A new bilingual (Irish-English) film about Hallowe’en here, completed in June, has been released on Vimeo.com at http://vimeo.com/101398600.
Produced and directed by Derryman Dessie Baker, Spiorad na Samhna/Spirit of Samhain traces the origins of the Hallowe’en celebrations here to 1982 and the origins of Hallowe’en itself from the ancient Celtic Festival of Samhain.
It includes interviews with Tony Toland, manager of the Castle Bar in the early 1980s, customers Paul Kerr and Damian McAteer, as well as archive photos of the first Hallowe’en parties there.
Damian McAteer said: “It was not just about dressing up, it was a means of releasing tensions.”
The second strand — in Irish — traces the development of Hallowe’en from Samhain and its ancient customs.
Narrated by Dr. Jenny Butler, Folklore Department, University College Cork, narrates it also uses key footage of the 2013 Inferno show at Ebrington, produced by Donegal-based LUXe.
