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Arts Lives 2010 begins 23 March - RTE1 @ 10.15pm with ‘John Connolly: Of Blood and Lost Things’
RTÉ Television presents six engrossing documentaries about some of Ireland’s most distinguished and lively creative talents including the writer from Rialto whose novels marry gothic horror and crime thriller; the north Dublin boy who was bowled over by Bowie and went on to juggle singing, composing and nannying the biggest rock band on the planet; three stories about the intimate savageries of the Northern Troubles, by the Monaghan writer who made literature of the deaths in the fields around him; the city that never sleeps, seen through the eyes of the award-winning Irish novelist who knows it and writes of its people; and some close encounters between the painter fascinated by boxing and the boxers who see art in their fists.
And this year’s ARTS LIVES season begins this evening, 23 March, with John Connolly: Of Blood and Lost Things RTÉ One, 10.15pm
In 1998 John Connolly won the largest advance ever paid to an Irish writer (£1.3m) yet he doesn’t write about Ireland or the Irish and his gothic crime novels set in Maine have been compared to those of Stephen King and Thomas Harris.
Shot in Dublin, Maine, Baltimore and Washington, John Connolly: Of Blood and Lost Things traces the 40-year-old writer’s literary trajectory from jobbing freelancer with the Irish Times to publishing superstardom on the sale of his first novel, Every Dead Thing, which launched his flawed protagonist, P.I. Charlie (Bird) Parker. The roots of the novel and its location go back some years to his coverage for the Irish Times of the murder of Sri Lankan prostitute Belinda Perreira in Dublin, and to a student summer spent in Portland, Maine.
Featuring dramatised readings from his work the documentary examines the sense of place and atmosphere in Connolly’s work but also includes the story of his Dublin childhood and journey toward becoming a writer. The documentary features interviews with iconic American crime writer George Pelecanos, David Simon, creator of TV’s The Wire, American novelist and friend Laura Lippman, and fellow Irish crime writer Declan Hughes.
Director: Maurice Sweeney
Producer: Yvonne Nolan
Produced by Tyrone Productions for RTÉ
Other documentaries in the ARTS LIVES season will include:
Ladies & Gentlemen, Gavin Friday RTÉ One (6 April)
Gavin Friday - vocalist, musician, producer, painter, actor, and trusted ears of U2 and onetime Virgin Prune – is 50. Ladies and Gentlemen, Gavin Friday is the story of the man, his music and his enduring friendships and collaborations.
Director: Ian Thuillier
Producer: Mike Keane
Produced by Midas Productions for RTÉ
The Bloody Canvas RTÉ One (13 April)
Internationally-renowned abstract painter Sean Scully has been fascinated by boxing and boxers since his childhood in post-war East London – and has practised both boxing and martial arts. In The Bloody Canvas, he embarks on an idiosyncratic journey into the world of the ring in the company of Barry McGuigan, Kevin McBride and Brendan Ingle.
Director: Alan Gilsenan
Producer: Martin Mahon
Produced by Yellow Asylum Films for RTÉ, with the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland
Gilbert O’Sullivan – Out on His Own RTÉ One (20 April)
Gilbert O’Sullivan was Ireland’s first international pop star. In the early 1970s he sat on top of the global charts with, Alone Again (Naturally), Clair, Nothing Rhymed, Get Down and Matrimony. The poster pin-up star was up there with the likes of Elton John and The Osmonds but by the mid 70s his career began to wane and by the time he came out of a long legal dispute with his manager in the mid 80s his career had drifted into relative obscurity where it has stayed ever sense. Today, the 62-year-old O’Sullivan is still working, touring and recording from his homes on Jersey and in Nashville, still songwriting from Monday to Friday, nine-to-five, driven to achieve again the chart success he once had.
Director: Adrian McCarthy
Producers: Adrian McCarthy, Martha O’Neill
Produced by Wildfire Films for RTÉ
Colum McCann – Becoming a New Yorker RTÉ One (4 May)
Cursed with a happy childhood in South Dublin, for Colum McCann the city of New York has been home for fifteen years. And the city is home, too, for the characters of many of his novels, including the Bronx prostitutes and uptown matrons of his recent novel Let the Great World Spin, winner in 2009 of the most prestigious prize in US fiction – The National Book Award.
Director: Charlie McCarthy
Producer: Clíona Ní Bhuachalla
Produced by Icebox Films for RTÉ
A Time Of War RTÉ One (18 May)
In the 1970s the writer Eugene McCabe translated the intimate and brutal violence around his County Monaghan home into three powerfully intense stories: Victims, Cancer and Heritage, all later adapted by him for television as the Victims trilogy. With McCabe and his family, as well as former enemies from the Northern Troubles, A Time of War looks back at the events which inspired those stories and the human cost behind their creation.
Director: Dara McCluskey
Producer: Mike Keane
Produced by Midas Productions for RTÉ
