By Paddy McCarthy
I was so privileged to be invited to the screening of Gerry Adams: A Ballymurphy Man documentary. Thanks to Marty Glennon of Archer Byington, Glennon, LLP and also to the who’s who of the Irish community that had attended. The screening was held on Sunday at the The Guthart Cultural Center Theater is located on the first floor of the Annix Library on Hofstra’s South Campus. Here are some of the guests that were invited that Marty Glennon acknowledged on the evening. He told the audience that he needed to acknowledge everyone that made this night a reality. He also the generous sponsors who made the event possible: The Irish American Building Society (Marty Cottingham and Gerard McCabe), The Nassau County Brehons (President Cathy Stanton), The AOH (National President – Sean Pender), The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick (Bobby Gordon), Dan Deegean, Walter Kane and his family, Sean Downes and the NYC Brehons (President Deirdre Feerick), 8. The JCIALC (Deirdre Feerick and President John Samuelsen), IBEW, Local 3 and his firm and partners at Archer, Byington, Glennon & Levine. He also thanked Hofstra University – especially Dom Lavin (and his daughter Aileen), Neil Collins and their technician for the evening. Lastly, he gave a big shout out to Billy Tranghese who jumped right in when he told him that he wanted to do a NE tour for this film. Billy arranged the sponsors and the venues in both DC and Boston.
Marty also introduced the special guest on the evening, the director of the film, Trisha Ziff saying: “Trisha is one of the most important documentary voices of our time—an artist who moves effortlessly between the worlds of photography, memory, and political storytelling. Her films have taken us from Mexico City to Belfast, from the personal to the global, always reminding us that history is not an abstraction—it’s lived, it’s felt, and it shapes the people we become.”
Marty finished by telling us that Gerry Adams: A Ballymurphy Man, does something profound: “It takes us back to a community shaped by occupation, surveillance, discrimination, and unimaginable loss—and yet it is also shaped by solidarity, humor, and the stubborn hope that peace is possible. Ballymurphy is not just a place on a map; it is a reminder of what happens when a community is pushed to the margins, and what it takes for that same community to rise. And as we gather here in New York, it’s impossible not to feel the timeless bond between the story Trisha Ziff tells and the world we’re living in right now.
“The images that still come from the Ukraine and Gaza—of families displaced, neighborhoods destroyed, children carrying burdens no child should know—remind us that the cycle of conflict and suffering continues in our own time.
“While every conflict has its own history, its own wounds, there are universal truths: the cost borne by civilians, the weight carried by mothers, the danger of dehumanization, and the urgent moral demand for justice and peace.
“The film is not only a portrait of Gerry Adams; it is a reflection on how conflict shapes ones’ identity, how communities resist eradication of their language and culture, and how the journey toward peace begins with telling the truth.”
Thank you so much for inviting The Irish Examiner USA to be part of this event Marty, I do appreciate it very much.
Make sure that you go and see it when it is released for screening very soon, look here for future screening details. Thank you again. I want to finish my Out&About column by thanking both Trisha Ziff and Marty Glennon as I do appreciate it very much for been invited to represent The Irish Examiner USA.
I hope to see you again next week when I am Out&About about again.