Iománaíocht Hollywood: Cluichí Gaelacha ar Scannán (Shortlisted for 'Best Use of Footage in a Sports Production' at FOCAL International Awards 2026)

Special preview screenings of a ground-breaking forthcoming two-part TG4 mini-series exploring the extraordinary story of Gaelic games on film will take place in the Irish Film Institute (July 15) and at University of Galway (July 22). Featuring two one-hour programs, this fascinating series provides a unique insight into how Ireland, Irish people and indigenous Irish Gaelic games have been depicted in the cinema since the beginning of the last century, including in productions from major Hollywood studios and directors (including seminal Oscar-winning Irish-American director John Ford). The series also traces the central role of Gaelic games in the emergence of an indigenous Irish film culture in the second half of the 20th century. An LMDÓC Production for TG4 funded by Coimisiún na Meán, the series features stunning archive of Gaelic games and Irish society from the beginning of the 20th century, with additional contributions from a range of leading cultural and academic figures including Professor Paul Rouse, Professor Mike Cronin, Professor Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh, Professor Dermot Keogh, Dr. Ciara Chambers, filmmakers Fergus Tighe and Bob Quinn, cinematographer Nick O'Neill, and the late Dublin GAA legend Jimmy Gray (to whom the series is dedicated). The series is based on the acclaimed book Gaelic Games on Film: From silent films to Hollywood hurling, horror and the emergence of Irish cinema (Cork University Press, 2019) by University of Galway academic Seán Crosson who also wrote and was associate producer of the series.

The preview screenings will take place on Tuesday July 15 at 6.30pm in the Irish Film Institute (Dublin) and on Tuesday July 22 at 6.45pm in the Kirwan Theatre, University of Galway as part of the 2025 International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures (IASIL) conference. The University of Galway screening will be preceded at 5.50pm by the launch by Dr. Tony Tracy (Director, Huston School of Film & Digital Media, University of Galway) in GO10 (Humanities Research Building) of a new paperback edition of Gaelic Games on Film (Cork University Press, 2025) published to coincide with the production of the mini-series. The series will be broadcast on TG4 on September 4th and September 11th.