A Partnership between Relapse Pictures, Belfast City Council, Clonard Residents Association, Department for Communities and Future Screens NI
Award Winning Documentary Maker Dr Seán Murray of Relapse Pictures recently completed his PhD at Queenʼs University Belfast, a key partner of FSNI. Seán and his company won the 2019 Royal Television Society Award for Best Documentary. When the Covid-19 Crisis hit, Seán transformed his film studio into a Hub to provide food and support to families across Belfast. The actions of Seán, volunteers and partners have ensured that 100ʼs of children, families, vulnerable people and older people have had access to food and support and have remained connected during the ongoing Covid-19 crisis supporting people to stay home and save lives.
Sean is also working with Future Screens NI to assist communities to remain connected. In particular he is broadening access to technology and encouraging residents to share their stories of the crisis.
“Iʼm recently widowed living alone with COPD. I havenʼt left the house in weeks. At the start of this I felt frightened and alone. My family live all over Ireland and are not close by. They are doing their best but could not get to me every day. Seán from Relapse Pictures has delivered food, checked in on me and helped me stay safe well. I donʼt know what I would have done without them.”
Belfast Resident, aged 73
“Our project hopes to understand the narrative within local communities in the context of Covid 19 in order to shape the way we both think and prepare for similar, future events. Key to this is how we technologise our connectedness and shared experiences in reinforcing social cohesiveness for the most vulnerable. We are a grassroots production company embedded in the local community and this funding will go a long way to making a difference in the current economic climate.”
Dr Seán Murray, Award Winning Documentary Maker, Relapse Pictures
