Derry Film and Video Workshop (DFVW), also known as Derry Film and Video Collective (DVFC), was established in Derry in 1983, incorporated in 1984, and lasted until 1990. Collective members, at different points in time, included Anne Crilly, Margo Harkin, Trisha Ziff, Geraldine McGuiness, Jim Curran, Stephanie English, Tommy Collins, Therese Friel, Brendan McMenamin, and Jamie Dunbar, most of whom had no prior experience of filmmaking. They came together with a sense of urgency to address overlapping political tensions around gender, class, the Irish ‘national question’ and legacies of British imperialism.
The presentation of the work of the collective at Project Arts Centre is part of a long-term, ongoing research process that has involved working with former members of the collective, their supporters, peers, and fellow activists; helping to preserve, digitise, and archive the videotapes that only existed in their original U-matic format; and working with an extensive document and image archive that was preserved by former collective member, Margo Harkin. This second chapter of the DFVW archive involves unseen footage, photographs, and archival documents that trace a partial history of the workshop and its practice. The first iteration took place as part of the 39th EVA International Guest Programme, Little did they know. This second iteration includes further material from the later work of DFVW.
Working through the archive, the research begins to uncover the organic, reactive, and experimental methodologies of the collective and their tensions and frustrations, both internal and external; as well as the overarching political principles and energy that bound them together.
