, Mary Raftery, Donald Taylor Black and Ken Wardrop alongside television series including Would You Believe and Prime Time Investigates.Post-conflict and multi cultural Ireland is explored through the reflective practice of academics working in the medium of documentary. The impact of cultural policy and technological change to the landscape of documentary is considered through an examination of the output of TG4, changes to the commissioning process and the effects of digital media. This book looks back over the last two decades through the prism of documentary to get a snap shot of the dramatic shifts and upheavals in Irish society, socially, culturally and politically.