GERRY ADAMS – A BALLYMURPHY MAN
Saturday, February 28 • 2:30 PM • T1
Documentary Feature | Woman Writer & Director | Award Winner
Screening generously sponsored by Martin & Mary Liz Burns
Imprisoned and shot, Gerry Adams was demonized and censored by the establishment media – yet in the end the British and their allies were forced to recognize his legitimacy and negotiate with him and his party Sinn Féin – the result was the Irish peace accord, ‘The Good Friday Agreement’. A Ballymurphy Man is a unique documentary as Adams tells his story for the first time. Illustrated with a wealth of imagery of what is one of the most heavily photographed conflicts of our time. Layers of both still and moving images interwoven with his voice giving an insight into Adams’ world, relaxed, informal, and uncensored. A Mexican produced documentary that tells the story of an Irish political activist.
DIR Trisha Ziff; SCR Trisha Ziff; PROD Trisha Ziff; Ross McDonnell; CAST Gerry Adams; DOP Jeronimo Goded; Seamus McGarvey; SCORE Jacobo Lieberman. Ireland, 2025, color and b&w, 117 min. In English. NOT RATED
AWARDS: Best International Documentary - Galway Film Fleadh 2025, Free Speech Award - Free Speech Film Festival in Philadelphia
"Trisha Ziff’s absorbing documentary reveals a history of Northern Ireland through one man’s life and proves surprisingly emotional in the message of hope that emerges from Adams’ struggles." - Screen International
"★★★★ elegant and unfussy, backed by exemplary archive footage." - The Irish Times
Funded by 212 Berlin, UNAM (Mexico), Wildcard (UK/Ireland), ATOMICA, PIXEL, and Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland.
🎟 For further information regarding bookings:
Please call 301-495-6720 between M-F, 9 AM - 5:30 PM or email silverinfo@AFI.com
Trisha Ziff left England to live in Derry, N. of Ireland in 1981, to establish a photographic and later film workshop with funding from Channel 4. Her role was to put cameras in the hands of local youth to tell their own stories and not depend on the foreign media to interpret their reality.
It was during those years she would meet Adams in both Belfast and Derry as a cultural activist. Over a decade later she met Adams again in Los Angeles, after President Clinton issued him his first visa to visit the U.S.A in 1994, to promote the peace initiative focusing on Irish America. Later Adams would support Ziff when he was banned from attending the opening of an exhibition she curated at the V&A in London on the history of the portrait of Che Guevara by Alberto Korda. This later evolved into her first documentary as a director, Chevolution for Netflix in 2008, in which Adams appears.
DINNER AND A MOVIE DEAL
Our festival partner, McGinty's Public House, has generously offered an ongoing discount from February 27 through March 2 for all CIFF ticket holders! When you dine at the restaurant, show your CIFF ticket or pass for a 10% off discount on your bill. Located just around the corner from AFI Silver Theatre, McGinty's (911 Ellsworth Dr, Silver Spring, MD 20910) is the perfect place to grab a bite to eat between screenings.
The Capital Irish Film Festival is supported by the Government of Ireland Emigrant Support Programme, Culture Ireland, Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, Embassy of Ireland, Northern Ireland Bureau, Northern Ireland Screen, and the Irish Film Institute’s IFI International Programme supported by Culture Ireland. Solas Nua is supported by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities.
