View from Spoken Word Stage at Irish Museum of Modern Art Spoken Word Stage during the Sound Check, July 15th, 2017. I spoke on Yeats, George, and the Esoteric in connection with “As Above, So Below” in an evening titled “Sunset Birth”, curated by Linder Sterling.

My Dad’s Super 8 Equipment, on display at the Dark Room for the Canada Day 2017 premiere of “True North…”

Our fantastic audience settling in to watch the Canada Day 2017 screening of “True North…” at The Dark Room

My mother & I, photographed by the great singer Lisa O’Neill with her polaroid camera. Lisa kindly treated us to an impromptu acapella song after the Canada Day screening of “True North…” at The Dark Room

A screen shot of the opening ‘sliding down’ scenes of “True North…” at the Dark Room.    I was delighted to receive handwritten feedback like this, from Aogan: “It was really refreshing to see a person whose anti-imperialist sensibilities caused him to travel beyond the European America which is all most of us see when we go there.  If the world had had more people like your parents in it, then maybe the sad story that is the history of the indigenous people of the Americas might be a little less sad”.  Also, this, from Margaret: “This is a wonderful piece and the tone of it both brings you into the intimacy of a family tale and allows you to be part of the broader issues discussed. I particularly love the super 8 medium and it so perfectly reflects the hazy, jumpy, out of focus, spontaneous feeling of real life, lived in the moment, including the life choice of your parents journey to Canada. Your dad’s early life is a wonderful prelude too and really gives you a sense of him, his cultural and family background and Ireland of the period.”

Chairman of IMMA Board, David Harvey, & I at IMMA Summer Party “Sunset Birth”. Photo by Kyle Tunney.

Spoken Word Stage Participants: IMMA Curator Sophie Byrne, Poet Stephen James Smith, & I at IMMA Summer Party, “Sunset Birth”. Photo by Kyle Tunney.

& you’ll be happy to know I posted a copy of the Canada Day version of the film to our friends in Ogoki to have a look at 🙂

The lively Q & A after the Canada Day 2017 screening of “True North…” at The Dark Room, hosted by Dennis Kenny, co-founder of Dublin Super 8 Festival.  I was delighted that my mother, Mary and my brother, Darragh were also there to share their first-hand experiences of life in North Ontario.