1. Bobby Sands: 66 Days
By the early 1980s, after two decades of violence and unrest, the situation in Northern Ireland took a sudden and profound turn inside the infamous Maze Prison. Seeking the right to be treated as political prisoners rather than common criminals, Irish Republicans led by Bobby Sands began a prison hunger strike that would draw international attention to the conflict. In the 66 days that he refused food, Sands would be elected to the British Parliament, put the Irish Republican struggle centre stage on the world news agenda, and pay the ultimate price for his political convictions. The film combines a powerful mosaic of archival materials, reconstructions and the illuminating accounts of former prisoners, commentators and key players in the drama. With Sands's evocative prison diary at its core, the film brings fresh insight to an iconic figure who single-handedly created a transformative moment in Ireland's history that had global aftershocks.
It has an average vote of 7.1 on TMDB.
2. Keep It a Secret: The Story of the Dawn of Surfing in Ireland
In the early 1970s, the world-class waves of Ireland were uncharted waters for the international surfing community. Amidst the ongoing conflict of the Troubles, pioneers in both Dublin and Belfast transcended political hostilities to host the 1972 Eurosurf championship. This look into the unsung history of the Emerald Isle’s now world-renowned surf scene details the power of sport to bridge any divide.
3. The Bloody Border (Blutige Grenze – Die Geschichte Irlands)
The painful story of Ireland and the Irish people, who struggled for centuries to free themselves from the tyrannical clutches of the British Empire; an epic tale of poverty, hunger, despair, violence and unyielding courage.
It has an average vote of 6.3 on TMDB.
4. Made in the Emerald Isle
‘Made in the Emerald Isle’ is a modern music documentary that addresses the ongoing struggles faced by Irish musicians in finding success here at home. Irish music and the artists behind it, although world-renowned, in many cases have stepped outside of the country in order to achieve success and notoriety. This documentary will explore the story of the Irish music industry through the eyes of Sam Wickens.
5. Unquiet Graves
This feature-length documentary investigates the role the British government played in the murder of over 120 civilians in Counties Armagh and Tyrone from July 1972 to 1978.
It has an average vote of 8.3 on TMDB.
6. Voices from the Grave
The story of the Northern Ireland Troubles through the unflinching testimony of two men who played key roles on opposite sides of that bloody conflict. Nearly ten years ago the two paramilitary leaders told their stories on condition that they could never be revealed while they were still alive. The stories told by the Irish Republican Army's Brendan Hughes and Ulster Volunteer Force's David Ervine tell us of the motivations of the participants, the planning of campaigns of violence, the misery of a hunger strike, the tracking and killing of informers and the duplicity that ended a conflict that had lasted too long. It is also a narrative of the fate of combatants when their wars are over.
7. Shooting the Darkness
The testimony of the men who unwittingly became war photographers on the streets of their own towns in Northern Ireland, when violence erupted around them. Instead of photographing weddings and celebrities, as they expected, they produced the images that crudely show the suffering of ordinary people between 1968 and 1998, the worst years of the conflict.
It has an average vote of 7.8 on TMDB.
8. The Magic Box
A special live broadcast on both BBC and UTV, hosted by Eamonn Holmes, celebrating the best of Northern Ireland television over the past 60 years and marking the occasion of digital switchover.
9. Young Plato
Mr. McArevey is a visionary headmaster at a Catholic primary school in one of the toughest neighborhoods of Belfast, Northern Ireland. He loves Elvis and teaches his students to connect with their feelings, while taking on the legacies of the “The Troubles.” In this exceptional portrait of a community still healing from trauma, we follow this educator extraordinaire as he uses Ancient Greek wisdom as an antidote for pessimism, violence, and historical despair.
It has an average vote of 5.6 on TMDB.
10. Daughters of the Troubles: Belfast Stories
The women of Belfast played a unique role in holding together their families and communities during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Filmed during the fragile 17-month paramilitary cease-fire, Daughters of the Troubles: Belfast Stories looks at the challenges facing women trying to put their direct experience of grassroots problems on the agenda of the established political parties. Their strength, first exhibited on the community level, started to reach a wider public.
11. The Rising of the Moon
Produced by MUBI, The Rising of the Moon is a video essay which explores the struggle for independence as it has been portrayed throughout the history of Irish cinema, from the rebellion of 1798 through to the 1920s war of independence and the Troubles in Northern Ireland. https://vimeo.com/473986546
12. No Stone Unturned
Ireland's victory over Italy at the World Cup in New Jersey in 1994, remains a source of Irish pride. But it is haunted by memories of a massacre: terrorists opened fire and killed six innocents while they watched the match in a small village pub in Northern Ireland. Remarkably, no one was ever charged for the crime. For more than twenty years the victims' families have searched for answers. Now, at last, they may have found them. But what they learn turns a murder mystery into bigger inquiry relevant for us all: what happens when governments cover up the truth?
It has an average vote of 7.559 on TMDB.
13. Here Comes the Summer: The Undertones Story
In 1978 the Undertones released Teenage Kicks, one of the most perfect and enduring pop records of all time - an adolescent anthem that spoke to teenagers all over the globe. It was the first in a string of hits that created a timeless soundtrack to growing up, making the Undertones one of punk rock's most prolific and popular bands.
14. Mairéad Farrell: An Unfinished Conversation (Mairéad Farrell: An Unfinished Conversation)
Mairéad Farrell was shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar in 1988 along with two other unarmed members of the IRA in one of the most controversial incidents arising from the Troubles in Northern Ireland. She had just been released from prison the year before after serving ten years for causing an explosion at an hotel near Belfast. The killing of the three provoked an international outcry and eventual enquiry. Due to her youth, her gender and her stature within the IRA, Mairéad Farrell was, unsurprisingly, quickly subsumed into the pantheon of Irish republican martyrs. But behind the mythologizing and demonisation of the time, there was also a real person, a flesh and blood young woman who was prepared to kill and die for her beliefs.
15. The Living Flame
Commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland, commissioned for its 50th anniversary.
16. Belfast's Victory in Vienna: A Footballing Odyssey
Presenter Holly Hamilton tells the feelgood story of the Glentoran team who left Belfast on a European football adventure just before the First World War to win the Vienna Cup, the first ever European Cup.
17. Chapter and Verse
Chapter and Verse is an experimental documentary that traces the image legacy of Northern Ireland's recent troubles via its contemporary landscapes. The camera roves with fierce curiosity amongst the Orange Order Parades, the raging 11th Night Bonfires of Belfast, the wall paintings of Londonderry, empty border-lands, murder-sites, cemeteries, home interiors, town and city streets whilst exploring how the troubles are both revealed and concealed by the Northern Irish landscape. Interviews with a mix of Northern Irish politicians, religious figures and victims of the troubles, including Rev. Ian Paisley and Bishop Emeritus of 'Derry Edward Daly, combine in a cinematic study of the complex effects of Northern Ireland's conflict history suspended in language.
18. The Secret Peacemaker
The story of Father Alec Reid’s complex and controversial peace plan to bring an end to violence in Northern Ireland, which eventually led to the historic Good Friday Agreement.
19. Let Us Be Seen
How do feminist and queer identities operate in contemporary Belfast? Let Us Be Seen is a documentary film that presents the work and ideas of individuals on the ground in Belfast, who have campaigned tirelessly for change and continue to do so. On 21st October 2019, abortion was decriminalised and same-sex marriage legalised in Northern Ireland. This important law change however has shed light on more nuanced barriers facing people locally.
20. Hard Border
Belfast-born actor Stephen Rea explores the impact of Brexit and the uncertainty of the future of the Irish border in a short film written by Clare Dwyer Hogg.