Protected: Bloomsday & Beyond
Department of Foreign Affairs
Global voices celebrating an island of writers
The Department of Foreign Affairs asked bigO to create a film celebrating Irish literature’s global reach. We designed Bloomsday & Beyond, rooted in James Joyce’s Ulysses, to extend far beyond Bloomsday. It features international participants sharing personal connections to Irish books of all types. Our approach combined documentary-style interviews with cinematic portrait shots and location b-roll. Participants from different countries spoke about writers like Seamus Heaney and Sally Rooney in English and their native languages. The finished film shows how Irish writing crosses borders and cultures.
Context
We captured 10-20 second personal reflections using specific questions about literary impact.
Slow-motion portraits added emotional texture.
B-roll featured bookshops, libraries, and cityscapes to ground stories in local contexts.
The Department of Foreign Affairs shared the film for Bloomsday 2025, urging audiences to “pick up something by an Irish writer.”
We aimed to show that Irish literature isn’t confined to one day, one writer, or one place. It lives through global readers who find meaning in the stories. As the campaign stated, “Irish writing resonates all over our world.”
