OUT OF IRELAND (DOCUMENTARY) DVD, CD, BOOKLET

Item details:
Out of Ireland traces the story of flight from the famine swept villages of 19th century Ireland to the industrialised cities of America. The Program personalises this transatlantic journey by focusing on the lives of eight specific immigrants, utilising letters they wrote home to Ireland describing their experiences. Narrated by Kelly McGillis with Readings by Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne, Brenda Fricker and Aidan Quinn.
In Ireland the story is of a people yarning for change even as they clung desperately to ancient traditions. In America , the story is of Policemen and Maids, Priests and Politicians,Rogues,Wanderes, and Victims of discrimination, bemoaning their forced depature from the old world even as they reaped the benefits of the New World.
The mid-19th century famine in Ireland set the stage for one of the first big waves of European immigrants to America. they tested and profoundly changed America's notion if itself. As Walt Whitman would say , America had become a 'nation of nation' Out of Ireland, therefore , is about all Americans and the profound historical and psychological consequences which are our heritage as a nation of immigrants.
CD. Many of America's finest Irish musicians join here with producer/arranger Mick Moloney to create a beautiful musical tapestry to complement the epic story of Irish emigration to America.