Exclusive Q&A by Brad Balfour
A new documentary, “A Fragile Peace: Brexit and Northern Ireland,” has started its festival run and recently won Best Feature Documentary at the Crown Points International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Feature Documentary at The Big Apple Film Festival 2024. The film has won Best Documentary Feature Film at the
New York Movie Awards and has been in various fests including East Village New York Film Festival, Toronto Arts & Entertainment Film Festival, Massachusetts International Film Festival, New York Monthly Film Festival, Austin International Art Festival, Crown Point International Film Festival among others.
Since that time, the film has won various Best Doc awards and is also screening at the Queens Film Festival on July 12th as part of a block titled “In a State of Change.” The screening will be held at Court Square Theater (44-02 23rd St, Long Island City) from 3:30-9:40 pm.
Telling about the intersection of history and the present, the film is about The Good Friday Agreement, a peace agreement that many assumed was solid but now faces new and unexpected challenges due to Brexit. Signed in 1998, the agreement created a delicate balance of identities, political parties, and loyalties within Northern Ireland. However, Brexit reopened a wound that many thought was healed, casting uncertainty on the future of this hard-won peace.
Presented by director Rory Duffy, “A Fragile Peace” follows three people from the North as they try to maintain peace during this uncertain time: Damian McGenity, a farmer who lives close to the border, MEP Martina Anderson, a politician from Derry, and Aron Hughes a young political activist advocating for a second referendum.
The film was shot in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States and features interviews with Congressman Richard Neal, Ambassador Nancy Soderberg, Mayor John Boyle, NYU historian John Waters, Methodist Minister Gary Mason, historian Peter Shirlow with an appearance by Senator George Mitchell.
With grandparents who are from Donegal and Mayo, Duffy is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, and adjunct professor of United States history at City College of New York. As an actor, Duffy has had recurring roles on Blue Bloods, Law and Order SVU, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. His thesis on the John F. Kennedy Administration won the Judith Stein Prize in Political Economy. On stage and screen, he has worked with director Hal Hartley, Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons, and Amy Sherman- Palladino.
“A Fragile Peace: Brexit and Northern Ireland” is produced and directed by Duffy, and co-produced by Hyun Joo Lee. His production company Maci Duffy Productions, which he co-runs with wife Hyun Joo Lee, produces films with a concentration on history, politics, and art.
Q: What compelled you to make this film?
Rory Duffy: The potential for a return of violence to the North of Ireland due to Brexit was what compelled me to start developing a documentary film. We started following events as they unfolded hoping the Good Friday Agreement stayed intact. And thankfully, it has.
Q: How did you decide on the structure of the film and where it would begin?
Rory Duffy: The footage we had informed us of where to start and the structure of the film. And then it’s about not getting in the way or doing too much. The script changed based on what we had to tell the best story we could.
Q: What were the complications you encountered and how did you overcome them?
Rory Duffy: Complications we encountered was access to people, funding, and time. Right in the middle of production, Covid- 19 hit and we could not get over to the North to film. The best you can do is show up, be ready, and hope that you get something usable. The amazing thing is that when you do show up you are usually rewarded with something that is cinematic.
Q: How did you decide on who to focus on?
Rory Duffy: I know I wanted a farmer close to the border, a politician juggling the Good Friday Agreement and Brexit and a young activist. I then started asking around and people wanted to help, and they started connecting me with people. I met a few candidates and the ones I hit it off with I asked them to be the subjects in the film. Thankfully, I got everyone I wanted and I can’t thank them enough.
Q: It must have taken a lot to understand the politics behind Brexit where did you begin?
Since it was a current event I began with reading a lot of articles. By the time we were in the middle of production books began to be published so I read those. But the politics behind Brexit is kind of simple- nationalism, isolationism, and anti-immigration. The politics of grievance.
Q: Talk about the path it took to get this film from a short to feature?
Rory Duffy: Great question. It was never a short film or intended to be one. It was always a feature film. We put out a piece of the film during Covid to make sure our supporters knew we were still going strong and that the film looked great.
I don’t know if that was the right move in hindsight, but at the moment, it felt like the right thing to do to try and increase funding.
Q: Was it hard to get funding and what was the breakthrough?
Rory Duffy: It is very hard to get funding. There is a limited amount of money, and a lot of artists looking for funding. I don’t think there was a moment that was a breakthrough but it was more sticking to it and people responding with donations after seeing some of the footage. The community has been so supportive and really got behind us from journalists, university departments, to people who care about Northern Ireland.
Q: How have you been building audiences?
Rory Duffy: We have been building an international audience through screenings at festivals around the world, and word of mouth.
Q: In editing this, did you develop it through an outline, a script or story boards?
Rory Duffy: A broad outline was constructed for the film with a clear definitive ending before shooting began. I knew the last shot and had to structure the footage we had that brought it to that last shot.
Q: As you put it together did you have to go back and shoot further footage?
Rory Duffy: We only started editing the feature after all the footage was assembled. We went to the North in Oct, 2019 and were planning on going back March 2020 but then Covid hit. We did not get back until January 2023 to shoot with our subjects and then we started editing the film.
Q: When did you know you had completed the film?
Rory Duffy: We knew we had a finished film when we knew we told the best story we could with the footage we had.
Q: Who do you view as the heroes and villains captured in this film?
Rory Duffy: I try not to view it as heroes and villains like a Marvel film because its real historical events and people on both sides suffered immense trauma. I try to stay as neutral as I can, but I have my own opinions and biases. But I view the heroes as the people who day in and day out work towards peace.
For tickets go to: https://www.queensfilmfest.com/in-a-state-of-change