Aran Wonder Years

The Aran Wonder Years has been created from stunning archival 8mm footage of Aran, Connemara and the West of Ireland. Shot by amateurs, it includes footage of the Aran Islands, underwater footage from the Val Kennedy collection and many other scenes of daily life from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.

Come and (re)live those precious moments in the amazing setting of Inis Oírr and the Áras Éanna Arts centre.

Áras Éanna Arts Centre – Free entry
Venue has a capacity of 100 so we have organized several screenings:

Duration: 1 hour-ish

Saturday 2 July @ 2pm & 3.30pm

Sunday 3 July @ 2pm

For Accomodation & Travel information (bus &Ferry), please download this PDF PRACTICAL DOCUMENT or call Áras Éanna arts centre on 099 75150. Alternatively, visit the www.araseanna.ie website.

For enquiries, contact Áras Éanna at 099 75150

Highlights include:

-       Plunge and Water Babies, Val Kennedy, 1970’s

Val Kennedy (1932-1991) was a founding member of Galway Sub Aqua Club in the early 1960’s. A pioneer in scuba diving on the West Coast of Ireland, he coupled his love of all things maritime with a keen interest in Super8 film making. His films document diving in the west of Ireland in the 1960’s and 70’s and include remarkable underwater footage. To mark his 20^th anniversary, the Féíle is delighted to present to the public for the first time digitally remastered footage from Val’s collection including his early 1970’s Film Plunge set to a funky contemporary score, and Water Babies which documents Val’s young family learning to swim and subsequently Scuba dive from the early to late 70’s.

-       Voyage to Aran, Dick Nash, 1966

This special little film documents the voyage of Dick Nash’s boat Laura from a midlands town down the Shannon river and out the estuary until finally alighting on The Aran Islands. Filmed over a two week voyage the film captures footage of dolphins, rowing boats and myriad sea faring vessels, both old and new along the way.

-       Island Potato Planters, 2011

A single 50foot reel of film documents the sowing of potatoes by islanders on the island in April 2011. The footage is timelapsed to fold 15 minutes of real time into 3 minutes of footage.

-       Lost and Found films, 1960’s-1980’s

A juxtaposition of films from the west of Ireland from the early 60’s to the early 80’s. We invite members of the audience to identity the people and places in the films.