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Dublin: 7 °C Wednesday 22 May, 2013

WATCH: A poignant love letter to Dublin, from someone leaving

“Leaving here, I will leave a part of myself.”



Vimeo/Matthew Johnston

FILMMAKER MATTHEW Johnston is moving away from Dublin after five years. He made this short piece to say goodbye.

Matthew writes:

I moved to Dublin five years ago, at a turning point in my life. I didn’t know what to make of it at first, with its unfamiliar faces, foreign voices, filthy streets, and shiny, yet inhuman progresses. Yet it still wormed its way into my existence, it is where I’ve become an adult, made (and lost) friends, fallen in love, made stupid mistakes, and grasped opportunities.

Áth Cliath might not possess exotic climates, bleeding-edge advances, or even competent overseers, but it is the friendliest, most welcoming and forgiving place I have known. Love, laughter, time and poetry are embedded in every brick of the city; it will hug you when you’re down, kick you when you’re ahead.

Leaving here, I will leave a part of myself behind, as well as friends and family, but I hope to fill the gap with new experiences. I know, more than anything, that I will return, because it is home. If you are lucky enough to be here, look beyond the rain, the mess and the idiots in charge, get out into that day and find your city.

This is my short love letter to the town I will miss.

The music is by the always-excellent Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, the words are from Dublin, by Louis MacNeice. Enjoy.

via Darragh Doyle at World Irish

VIDEO: What’s this fella ‘just saying’ about Ireland?>

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Comments (40 Comments)

  • Thanks for the comments folks, I’m no professional (barely even an amateur) film-maker, this was just a wee thing I put together quickly to say goodbye to my friends, I never thought it’d be shared like this :)

    I only intended the video to encapsulate the Dublin that I am most familiar with, I think it’d be hard to do justice to all of the beauty of the city without spending months and months doing it – in other words, this is just my Dublin, go discover yours!

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    • I liked it Matthew. It’s not going to win an academy award but I doubt that’s why you made it. It’s genuine, poignant and heartfelt. Fair play. Don’t pay any attention to the negative comments… The land of saints of scholars is fast turning into the land of moaners and whingers. Best of luck in your travels…

      Reply
  • Liked this – though from the comments it looks like you have just experienced yet another set of Dublin characters – the Knobs and Knockers. I wish these people would put themselves on the line and create something rather than than takig potshots at those that do.

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  • Beautiful and very personal, well done Matthew. Safe journey, wherever you are going.

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  • This is a nice thing to do. Never mind the critics of camera work, etc.
    glad he enjoyed his time here.

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  • The software used to make this is irrelevant. Anyone can learn the software, but it’s takes a true artist to make something like this. Great video!!!

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  • Hear Hear Matthew!

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  • Not a dub but I loved it!!

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  • I enjoyed it. An objective point of view (i.e. non-native) is usually the best one.

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  • Filthy streets?

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  • Lucky bugger….glad the walking dead got a look in

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  • Very nice. Good luck wherever you are heading. I left the place 10 years ago and wasn’t sad to go; just went back for a visit and found I missed it more than I could ever imagine. My thoughts on how it has changed, and how it hasn’t: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2013/0215/1224330052787.html?via=mr

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  • I actually thought it wasn’t the best. Should have filmed real Dublin!

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  • Sorry but this is kind of stuff is just bad 1st year student stuff if we are meant to take it seriously. Seems to be a raft of it at the moment.

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  • nice piece ..
    yes I agree
    Ireland is an excellent experience but it’s day had not come and it’s not to be taken seriously..,
    travel abroad if you want to take life seriously. Ireland offers only a warm friendly backwater of charm and light hearted views in life..
    the real business of industry and achievements on a large scale are all for those that leave irish shores…
    shame really but if you let all the expectations for irish politicians to actually achieve something go then you realise what Ireland really is..
    a sleepy back drop to life where only the common man and woman holds the real irish charm…

