Derek O'Connor

Bringing this panel of folks to the @IFI_Dub to talk about documentary this Saturday. A mere fiver. Stall down. Tickets here ifi.ie/film/ifi-docum… it brought to you by #Inrealife run by @OldDerekOConnor and myself funded by @ScreenIreland

Thanks a mill @EPfestival for hosting our #InRealLife panel of @mickmahon13 @aoifekelleher and @CiaranCass - after making my first short film at #electricpicnic many years ago it was cool to be on the bill at last thanks @OldDerekOConnor and @ScreenIreland for making it happen

The next #inreallife session w/ @lukemcmanus, moi & @ScreenIreland is in #Mindfield at @electricpicnic talking w/ three of Ireland's best docmakers @aoifekelleher @mickmahon13 & @CiaranCass this Saturday @ 6.15pm - we're screening X3 great Irish docs, too! Info below:

After events at @dublinFilmFest and @docsireland the next #inreallife show is at @electricpicnic at #Mindfield - three of Ireland's best docmakers in conversation @aoifekelleher @mickmahon13 & @CiaranCass on @naoisen 's #Leviathan stage @OldDerekOConnor @ScreenIreland

Most baller late night show guest entrance in TV history

What is the best movie you've ever seen that looks like a painting?

I wrote a little about my time working with Edna O’Brien in her final year; she was valiant, funny, and a genius to the end. irishtimes.com/culture/books/…

I’ve been working relentlessly on a doc on the local elections in Dublin’s North Inner City - #thelocals airs at 935pm Monday July 15 on @RTEOne & @RTEplayer @DubCityCouncil @JanetPHorner @RayMcAdam #geraldinemolloy @MalachySteenson @nialring @BrianGarrigan @DanielEnnis2024

What a fantastic morning @DocsIreland for IN REAL LIFE - a deep dive into audiences, distribution and exhibition for Irish documentary. Thanks to @lukemcmanus for asking us along to @BlackBoxBelfast to chair a panel of brilliant programmers from the top cinemas in Ireland.

Documentarians! Myself & @OldDerekOConnor pulled this interesting lineup for a @docsireland event about giving docs a cinema life - we just released a few extra tickets for it, happening this Friday - don't miss out ... #docsireland #inreallife docsireland2024.eventive.org/schedule/in-re…

Excited to announce the return of the Sound! festival at Regional @CulturalCentre in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal from May 2nd-5th, celebrating the art of music and sound in film with a killer line-up - find out more here, and do spread the good word: regionalculturalcentre.com/sound2024/

We have @SineadEOShea (Pray For Our Sinners), @ZlataFilipovic (@ASecretFilm) & Alice Black of @ElementPictures / @LightHouseD7 talking event cinema + the importance of being in the room. More to come in 2024 - hear more on Sunday 24th thanks to @screenireland for support 2/2

Let’s do this! It’s @DublinFilmFest time! @lukemcmanus & I are working on a new project about Irish documentary cinema and its cultural relevance & impact and our first panel called In The Room is at @ComplexDublin on Sunday 25th Feb at 430pm - info here diff.ie/movie/in-the-r…

It's almost @DublinFilmFest time! @OldDerekOConnor & I are working on a new project about Irish documentary cinema and its cultural relevance & impact and our first panel called In The Room is at @ComplexDublin on Sunday 25th Feb at 430pm - tix here diff.ie/movie/in-the-r… 1/2

Once in a lifetime. Talking Heads reunite at #TIFF2023 for the @IMAX world premiere of STOP MAKING SENSE.

