Dúshlán, a new Irish Language Broadcast Fund documentary series on four exceptional individuals facing daunting challenges begins tonight, Monday 9th January at 7.30pm on TG4.
The series features an Irish-speaking US soldier in Afghanistan, a senior Irish republican grappling with the changes in policing in the North, a New York entrepreneur raising £12m for a Cork start-up and an oil explorer in South America.
The first programme ‘An Saighdiúr’ follows Sgt Séamus O Fianghusa, a Brooklyn native of Korean and Irish heritage, as he travels to the frontline in Afghanistan. As Sgt O Fianghusa wrestles with the option of taking on a further tour of duty in the war-ravaged country, we meet his family in New York who would like him to step down from the military and join them on a visit to his beloved Donegal Gaeltacht.
In a trip to West Belfast, Sgt Ó Fianghusa meets with a republican ex-prisoner who tells him that if the pair met in Afghanistan, they would likely be on different sides.
In subsequent weeks, the documentary will focus on Gearóid Ó hEara, the former Sinn Fein mayor of Derry who bid to be Chair of the Policing Board in 2010, as well as on Niall Ó Muilleoir, a New York-based venture capitalist, and globetrotting oil and gas explorer Dave Horgan who travels to Peru and Bolivia to broker new business deals.
The series was made by the recently-established TV production arm of Belfast Media Group, Bóthar Ard. Series director Sonia Nic Jones said; “It is great to have directed a series that gives the audience an in- sight into people’s lives and also takes a fresh look at the challenges facing these individuals in their working environments. The docu-mentary is a mix of hand held obser-vational footage cut with beautifully crafted shots of the countries visited with each individual.”
Dúshlán, 7:30pm Monday 9th January on TG4 and repeated on Saturday at 8:45pm.
