A DOCUMENTARY about the life of Gerry Adams is set to premiere this Friday in West Belfast, despite the film not being fully completed.

‘Gerry Adams: A Ballymurphy Man (Work in Progress)’ is a portrait of the former Sinn Féin President’s life from his childhood up to the present day and was made by Mexican filmmaker Trisha Ziff. The screening will take place on Friday at 7pm at the Omniplex, Kennedy Centre as part of Belfast Film Festival.

Trisha said she has been making the film ever since she first approached Mr Adams while he was still a TD for Louth in 2018. Trisha explained that she had met the former West Belfast MP a number of times before, when she ran a community photography workshop in Derry in 1981 and again years later when she was involved in his visit to Los Angeles after President Clinton allowed his visa to enter the US.

Trisha said: “The film has been a long while in the making and there were delays making the film due to the pandemic but as it’s the Belfast Film Festival coming up we decided to show it to an audience here as a work in progress.”

FILM: Documentary crew members Ariel de la Garza, Julio Meyer, Cristina Esquerra (sound) Jeronimo Goded (camera), Gerry Adams, Trisha Ziff and Richard McAuley in Donegal during the making of the documentary
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FILM: Documentary crew members Ariel de la Garza, Julio Meyer, Cristina Esquerra (sound) Jeronimo Goded (camera), Gerry Adams, Trisha Ziff and Richard McAuley in Donegal during the making of the documentary

Asked how it was to work with Gerry over the years Trisha said: “He was very amenable and open, he was patient and I was demanding at times but we had an agreement and we both stuck to it. I first met Gerry as a community arts worker in Derry in 1981 and I was involved to a little degree with him getting his visa from President Clinton, and I met him again while shooting a documentary on Che Guevara in 2008 called ‘Chevolution’.

“The documentary goes from childhood to the present day. I learned a lot about his humanity and sense of humour when he was relaxed. There were also moments when he was incredibly stressed and he tells his point of view in relation to many events in the conflict. He clarifies his position on several things, but it’s a relaxed portrait.”

Trisha was asked if the documentary would challenge mainstream media narratives about Gerry Adams and Sinn Féin which have consistently been negative.

“The British and Irish media have for years portrayed Gerry Adams only and consistently in a negative light and this film, in its nuanced way is a portrait of a man as he reveals himself to the camera and in the context of doing that my film sets up a different way of seeing him.

“I think how I see him in the film is no different to how his neighbours, his community and his own world sees him but that’s not the view the world has seen him through so you could say that through the documentary we get to know a man who his own community will already know but the rest of the world does not.”

Trisha said the film was a Mexican film, made by Mexican filmmakers and was made possible from funds from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) which is Mexico’s and Latin America’s largest university as well as several Mexican film producing studios.

Trisha also stated that the film would contain a number of never before seen photographs and videos of Gerry Adams including many which were taken from the collection of French photographer Gerard Harlay who will be attending the screening from Paris.

Trisha added: “Gerard’s collection included over 2,000 undeveloped photos which have never been seen before and I also got sent some home video footage from Gerry’s brother in Canada which I don’t believe even he has seen before. That plus the generous contributions from Frankie Quinn at the Belfast Archive.”

Trisha made the film along with Irish filmmaker Ross McDonnell who was the producer. Sadly, Ross went missing in New York a year ago and was later found to have drowned. Trisha said this had made finishing the film difficult.

“Ross went missing in November last year and he drowned, so it’s been a year since we lost him and his family in Dublin are all making the trip up to see the film. He was a brilliant, award-winning filmmaker who greatly supported me making this film, particularly during the pandemic and he was someone very important within the Irish and international filmmaking community.”