Winner Best Documentary at the Galway Film FleadhWinner Best Documentary at the Foyle Film FestivalHonourable Mention: IDFA Green Screen Jury

On Sat. 11 Dec. at 7pm, IFI@TheModel hosts a special screening of the award-winning Irish documentary, The Pipe, followed by a post-screening discussion with the film’s director and producer and members of the Rossport community.

The Pipe is a compelling documentary of Rossport’s struggle against the economic might of Shell and the tragic divisions that have split a once-peaceful and close-knit community. Now, hot on the heels of its success with sold-out screenings at the BFI London Film Festival last month, The Pipe will be screened at The Model in Sligo on December 8th, 9th and 11th.

This special screening which will be followed by a discussion with the film’s director, Risteard Ó Domhnaill , producer Rachel Lysaght , and some of the characters portrayed in the documentary.

Also participating in the discussion will be Irish Times journalist Lorna Siggins who recently authored Once upon a time in the West about the Corrib Gas controversy. Fergus Cahill of the Irish Offshore Exporters Association will also participate.

Risteard Ó Domhnaill’s passionate, brave and beautifully shot documentary, produced by Rachel Lysaght (Underground Films), for Scannáin Inbhear, has already picked up the Best Documentary Award at the Galway Film Fleadh 2010, as well as being highly acclaimed by audiences at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this year. The film recently attracted a sell-out audience at the Cork Film Festival.
Rossport is a tiny village of farmers and fishermen in north Mayo that has, for years, been resisting Shell’s attempts to install a high-pressure pipeline to transport unprocessed gas from the massive new gas fields off the coast to an inland refinery. The government gave Shell compulsory acquisition powers over farmland in Rossport, and in June 2005, five local men were imprisoned for 94 days for defying a court order allowing Shell workers to enter their land. This set in train a cycle of protests, heavy-handed policing and a legal conflict that continues to this day. Years of protest have left bitter divisions in the community between moderate campaigners, those perceived as having ‘sold out’, and hardliners whose tactics have included direct action and a hunger strike.

For four years, Ó Domhnaill’s intimate access allowed him follow three members of the community; Willie Corduff, one of the Rossport Five and his attempts to defend the farm his father reclaimed from the bog; Monica Müller who controversially refused to join protests but whose court action has delivered a major blow to Shell; and Pat ‘The Chief’ O’Donnell, a local fisherman who is repeatedly arrested for daringly sailing his small fishing boat into the path of the gigantic pipe-layer The Solitaire. The film captures the anxiety, anger and disillusionment of years of conflict as well as their passionate connection to the local environment, and the spirit, humour and heroism that sustains them.

To book tickets for this special screening email tickets@modelart.ie or call 071-914 1405.