A documentary film, The Forest Midwife, which follows the transformation of a farm in Corry, Co. Roscommon into a forest and nature reserve will have its local premiere in the Roscommon Arts Centre today (Monday, October 21).
The film follows writer and social entrepreneur Catherine Cleary and her work over the last year. Cleary and her family bought a barren farm near Hillstreet, where she has now planted a native woodland of more than 27,000 trees.
Funded under the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s (DAFM) Forestry Promotion Fund and Roscommon County Council’s arts office, one aim of the film is to highlight the role of the arts in engaging on climate and biodiversity.
The documentary is produced and directed by photographer and filmmaker Beta Bajgart, and includes a specially commissioned piece of writing by award-winning poet and author Kerri Ni Dochartaigh.
Bajgart said The Forest Midwife is “more than a documentary promoting planting trees”: “Ultimately, it is a story about a woman who listens to her midlife calling, and about a relationship between humans and trees.
“It touches on a sensitive topic of farming and land ownership in Ireland and honours the hardship of working the land.”
The Forest Midwife is being shown at the Roscommon Arts Centre today, Monday, October 21, at 8:00p.m. Tickets cost €5 can be booked on the Roscommon Arts Centre website.
The filmmaker plans to travel around Ireland with the film showing it to interested community groups and schools to create and facilitate a discussion on afforestation.
Documentary
The Forest Midwife also features the voice of renowned Irish actor Mary McEvoy, who played the character Biddy on the now iconic Irish television drama, Glenroe.
McEvoy, who grew up in a farming family in Co. Westmeath, said “I don’t usually do voiceovers for documentaries, but this one was particularly close to my heart because I feel very much for trees and for the environment”.
“I thought the script was absolutely beautiful, it’s so poetic and very moving. And I felt it really expressed well the relationship between trees and man,” McEvoy said.
Award winning author Kerry Ní Dochartaigh said “I have been writing about trees, their voices, and hearts, and souls for some time, but to be working with Beta and the team exploring these ideas through the tree herself was very special indeed.”