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Dublin: 14 °C Sunday 19 May, 2013

Irish documentary The Pipe receives top European award

The film tells the story of the small community of Rossport, Co Mayo – some of whom have taken on the might of Shell Oil and the Irish authorities.

A DOCUMENTARY FROM North Mayo has overcome strong competition to take home a top prize awarded by a prestigious European programme competition.

An Píopa (The Pipe) won in the Best Documentary category at Circom at a  meeting in Frederikstad, Norway, this weekend.

Circom, the European-wide federation of regional television broadcasters, has a membership of over 300 television stations spread across 38 states. Its programme competition aims to identify the “best and most original work” from its members, and is one of Europe’s most prestigious and keenly contested awards.

The documentary, directed Risteárd Ó Domhnaill, was commissioned by TG4 with funding from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and the Irish Film Board. It had previously taken the Best Documentary category at Circom and, this weekend, was also awarded the Grand Prix – the overall winner prize.

The film chronicles the story of the small community of Rossport, Co Mayo,  some of whom have taken on the might of Shell Oil and the Irish authorities.

The Pipe has won several other accolades after being released in December of last year, including the prestigious Audience Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary at the 2010 Galway Film Fleadh,  Documentary category at the 2011 Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTA) and Best Factual Documentary at last month’s Celtic Media Festival 2011 held in Scotland.

The documentary will be broadcast on TG4 on Saturday 14 May at 8.10pm.

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Comments (3 Comments)

  • Great documentary and a worthwhile cause/campaign. Congrats to them.

    Reply
  • I did put this post up before ??

    At last some reporting on Activisim in the environment. Journalism in Ireland seems to avoid environmental, conservation and activism like the plague, especially if its congtroversial. Unless its to riducule or portray activists as outside of society, rather than taking everday people taking civic responsibility seriously.

    Reply
  • This documentary is a shameful exercise in self-indulgence and self- promotion on the part of the maker. Without knowing anything about this controversy anyone with half a brain would find themselves asking throughout what danger are the locals talking about? At no point is their concern examined. A pipeline running across the land could be dangerous. An overhead power line running across the land could be dangerous. Are we to take those down? Of course not. A fact that it didn’t suit the producer to state: an independent examination of the pipeline design was carried out, and found it to be a safe proposal for the environment. The local people didn’t question the report, everyone accepted its integrity. All this leaves us to watch is a mockery of the people of Mayo, depicted as half-wits and frightened of anything they can’t readily understand.

    Reply

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