Film-making

My experience includes researching, scripting and directing a whole pile of corporate and informational videos, some TV current affairs and documentaries, not to mention, in the days of the closed shop in the film industry, working for what seemed ages in a film laboratory to obtain my union ticket before switching to a small film studio as an assistant director on B feature movies (as it happens, Edgar Wallace thrillers).

My son Simon and I currently operate a small film and TV production and distribution company based in Dublin called Stoney Road Films. Among other things, this enabled me to complete my arts documentary Wordweaver, the Legend of Benedict Kiely, which explores the impact of the censorship, the Troubles, and the Dublin literary bar circle on the prolific author’s life and work. Incidentally, it paints a portrait of this period of rapid social change in the evolution of modern Ireland.

Relatively little known outside Ireland, Ben's writing has a density and subtlety that makes it well worth reading, especially his short stories. His novel Honey Seems Bitter is based around a murder and crime features strongly in In a Harbour Green. His work is published by Methuen in Britain and by David R. Godine in the USA.

Wordweaver is now available on DVD with valuable extras such as a Bibliography and a Chronology.