Just as film is the art form of this century, so nationalism is its chief political ideology. Next weekend sees a challenging exploration of how one can mirror the other with the pathfinding conference "Nationalisms: Visions and Revisions" at Irish Film Centre, Dublin. Billed as the first major attempt to reassess Irish nationalism after the momentous political events of this year, the event excavates the national film and TV archives, and use s leading academics and commentators to facilitate discourse.
Thirty minutes after the Taoiseach Mr Ahern delivers the opening address on Friday evening, the music of Sean O Riada will summon up the unforgettable strains of Mise Eire, the 1959 Gael Linn film which drove home the emotional agenda of a heroic Irish Ireland betrayed by the imperial ambitions of its larger neighbour. By Saturday, the story gets nicely complicated through footage of events such as Sir Edward Carson's address on the 224th anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne, in 1914, or highlights of Mr Asquith and Lady Wimbourne inspecting the Voluntary Training Corps in May 1916 - this mediated by Sinn Fein's Jerry Kelly.
Academics Gearoid O Tuathaigh and Paul Bew develop the tracings with images from the 1947 All-Ireland Football Final uniquely held in New York, with Bew in particular examining the latent ethnic strains becoming visible in, for example, a 1949 interview with Sean MacBride about the passing of the Republic of Ireland Act, and the 1961 celebrations marking the return of the gunrunning Asgard to its original embarkation point in Howth harbour. Saturday night's screening of The Tear And The Smile (1959) follows Margaret MacCurtain's close-up look at the fractures starting to show in 1960s cultural identity, from the return of Sir Roger Casement's body to Ireland to the banning of all of Edna O'Brien's oncerisque books.
Sunday is summing-up day, with Irish Times columnist, Mary Holland, and Northern Ireland Assembly member, David Ervine, casting a cold eye on recent events, as portrayed through documentary footage, from the burning of Dublin's British Embassy after Bloody Sunday, to the Enniskillen bombing in 1987 and eventually to the raucous reception which greeted the Balcombe Street gang at this year's Sinn Fein ard fheis. Dr Luke Gibbons offers the closing address.
Finally Damien Kiberd, the newspaper editor who notoriously opposed the Belfast agreement, joins a panel of film-makers and historians to examine whether nationalism is indeed a dead ideology. Fascinating clips, a great line-up of speakers, and the promise of some passionate debate.
The conference runs from Friday, November 13th at 7 p.m. to Sunday 15th. Three-day attendance costs £25. Details from the Irish Film Archive at 01- 677 8788 or from the Irish Film Centre at 01-679 5744.