Film Screening and Performance with Gwilym Bowen Rhys and Grace Toland

Setting off from the Inishowen peninsula, traditonal singer and prodcuer Macdara Yeates meets with singer and local historian Grace and Colm Toland to learn of their grandfather who was interned in Wales for his involvement in the Irish rebellion. While there, the Tolands share their grandfather's prison diaries and letters home during internment and also sing a selection of songs from the revolutionary period.

In Wales, Macdara travels to the site of Frongoch prison camp near Bala in rural Wales. Nicknamed the ‘University of Revolution’ by Irish internees, Frongoch became an accidental breeding ground for leaders such as Michael Collins to plan revolutionary activity, with Welsh guards allowing the captured men to hold regular meetings, play Gaelic football, and conduct regular Irish language classes. While there, Macdara meets with Gwilym Bowen Rhys, an accomplished Welsh language folk singer steeped in the songs of the region, and Alwyn Wilson, the retired farmer currently living on the site where the prison camp once stood who has dedicated much of his life to the commemoration of the camp's history.

Following the screening, Grace Toland and Gwilym Bowen Rhys will take part in a discussion and live performance.

Directed by Bob Gallagher
Produced and Curated by Macdara Yeates

*Please note that all Abair screenings will be available to view on SPF TV until March 26th