Film 25 | 25 years x 25 stories
British Council
“What we’ve just witnessed isn’t just history, it’s the impossible”
In April 2023, twenty-five 25-year olds from Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the UK were invited to contribute their response to and reflection on the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement as its 25-year anniversary approached.
Tasked by the British Council to capture these responses on film, bigO created Film 25, a balanced, understated piece that highlights the relevance and importance of the Agreement to the young contributors – each of whom were born in the year it was signed.
Directed by Ignas Laugalis, the purpose of the film was to understand how the Agreement has shaped the contributors’ experience of the last 25 years and to hear their ambitions and hopes for the next 25.
Context
“My hopes for the next 25 years would be that integration triumphs segregation”
Grounded from the outset with soundbites from 1998 news broadcasts and with text overlay giving the viewer context, the film’s tone is informative and conversational with a strong emotive undercurrent.
Nine people were interviewed about their experiences while the remaining 16 are visually represented throughout the piece. The film’s end sees a variety of faces, voices and accents powerfully reciting the terms of the Agreement in unison to camera.
“Peace is something that I’ve grown up with and it’s just all I’ve ever known”
Film 25 won Gold for Best Advertising Film at the 2023 Kinsale Shark Awards.