    Reply
    • Are you on drugs?…sleepy backwater?….it may not have the business intensity of other places or the gastronomic or cultural splendour of Paris or Florence but compared to the stressed out filthy cesspits that pass for other parts of the developed world Ireland is a breath of fresh air…its not perfect…nowhere is….even beautiful oz with its fine climate, freaky weather and terrifying bugs is far from perfect but sleepy back water we aren’t….maybe a country with a more relaxed lifestyle would be a more appropriate term without insulting people who love this country

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    • Marc…
      thank you for your comments…
      No i don’t do drugs…. I’m sure you are confused in thinking i do for some personal reasons but i would not speculate.
      The obsession or reference with food was not my focus when i refer to Industry in the normal sense… . you have made me hungry referring to it though.. lol
      I am being condescending in my comments on Ireland but unfortunately all to real in its truth.
      Ireland has had and for the foreseeable future is like to have the “bold child in the class” in reference in the EU and its role is nothing of any great significance as we all know only too well…!!!!!
      Ireland is seen as a silly little country across europe and as sad as it is to say its the plain truth..
      Like it or lump it im afraid
      Our fellow european brethren look at ireland and smile and say…
      they are so silly to accept the dept they have been burdened with…
      why dont they do something about it..????
      Its because they are so warm and friendly and charming and accept anything…
      Its sad but true….
      so tbh there is not much you can say about ireland to prove it otherwise….

      Its a lovely sleepy backwater all right…
      If you dont believe me then go ask any european what they think of ireland and they smile dismissively..
      Ireland has earned that dismissiveness all on its own….
      Look at the Dail last night and their emergency amendments and then ask yourself
      Is ireland a real hub of business or rather a hub of leaders who make bungling hap hazard decisions dotted with ignorance and corruption..
      NO…
      Its a sleepy backwater….
      If you dont like it then do something about it…
      Which you won’t… Nobody will…
      So put up or shut up as they say
      and in irelands case its
      SHUT UP……(sad but true)

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    • You obviously come from a much more superior place?…..this would give you the sense of superiority that you would need to comment
      on sleepy backwaters like Ireland…..well lets put it like this in reference to how irrelevent we are according to your enlightened and superior comments…..

      We should have remembered how irrelevant we were before taking on the private debt of rogue banks and foreign speculators and preventing a nice domino effect from wrecking havoc thru Europes banking system…..also maybe maybe being a backwater we should shut up shop and sent tens of thousands of young European workers back to the unemployment lines in their own countries….along with the 150 thousand plus eastern Europeans making a living here….who knows perhaps they’ll return the roughly 50 billion of remittances that they have send over the past 8 years from this backwater

      Remember complex and big machines have small parts that are just as important to the overall running of the machine as the big parts…..this backwater is not a totally irreverent part

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    • Eggfuel 07/02/13 #

      Marc…
      your rambling now….!!!
      cheers

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    • You’re insulting the entire nation, you halfwit

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    • marcoop 07/02/13 #

      Couldnt help but look at what egg fuel is all about due to their intriguing insights! According to your tweets you say ‘Ireland today is a powerhouse of inspiration, ideas, and experiments, we are part of that #eggfuel’

      Then you come here and say….

      ‘Ireland is seen as a silly little country across europe and as sad as it is to say its the plain truth..’

      bizarre!

      Reply
    • Is rambling what you class as reality and the truth ?

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    • marcoop 08/02/13 #

      Any response there oh insightful one? Or are you busy getting training on how to effectively market a business without being a condescending hypocrite? Good work egg fuel, given the industry you are in I’m sure your competitors are gonna love digging up this comment thread some day! #eggonyourface

      Reply
    • Lighthearted charm should be spread around the world and not your dream of industry and achievements, that keep the rich richer. Eye of a needle and all that. Maybe all these backwater charming people actually are right about life. And to is never a substitute for too.

      Reply
  • nice video it just seems like a lot of people in dublin have just discovered motion text on after effects same sort of video last week.

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  • Michael….Do you know what you’ve just started? A thread within a thread without me mentioning it :)

    Reply
  • Sorry shaky camera work and diddley i music, transition year students could do better. But at least he tried I suppose and is sorry to leave!

    Reply

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