Interview by Brad Balfour
In 1998, the Good Friday Agreement was signed, putting an end to the 30-year conflict known as The Troubles, ushering in a springtime of peace. This peace is now threatened by the specter of Brexit.
Brexit was pitched as a simple withdrawal and exertion of sovereignty, but instead has become a source or potential economic disaster reignited nationalism and murder in the streets. In June 2016, the British government held a public referendum to decide the future of the United Kingdom’s in the European Union. A majority of those who voted chose to leave the EU.
On Dec. 31st 2020, The United Kingdom officially left The European Union, taking Northern Ireland with it. By default, The Republic Of Ireland is now being drawn into Brexit’s future financial and political consequences.
An accomplished filmmaker, historian, and actor, Rory Duffy — with producer Hannah Richert — put together A Fragile Peace: Inside Brexit and Belfast. In the film, he follows four people from Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom as they navigate this uncertain time. Development on A Fragile Peace started in mid 2018. By the end of that year, an 11-minute short film had been completed, and development on the feature-length film began in earnest. 
Development transitioned to active pre-production in January 2020, and culminated with a two-month production in the spring. Production took place in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Four subjects — a dairy farmer, two young students, and a civil servant — were interviewed and followed by the crew for several weeks each.
During the development and pre-production process, interviews with various public figures and private citizens continued to express the breadth and reach of the consequences surrounding Brexit. The film — currently 30 minutes long — shines a light on the hopes, fears, and journey of the people of Northern Ireland living through this uncertain time.
Nowadays, Duffy writes and narrates the podcast Mysteries From The Past, available on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher. In academia, Mr. Duffy’s work on the John F. Kennedy administration won the inaugural Judith Stein Award in Political Economy. He is currently an adjunct professor of history at The City College of New York. As an actor, he performed Off- Broadway in the following: It’s A Wonderful Life, The Shadow of a Gunman, Juno and the Paycock, The Plough and the Stars, Banished Children of Eve, Camelot on Broadway, Television: Law and Order: SVU, Blue Bloods, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
This Q&A was conducted in advance of the film’s virtual screening on January 14th at 8:00pm (with a discussion afterwards). It screens as part of the film section of the all-virtual 13th annual Origin 1st Irish Theatre Festival running from January 11 to 31, 2021.
Q: What were the biggest challenges in making this?
RD: The biggest challenge to making this film is, like other films, raising funds to produce the project at the level the story requires. It is such a delicate subject that it requires empathy, understanding, and time. The other challenge is the six-hour time difference between the US, Ireland, and the UK. Traveling there to shoot obviously cost more than shooting something locally in New York. However, I must acknowledge the professionalism and skill of the filmmakers in Northern Ireland. They are extremely talented and incredibly easy to work with. And they care. This wasn’t just a gig to them. This is their history. Their response to everything was “we’ll get it sorted.” And they were right. You couldn’t ask for a better crew. Nonetheless, organizing remote shoots when something happened on the Brexit front was stressful and challenging.
Q: How did you decide on the length?
RD: Right now, we are showing the opening 30 minutes of a 90-minute film. However, the scope and size of this story could be an episodic series since the story goes back centuries to when the English first invaded Ireland. But it all comes down to our budget. Covid has hurt us. It has hurt our fundraising capabilities. Because of Covid, we decided to put out the first 30 minutes to show our donors and followers where we are in the process and hopefully raise money.
Q: When did you decide to transition from actor to filmmaker?
RD: It wasn’t so much as a transition from one to the other. I studied film in college and it has always been my first love. I inadvertently fell into acting and became part of the Irish Repertory Theatre family, and the Irish Rep will always be home to me. Charlotte Moore gave me my start and has always been my biggest supporter besides my mother. I was lucky enough to be successful in acting but I have a deep passion for film, and always wanted to use the film medium to tell stories. I’m also an adjunct professor of history at City College and marrying film and history has always been a goal of mine.
Q: Who or what served as role models?
RD: My father was and still is my biggest role model. He was in the FDNY for 20 years and I’ve seen him run towards many emergencies while others froze. He has supported every interest I ever had and supported me financially when I struggled to make money in acting or filmmaking.
Q: What was your education?
RD: I studied theater performance at Trinity College, Dublin and then acting at HB Studios. After appearing on Law and Order: SVU, I applied to graduate school at City College in the History program.
Q: Where did your the doc training begin?
RD: The documentary training came from working as an actor on Mysteries at the Museum, and as an assistant to director of photography Ronan Killeen, a Galway man, who is one of the best documentary DP’s in the business, in my opinion.
Q: How much research did it take?
RD: For research, I would try to the best of my ability to stay on top of the coverage of Brexit from Ireland, The UK, and the United States. I tried to read everything written by Fintan O’Toole on Brexit. But talking to the characters in the film weekly was the best way to stay abreast of the situation on the ground. For historic research, I devoured every book and movie on The Troubles, and Brexit. There are some great BBC documentaries about Brexit that were really informative.
I also did research on The Good Friday Agreement online in the digital archives of President Clinton’s Presidential Library. Works that really influenced me were Senator Mitchell’s book Making Peace, Tim Pat Coogan’s The Troubles, Ten Men Dead by David Beresford, The Good Friday Agreement by Siobhan Fenton and Brexit by Harold D Clarke, Matthew Goodwin, and Paul Whiteley.
Q: How intuitive was the process of making this film?
RD: The process was not that intuitive because the story is so dramatic, scary, and fascinating that our only rule of thumb was don’t get in the way: just keep the cameras in focus. The people we were lucky enough to find, that allowed us into their lives, are on the frontlines of this issue and have some much at stake. We are just communicators for them. The historians we spoke to were all brilliant. But people care about this. Our producer Hannah Richert cares deeply about this. When we were just starting out, Congressman Richard Neal, the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, sat down with us for over an hour. He cares.
Q: What do you see in the future now that Brexit has been done?
RD: Since we now know a hard border will not happen, it will be interesting to see how the Unionist community reacts to the sea border[ issue]. Will they feel abandoned by Westminster? Smuggling is still an issue as well. I think we are on the road to a united Ireland because of Brexit. Northern Ireland will start to look south towards the Republic of Ireland due to economic reasons. It feels as though there is a strongly supported move towards a united Ireland. Following the development of that will be historic.
And, we are, to my knowledge, the only American crew following this historic moment.
[To make a tax-deductible donation to the project visit: www.afragilepeacefilm.com].
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