DOCUMENTARY FILM

'BE STILL?'

‘Be Still?’ is a documentary film which presents viewers with a brief insight into life in rural Ireland. Interviewing locals from the surrounding area gave them the opportunity to share their story and to voice their thoughts and experiences, while also enabling me to piece together a picture of life in rural Ireland at present. By intertwining these peoples accounts with landscape imagery it reveals the importance of how we interact with spaces and places, while also demonstrating the differences between living in a rural area, compared to the faster paced life in urban areas.

‘Be Still?’ was awarded OFFICIAL SELECTION KERRY FILM FESTIVAL 2018 as well as LONG-LISTED RDS VISUAL ARTS AWARDS 2018

'10,601'

I have always had a deep love for animals. A few years ago I began to document horses and ponies which had been ‘abandoned’ by their owners and left to fend for themselves. I felt that I wanted to find out more about animal welfare by visiting shelters and rescue centres. It was here that I realised the plight of greyhounds that are either not fit to race or are retired from racing in Ireland. It was an issue I knew very little about.

Figures from the GRAI suggest that thousands of greyhounds are still being unaccounted for every year. The amount of litters registered in the Irish Stud Book in 2015 was 2,709. The Irish Coursing Club average at 6 pups per litter, which means that at least 16,254 greyhound pups were born in Ireland in 2015. From 2010 to 2015 at least 105,006 greyhounds were born in Ireland. 94,405 were named at racing age (thirteen months old) – these figures are from the 17,501 registered litters. What happened to the 10,601 unregistered greyhound pups?