The Films of Arthur MacCaig

ABOUTAVAILABLE TITLESPHOTOS PRESSBIOGRAPHY

 

 

 

The Patriot Game, is now available to rent or buy on


Arthur MacCaig made political documentaries, with a particular career-long focus on the conflicts in Northern Ireland and the Basque Country. Since his death in 2008, his son Dónal Foreman has owned the rights to several of his films, and has also created an award-winning feature documentary, The Image You Missed, drawing on MacCaig's archive.

Many of MacCaig's films are distributed for theatrical and educational contexts in North America through Icarus Films: more info here.

For inquiries about distribution or sales elsewhere, please contact donalforeman@gmail.com

See below for a list of available titles.

 




 

Available Titles

FEATURE FILMS:

The Patriot Game ( 1979, 93' ) ...

Euskadi h'ors d'État ( 1984, 94' )

Irish Ways ( 1989, 53' )

I Am Become Death ( 1994, 52' )

Wearing the Green ( 1994, 52' )

War and Peace in Ireland ( 1998, 88' )

A Song for Ireland ( 2001, 54' )

 

SHORT FILMS:

Ammoniac City ( 1982, 35' )

The Jackets Green ( 1987, 15' )

Against Her Majesty ( 1991, 25' )

Irish Voices ( 1995, 12' )

 


 

Photos by Arthur MacCaig

 

 

 



Press

Interview with Jump Cut

Jump Cut review of The Patriot Game

New York Times review of The Patriot Game

 



 

 


Arthur MacCaig (1948-2008)

Born in Weehawken, New Jersey in 1948, but living most of his life in Paris, Arthur MacCaig directed and produced political documentary films starting in 1978. He received a degree in anthropology from the University of Hawaii in 1971, and a degree from France's National School of Cinema in 1977.

He is best remembered for his debut feature (and film school graduate project), The Patriot Game (1979), a visceral analysis of the conflict in Northern Ireland and one of the first films to passionately portray the Northern Irish nationalist perspective. Produced by Iskra, the French film collective founded by Chris Marker, it was described as “thorough and thoughtful” by Janet Maslin in the New York Times and “informative, vivid and partisan” by J. Hoberman in the Village Voice. It was also described by the UK Foreign Office as “damaging and highly critical of Her Majesty’s Government”. MacCaig would go on to make seven more films in Northern Ireland, charting the evolution of the struggle over a 25 year period, earning unprecedented access to the underground Irish Republican Army.

He would also make several films about another nationalist struggle, that of the Basque-Spanish conflict, beginning with Euskadi: the Stateless Nation, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1984 and was described as “serious, intelligent, and effective”by Libération.

He died in Belfast in 2008.



Complete Filmography (as director)

FEATURES

The Patriot Game
                       
Euskadi: The Stateless Nation  

Irish Ways    

Wearing the Green

I Am Become Death

War and Peace in Ireland

States of Terror

Song of Ireland   

Behind the Mark

 

TV SERIES

The Kalachnikov Years

 

SHORTS

Ammoniac City

Dirty Hands

Understanding Your Child
    
The Jackets Green    

Avenue de la Liberté
                              
Against Her Majesty
     
Irish Voices      
            

Campagna  

The Curse of the T-Rex

The McPeake's School of Traditional Music

 



( 1979, 93' )

( 1984, 94' )

( 1989, 53' )

( 1994, 52' )

(1995, 56' )

(1998, 90' )

( 2000, 59' )

( 2001, 54' )

(2002-2003, 56' )





( 1991-2, 4 x 52' )





( 1982, 35' )

( 1986, 40' )

( 1987, 15' )

( 1987, 15' )

( 1990, 6' )

( 1991, 25' )


( 1995, 12' )

( 1996, 30' )

( 1997, 30' )

( 2001, 22' )


 

For all queries, please contact donalforeman@gmail.com