Critically acclaimed ‘The White Handkerchief’ screening selected for prestigious festival

January 30th 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Derry. As the City came together to commemorate the event, a bold new piece of musical theatre was staged in the Guildhall - the intended, but never reached, destination for the fateful 1972 Civil Rights march.

Commissioned by Derry’s Playhouse Theatre, The White Handkerchief sought to create a dramatic elegy to the fourteen killed alongside those others injured, and to catalyse a bold creative legacy from those devastating events.

Vinny Cunningham and John Peto’s film, which goes behind the scenes of the Playhouse’s musical retelling of the events of Bloody Sunday, has been selected in Competition at the prestigious London Irish Film Festival. 

The film, which was broadcast on BBC NI and BBC Four to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Bloody Sunday this year, tells the story of the Playhouse’s Kieran Griffiths and his journey to bring the musical to life as an elegy to those who were killed on the day. 

As Kieran and his team assemble a cast largely made up of raw, untested talent, the film sees them shaped into a world-class ensemble, totally committed to doing justice to the memory of the Bloody Sunday victims, and fully aware of the pressure on them to get it right for the live performances in Derry’s Guildhall. 

Critically acclaimed upon broadcast, the film of ‘The White Handkerchief’ has racked up hundreds of thousands of views on BBC iPlayer and is now on the festival circuit for audiences far and wide. 

Selection for London is a big honour, as Vinny explained: "The London Irish Film Festival’ is a real celebration of the very best of Irish Film and Documentary over the last year and we are in some very esteemed company there.

"It’s a great vote of confidence in the work to be included and we are so proud that there will be a big piece of Derry right in the heart of the festival." 

The Festival is not just showing the film, but also some live scenes from the musical will be performed after the screening for the audience to enjoy.

It's a novel approach that will create a really powerful audience experience and gives the chance for Kieran and his cast to reprise their roles and bring a real sense of ‘The White Handkerchief’ to London audiences. 

John Peto, Kay Duddy and film director Vinny Cunningham.

Following the performances and the screening, Vinny, John and Kieran will also do a Q&A with the audience, an added bonus for John, "We’re so pleased that we will get the chance to talk about the film and the whole project directly to the audience.

It gives us the chance to really explain the importance of capturing history in new ways and bringing it to new audiences, and maybe telling some new stories about Derry in amongst some of the older ones."

Tickets are available at the following link: https://riversidestudios.co.uk/see-and-do/the-white-handkerchief-performance-qa-irish-film-festival-london-49374/

‘The White Handkerchief’ screening and extracts take place at the London Irish Centre in Hammersmith on Sunday, 20th November.