Main St
Swinford, Co. Mayo
Ireland
Swinford native Breege Rowley, an award-winning independent film editor with over 20 years industry experience, is putting the finishes touches to her feature documentary ‘All Our Yesterdays’ to be screened in The Gateway Hotel on 1 June, as part of the ‘Swinford 250’ celebrations.
Breege, who is a member of Mayo Association Dublin, is currently in the process of completing her documentary, which she says has significant social and historical benefits. “Whilst the film is locally based in Swinford, its effect is much more far reaching as it challenges the notion of the impending death of rural Irish communities.
“As the late Mayo-born journalist John Healy once said ‘No one shouted Stop’, the main purpose of the film is to assist in shouting STOP by shining a light on the realities of life in Mayo now and then, showing how a community can effect change by embracing its past,” according to Breege.
The documentary follows the story of a typical rural Mayo village and its inhabitants over the past 100 years, recording their sense of identity, family, inclusiveness and community which endears today. The film serves as a metaphor for the traditional rural life in Mayo and Ireland through the words and experiences of the ordinary person, and she hopes that it will be viewed as “an important historical archive” in the years to come.