Caint an-spéisiúil le Colm Bairéad agus Katie Holly ag Electric Picnic inniu. Insightful talk by @ColmBairead and @katieholly hosted by @OldDerekOConnor about all things Irish film and #AnCailínCiúin at @EPfestival today 🎪☀️

Pray For Our Sinners is the story of a resistance, with a twist, in a small Irish town. It's now the most attended documentary in Ireland this year and is on new platforms from today 💚 Itunes Amazon Google Microsoft/playstation Rakuten Sky Virgin

Been a little while since I Picnic’d properly, but really looking forward to talking all things Irish film with producer @katieholly & @OldDerekOConnor this Sunday at 4pm on the Manifesto stage (Mindfield) @EPfestival 🎪🎞️🇮🇪

1/4 Hey there - it’s been a while since we Tweeted but we are looking for retweets (re-X’s??) to show Poppy all dressed up for her first day back at school yesterday only to discover her school bus service has been ‘suspended’ at less than 24hr notice. Thanks to everyone…contd

12 Reasons Why Cities Need More Trees: 1. Temperature Control One large tree is equivalent to 10 air conditioning units, and the shade they provide can reduce street temperature by more than 30%. 2. Noise Reduction Trees can reduce loudness by up to 50%. In urban areas filled with the sound of cars, construction, sirens, aeroplanes, and music, trees are essentially the best way to block noise and keep cities — along with the homes and workplaces in them — quieter. 3. Air Purity Trees remove an astonishing amount of harmful pollutants and toxins from the air. In urban areas air quality is often disastrously bad — with severe consequences for our health. Trees make the air we breathe much cleaner. 4. Oxygen And, while absorbing all those pollutants, trees also put more oxygen back into the urban environment. Oxygen levels are significantly lower in cities compared to the countryside; trees help to solve that problem. 5. Water Management Trees do more than just shelter us and our buildings from rain — which is, in fact, extremely important. They also absorb huge quantities of water, reduce run-off, neutralise the severity of flooding, and make flooding more unlikely altogether. Not to forget that their roots absorb pollutants and prevent them from feeding back into a city's water supply. 6. Psychological Health Studies have proven what we instinctively know to be true: that human beings are significantly happier when surrounded by nature rather than sterile urban environments. Our emotions, behaviour, and thoughts are shaped by the places we spend time — and trees have a profoundly positive effect on our psychology. The consequential benefits of being happier and more peaceful — as individuals and as a society — are immense. 7. Physical Health Beyond all the other ways in which trees improve air quality and the urban environment, much to the benefit of our health, they also encourage people to go outside. Cycling, running, and walking are all more common in urban areas with plenty of trees. A knock-on effect of people spending more time outdoors is also social integration and stronger communities. 8. Privacy A simple point, but not inconsequential, is that trees provide privacy. 9. Economics The total economic benefit of urban trees is hard to calculate. There are costs, of course, including the repair of infrastructure damaged by roots and maintaining the trees themselves. But the total economic benefit — a consequence of everything else in this list and more — far outweighs the expenditure. Trees make cities wealthier. 10. Wildlife Trees are miniature cities all of their own, serving as a habitat for hundreds of different species, including birds and mammals and insects. 11. Light Pollution Trees don't only block the light shining down, therefore keeping us and our cities cooler — they also disrupt light shining up, from street lighting, cars, houses, and billboards. Skies are clearer in cities with more trees. 12. Aesthetics And, finally, trees are beautiful. They break up the potential monotony of urban environments — the sharp geometry, the greyscale roads and buildings, the endless rows of cars — with their trunks, boughs, canopies, and flowers. Just think: the gold and red of falling leaves in autumn, the white and pink blossom of spring, the vast green canopies of summer, and the branches lined with hoar-frost in winter. Every single tree is a myriad of intricacy and texture, of colour and scent, of dappled light on the pavement, mottled bark, knotted roots, of clustered leaves and delicate petals and stern boughs. Few streets would not be improved by the kaleidoscopic aesthetic delights of a tree, not to mention the many different species of tree, all over the world, whether willow, oak, lime, cherry, aspen, maple, birch, horse chestnut, dogwood, hornbeam, ash, sycamore... the list goes on. There are some drawbacks to urban trees, most of them context-specific, and they are not — of course — universally appropriate. But it seems fair to say that many cities would benefit from at least a few more trees here and there.