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Sean O'Casey: The Spirit of Ireland: a film about a film
Albert Maysles Film-maker
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In the mid 60s my brother and I were asked to come to, to Ireland to make a film about a film that was being made there. A film called "Young Cassidy" and it was the story of Sean O'Casey, the famous Irish playwright. And as we were making this film about the film, we met an actress who was in the film but was very special because she was the daughter of Sean O'Casey who was still alive at that time, right? He wasn't in the film but she played a part in it. And we learned from her that she would love to, at some point, make a film of her father. She adored him, as all of Ireland adored him as well. And so with that acquaintance- acquaintanceship- I think the next year or so- No, it wasn't that- It was sometime after that that Shivaun was in New York and I filmed her and her mother. Her mother was 90 years old. And they talked beautifully about their father and, and that and some other scenes that I shot of people in Ireland made up the bulk of the film. There was some extraordinarily good archival footage as well. And the film's just about finished now. And- it's odd, I've learned from Irish Americans that somehow, Irish Americans have lost their cultural contact with, with Ireland. And I think, among other things, I think this, this film will be of great pride and a connective to the old country for many an Irish person who has, in great part, lost his or her roots.

Albert Maysles (1926-2015) known for his important documentaries on Muhammad Ali, Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles, pioneered the documentary style known as Direct Cinema. He helped create techniques still widely used in modern documentary production, as well as many of the techniques used in reality TV.

Listeners: Sara Maysles Tamara Tracz Rebekah Maysles

Sara Maysles, daughter of Albert Maysles, is currently doing her BA in East Asian Studies at Columbia University, and working as an Archivist of the photographs and photographic material at Maysles Films Inc., Albert‚s film production company. She spent ten months out of two years working with Tibetan refugees at a center in Nepal, and continues to travel back and forth between America and Asia.

Tamara Tracz is a writer and filmmaker based in London.

Rebekah Maysles, daughter of Albert Maysles, is an artist living between New York and Philadelphia. She has her own line of clothing, Blackberryrose, and co-runs the store Sodafine in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, New York, a vintage and handmade store that sells clothing, books and other products made by artists.

Tags: Ireland, Young Cassidy, New York, Sean O'Casey

Duration: 2 minutes, 39 seconds

Date story recorded: September 2004

Date story went live: 24 January 2008