SPECIAL FEATURES:

- Seán Ó Riada's film music on CD, including previously unreleased material

- Premiere of 'Saoirse' at the Regal Cinema, Dublin, 20th October 1961, as seen on the Gael Linn newsreel 'Amharc Éireann'

Following on from the successful DVD release of Mise Éire, comes the second film in the George Morrison series. The Gael Linn film SAOIRSE (freedom) depicts the Irish struggle for independence in the years 1919 to 1922 as recorded by the newsfilm camera operators of the time and shows the part played in the political events of those eventful years by leaders on all sides, such as Eamon de Valera, Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins, Cathal Brugha, Richard Mulcahy, Tomás MacCurtain, Terence MacSwiney, Sir James Craig, King George V, David Lloyd George, Lord Birkenhead and Winston Churchill. Includes Seán Ó Riada’s digitally remastered film music on separate CD, including previously unreleased material. Tracks 1-14 feature music frst issued by Gael Linn on the extended play record Saoirse. Tracks 15-46 present an overview of Seán Ó Riada’s entire soundtrack for the film Saoirse.

PLAYS IN ALL DVD REGIONS

We don’t need to do what they did but we do need to be like them. We need to be magnanimous, generous, brave and determined. We need to be strategic and this is essential to have their confidence in ourselves and in our position.

The hunger strikers knew exactly what they were doing, why they did it and the effect their actions would have. We also, friends, know exactly what we’re doing, why we are doing it and the effect our actions will have. And that’s how we’re going to continue to build this struggle. That’s how we’re gong to build support for an end to British rule in our country and for a National Republic.

Gerry Adams
Casement Park Aug 13th 2006

This DVD is in PAL format and will not play in the USA

The Patriot Game then details the events of the decade that began in 1968. Through powerful portraits as the infamous “Bloody Sunday”

The film show the IRA at work – much of it filmed clandestinely – as they argue their cause.

Thorough and thoughtful …. Mac Caig’s film by dissecting the situation so coolly, helps emphasize, the bitterness and the confrontations. Regardless of how one may feel about politics it is a worthy and well made documentary.

93 Minutes Black and white

Irish Destiny has been re-released to mark the 90th Anniversary of the Easter Rising.

Irish Destiny is one of the most significant films made in Ireland in the silent period. Produced by Isaac Eppel in 1926, the original release of Irish Destiny coincided with the 10th anniversary of the Easter Rising.

Irish composer, Micheál O'Súilleabháin has written a new score for the movie performed by the composer with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra conducted by Proinnsías Ó Duinn.

Micheál O'Súilleabháin has written a deconstructed version of the National Anthem for the score and the sound of an orchestra warming the black and white moving images creates an overall effect that is extraordinary.

The movie is a love story played against the backdrop of the War of Independence which ingeniously incorporates newsreel footage of the Black and Tans and the burning of Cork within the dramatised narrative.

For decades this Irish classic was believed to be lost but now Irish Destiny has now been restored by the Irish Film Archive to its original glory with restoration work by Lotus Films with The Bright Room and Windmill Lane Pictures. The performance on the 16th of March will coincide with the long-awaited release of the film on DVD.

When the notorious "Black and Tans" arrive at his village of Clonmore, IRA man Denis O'Hara discovers a plan to raid a secret IRA meeting, and he races to Dublin to warn his colleagues. He reaches the city, but is shot and captured by Brit soldiers. Denis is imprisoned in Kildare, but manages to escape along with his fellow prisoners. Believing him to be dead, his mother goes blind from the shock, and his girlfriend Moira is abducted by fellow villager Beecher, who is in league with the Tans. Denis arrives back in Clonmore just in time to rescue Moira. With the burning of the Customs House in Dublin, the War of Independence is soon over and a truce is reached with the Brits.

REGION : 0 (Multiregional) Plays Everywhere

TRACKLISTING

1. Introduction: GPO O'Connell Street
2. God Save Ireland - Derek Warfield
3. Connolly Statue / Opposite Liberty Hall
4. James Connolly - Johnny McEvoy
5. The Rebel - Ronnie Drew
6. The Foggy Dew - Frances Black
7. Grace - Jim McCann
8. The Valley of Knockanure - Finbar Furey
9. Michael - Johnny McEvoy
10. Kevin Barry - Patsy Watchorn
11. Nora - Ronnie Drew
12. Banna Strand - Derek Warfield
13. The Dying Rebel - Patsy Watchorn
14. The Dublin Fusiliers - Johnny McEvoy
15. A Nation Once Again - Derek Warfield

Bonus Track: If You Ever Go To Dublin Town - Ronnie Drew with Mike Hanrahan

Seven ages is a groundbreaking new history charting the birth, growth and development of the Irish state since its foundation in 1921. For this unique television series, two ex Presidents – Patrick Hillery and Mary Robinson – have given extensive interviews, as have three former Taoisigh Garret FizGerald, Charles Haughey and – in his first ever television interview – Liam Cosgrave. In frank and extended conversations, free from the burdens of office, they discuss the roles they played in shaping our shared history.

