N/C 12+ GROUNDSWELL
2021 | Dir Johnny Gogan | 80 mins | 
Ireland
Activist and filmmaker Johnny Gogan’s Groundswell provides a uniquely personal insight into how Ireland banned the practice of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and how Northern Ireland still faces the prospect.
Told through the eyes of grassroots activists in County Leitrim and across the border in Fermanagh, and filmed over ten years, Gogan’s camera follows a community who are opposing the work of the company Tamboran Resources as they begin operations on one side of the border before diverting to the other.
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Available to watch for 48 hours after purchase.
Distributor: Tull Stories – no account required.
“A lesson to communities and campaigners there and everywhere else to stay vigilant.” Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian.
“A triumphant, transparent and aesthetically magnificent account of the loving relationship between people and their land, and the fight to protect it from the powerful and the greedy.” Emma Kiely, The Upcoming
“We are getting our head inside the tent. Once you get the head in, the body follows.” Mark Ruffalo.
Filmed by Johnny Gogan over a ten year period and in New York and Pennsylvania in March just before the lockdown, the film includes over forty contributions from people on both sides of the Atlantic involved in the story of how Ireland banned fracking. Steve Wickham provides a powerful score with vocals from Tara Baoth Mooney; Niall Flynn’s aerial photography captures that border landscape people were so keen to protect; Editor Patrick O’Rourke draws together a cast of hundreds and a rich and diverse range of archive covering the campaign.
“Johnny Gogan’s documentary highlights the misconceived plans of corporations that hoped to avoid protesters.” Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian.