Updated July 2, 2016

The DVD is no longer available for purchase at the official website. Sorry!

Updated December 15

GREAT NEWS! The documentary has a new website from which you can purchase the DVD!

Ireland’s Great Hunger and the Irish Diaspora is a fifty-minute documentary by Rebecca Abbott and narrated by Gabriel Byrne.

Buy the DVD and then come back here to talk about it!

Many thanks to Rebecca Abbott for making this possible!

irelands-great-hunger-image-01-20151215from the documentary website

Updated November 27

Producer Rebecca Abbott reports the DVD for the documentary should be available in about two weeks time. Stay tuned here for purchase details!

This is exciting news! I know we are all interested in this new film and it is great that we will be able to watch it soon.

October 18

Gabriel Byrne narrates this new documentary about the Irish Famine: Ireland’s Great Hunger and the Irish Diaspora.

The film’s producers, Rebecca Abbott and Liam O’Brien, examine not only the physical reasons, such as the appearance of the blight, that caused the period of hunger often dubbed the “Irish Famine,” but also the historical, social and political circumstances that caused it to have such a devastating and lasting effect on its people.

“Understanding how the Great Hunger happened can help us see – and perhaps prevent – similar situations that are developing and taking place in the world today,” said Abbott, who filmed and edited the documentary.

“I feel the documentary will help viewers develop a deeper understanding of a major, tragic event in world history.

“I hope by getting a better understanding of the historical, cultural and political events leading up to and surrounding the Great Hunger, audiences will begin to see how this understanding can give insight into events taking place today.”

Throughout the documentary, Abbott, a professor in the Department of Film, Television and Media Arts at Quinnipiac University, also speaks to descendants of those Great Hunger survivors who fled Ireland in the hopes of escaping hunger and poverty, aiming to make a better life for themselves on foreign shores. The film will focus, in particular, on those who fled Ireland through a Canadian quarantine station, and those whose maternal ancestors emigrated to Australia under the Earl Grey scheme from 1849 to 1852.

[The Irish Central article about the film is no longer available.]

The documentary has its premiere Tuesday, November 10, at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, USA.

The viewing, sponsored by Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac, is free and open to the public.

5 Comments

  1. Isabel Margarita Gandarillas

    THIS IS GOOD, REALLY GOOD and with depth.

  2. I have visited the site of one of the quarantine stations, now a National Historic Site in Canada. It was a moving experience. Will look out for this documentary.

    • Thanks for sharing the Canadian aspects of this history, Angelle. Much appreciated!

      I know we are all looking forward to seeing this documentary!

  3. Joe Dougherty

    Where can this film be purchased?

    Joe Dougherty
    President, NC State Board
    Ancient Order of Hibernians

    • Hi, Joe! Thanks for visiting the website!

      As far as I know, this documentary just recently had its premiere in the US. I am not sure it is available for purchase yet.

      I will contact the producer. Thanks! :-)

      Edited to add: Producer Rebecca Abbott informs me that the DVD for the documentary should be available in just a few weeks! So stay tuned here for purchase details!

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