Other senior politicians who give in depth interviews are Desmond O’Malley and Michael D. Higgins, as well as historians, journalists, economists, public servants and the sons and daughters of the Civil War veterans. These revealing contributions are linked to archive interviews and yield a dramatic overview of the seven decades of the State’s existence from the perspective of today.

Seven ages produced and directed Séan Ó Mórdha, is the story of the Irish State told from the inside. It is viewed from the perspective of the men and women who did not emigrate, those who held deep-seated beliefs and aspirations for the fledgling nation and those with bitter grudges formed from the early days following the Treaty and the Civil War. With over forty major interviews, the series captures the personal experiences and mind view of those whose lives helped shape the Ireland of today.

Contains a Two Volume DVD set:

• Programme 1: The Birth of the New Irish State
• Programme 2: Depression and the Rise of Fianna Fail to Power
• Programme 3: The Forties Decade of Neutrality and Censorship
• Programme 4: The Fifties The Make or Break Decade
• Programme 5: The Modernisation of Ireland
• Programme 6: The Seventies A Decade of Terror, Tension and Transformation
• Programme 7: Haughey and FitzGerald Great Adversaries of the Eighties

Produced By RTE

Region Code: All Regions
Running Time: 385 mins

H 3 is based on the events of the 1981 Hunger Strike in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh. In Europe’s most secure prison, 400 young men must make a choice… Between life or Justice. Time is running out.

Seamus Scullion is the man chosen to select the names of his fellow prisoners in the H3 prison block who are ultimately prepared to die for what they believe in.

A Powerful and uplifting film about friendship, loyalty and courage.

Stumpet City is a Dublin on the edge. Ordinary folk are barely surviving, festering in squalid tenements, whole families living in a single room. The war against Germany is looming and talk of a rebellion against the British can be heard on every street corner. The mis-treated workers in the industrial factories are forming strong unions, and the city is about to boil over. One of the most turbulent eras in modern Irish history sets the backdrop to this celebrated drama.

Strumpet City was first broadcast in 1980, and it is a television production of epic proportions and has marked a turning point in Irish Film, the  adaption of the immerse novel by James Plunkett depicts in full colour the Dublin of the Irish workers , the strike, riots and hardships of early twentieth century Ireland. This drama series stands as a reminder of those turbulent decades now fading from living memory.

Now available, for the very first time on multi-region DVD with a special collectors' edition booklet. Total running time 6 hours! "Strumpet City" is an epic.

On television Sharon Ní Bheoláin presents a lively mix of reports, interviews, music, song and dance. Sharon travels around the country in glorious summer weather meeting Irish speakers such as Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Breandán de Gallaí and Alex Hijmaans. She talks to people involved in activities varying from kayaking in Conamara to broadcasting in Belfast. Each programme finishes with a skit on reality TV programmes - ‘An Grá Faoi Ghlas’ (Love Locked Away) introduces ten characters who are brought together under one roof and whose main reason for being there is to find love.

The radio programmes present and discuss the experiences of learners who are following the series and provide helpful hints and support.

The full-colour course book, written by language consultant Éamonn Ó Dónaill and published by Gill & Macmillan, is accompanied by three audio CDs that contain dialogues from the television series, as well as a wide range of activities for the learner. The book, in keeping with the style of the television programmes, is engaging and fun to use.

Turas Teanga is aimed primarily at those who have studied Irish in the past and understand a good deal of the language, but have had few opportunities to use it in recent times. It aims to give learners the confidence to speak the language and to help them understand speakers from various parts of the country.

Turas Teanga is underpinned by a carefully-designed communicative syllabus, in which the focus is on topics and language functions. Each programme in the series, and corresponding unit in the book, deals with one main topic. Topics include Education, Work, Health, Travel, Technology, the Media, and Friendship and Love. Simple grammar explanations are given in the book and unnecessary jargon is avoided. An attempt is made at all times to present grammar only as it is required, and in manageable chunks.

RTÉ commissioned the series through a tendering process, which saw three Conamara-based companies - Abú Media, GaelMedia, Eo Teilifís - coming together to win the contract under the name Turas Teanga Teo.

The twenty units in this DVD contain:

• The complete television series
• Direct access to each programme
• Direct access to individual programme segments
• Optional subtitles in English
• Menus in English and in Irish

Format: Suitable For All Regions