'Reframe your way of seeing the world'

By Róisín McManus

Two new short documentaries with an insight into the lives of those living in social housing across Cavan and Monaghan will première at Clones Film Festival this weekend.

A project funded by the North & East Housing Association (NEHA) and Cavan and Monaghan Arts Offices - the films bring together the issues of housing and community. The documentaries by NEHA filmmakers in residence Regina de Faoite from Cavan and Jackie Jarvis from Monaghan will be shown this Saturday, October 24 at 6.30pm in the Courthouse, Clones.

Both Regina and Jackie have spent the past year working with participants from across the region to create documentaries rooted in personal experience and place.

Jackie’s documentary ‘The Extraordinary Ordinary World of Feargal Smith’ tells the story of a Ballybay native who returned to his hometown after living abroad for 30 years.

After twenty years of living in Norwich - working first as an events manager and then as a teacher, a couple of years in Amsterdam and five years at university in Glasgow - during which time he completed a “mad” year abroad in Moscow under the presidency of Boris Yeltsin, Feargal “took a notion” one day to return home to Ireland, in what turned out to be the “best move” he ever made.

He moved back to Ballybay 11 years ago, and was “very lucky” to find private rented accommodation soon after, where he spent 10 years before being told to leave as the landlord intended to sell the property.

Six months after putting his name on the social housing list, he moved into a “really amazing” NEHA property two doors away, and after a further six months of probation, was granted fixity of tenure, which is “fantastic” to have.

He now lives “right on the main street” just opposite to where he grew up, where everything is within a two minute walk, and has regular access to Local Link services between Ballybay, Castleblayney and Monaghan town.

A “fairly gregarious, outgoing chap”, Feargal joined the local drama group, and got involved with and began coaching at the local GAA club Ballybay Pearse Brothers, which allowed him to connect with a new generation of young people and their families in the town. Many of the people who he grew up with were still based in Ballybay, which helped too.

“If you get out there and do stuff, you will build a place in community for yourself,” Feargal advises.

Despite feeling “a bit” out of his comfort zone, Feargal enjoyed the creative process of the production over the past number of months, meeting with “filmmaker extraordinaire” Jackie, who captured parts of his life in various locations, including his flat, local shops, cafes and pubs and the football field.

The film focuses on ideas of home - what home means and the nature of home. For Feargal, the sense of homecoming after being away is an “extra bit” that gives him a “different perspective on what home is”.

“Had I lived in Ballybay all my life, I wouldn’t have the same view of it that I have now,” he explains.

“Having been away, it makes me appreciate it all the more.”

Feargal hopes that people will come away from the film “with a better understanding of their own sense of home and community” and that it will make people think about “how fortunate someone can be” to have secure housing. He is looking forward to watching the premiere with Jackie and family members who will travel some distance to be there.

The films aim to give people an opportunity to have “empathy” for those whose lives may look different to our own, says Regina, whose documentary ‘Where I Live Now’ follows two people with hidden disabilities, Mark Ward, who has epilepsy, and Leeann Hannigan, who has a learning disability.

Her documentary explores the “struggles” they’ve overcome, how social housing allows them to “access the world” and rise from what they’ve been through, and the exceptional nature of “what might be seen as an ordinary life”.

The film was shot in Arva and Cootehill across the summer, when the Cavan town native met with both participants several times to “create a profile of their world”, from visiting their families and communities to learning about their hobbies.

The residency was a “fantastic opportunity” for Regina, who has recently completed a degree in film in IADT, to get funding for and experience in creating documentaries.

As the 22 year old’s first time showing her work at Clones Film Festival - the closest film festival to Cavan - it is “exciting” to be able to celebrate it “on a local level”, especially for Leeann and Mark and their wider circle.

Regina’s short film ‘The Lacey Way’, which was named ‘Best First Short Drama’ at the Galway Film Fleadh earlier this year, will also be shown in the Short Fiction category as part of ‘Short Film Sunday Afternoon’ at 2.15pm in the Courthouse.

“If people are thinking of going, it would be a great opportunity to get a peek into someone’s life," Regina assures. "And it’s a great way for us to have empathy for each other - to see what people have come through, and that for some people, everyday things are extraordinary, and it can reframe your way of seeing the world.”