The strong links which one of the greatest Hollywood filmmakers of all time had with South Conamara are to be celebrated at a new festival which takes place over three days in An Spidéal early next month. CIARAN TIERNEY reports on how it came about.

Féile John Ford, which takes place  in An Spidéal on the weekend of September 5 to 7, will celebrate not only the life and work of one of the most influential filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood, but also his close connection to South Conamara.

Both of Ford’s parents came from Cois Fharraige, along the shores of Galway Bay, and the filmmaker was immensely proud of his Conamara roots throughout a glittering career which spanned 130 films across more than 50 years. Ford won four Oscars for Best Director and he also won two Best Documentary awards during World War Two, when Hollywood focused on the war effort and directors had to make what were essentially ‘propaganda’ films.

This new festival is the brainchild of four men with very varied backgrounds, Redmond Morris, Pat Comer, Tony Tracy, and Steve Ó Cualáin, who came together with the intention of screening some of Ford’s films in the open-air in An Spidéal back in 2019.

When the Covid 19 pandemic put paid to their plans, they regrouped and decided to turn their dream of honouring Ford in An Spidéal into a three-day festival which will include screenings, talks, panel discussions, and storytelling with local children.

“The idea behind the festival was not just to show some of his films, but to create awareness among the community around Cois Fharraige and to inspire future generations of storytellers, that there was a fellow from literally just up the road there who ended up being one of the most famous and iconic film-makers of all time,” says Galway City native and award-winning filmmaker Pat Comer.

“Not many people know about his huge connection with Galway. His father came from a place called Túr Beag, which is literally over the bridge from An Spidéal on the coast road in Cois Fharraige. His mother was from a place called Coill Rua in Indreabhán. They both left for America in the 1870s and settled in Portlaind, Maine.”

Pat says that many people from South Connemara ended up living in Portland, where Irish and Italian men worked side-by-side as foreshore men. Portland was the most northerly port in the United States which did not freeze over in the winter months, ensuring it was of vital economic importance, and Ford grew up in the Irish neighbourhood of Munjoy Hill.

Pictured: Redmond Morris, Steve Ó Cúlain, Pat Comer and Tony Tracy, committee members and organisers of the upcoming Féile John Ford, pictured at the beach in An Spidéal this week with John Ford’s Director’s Chair. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy.

Although his parents grew up just a few miles apart in South Conamara, it is believed that John Feeney and Barbara Ní Churraoin met each other in Portland. John was one of 11 children.

His family lived among a close-knit community of Irish speakers and one of the highlights of the upcoming festival will be a discussion ‘as Gaeilge’ about the history of emigration between Cois Fharraige and Portland on Saturday, September 6 (Stiúideo Cuan, 10.30am).

“His father was a saloon keeper in Portland,” says Comer. “I find it easy to imagine that John, or Jack, worked behind the bar and came across all sorts of characters. There is a huge Irishness to his filmmaking and his storytelling. The Irishisms in his films are huge. He had a huge ‘grá’ for his homeland and Ireland was very much in his DNA.”

Born John Martin Feeney in 1894, the filmmaker changed his name to Ford after following his older brother, Francis, to seek his fortune in Hollywood. Francis, a colourful character 12 years his senior, had already changed his name to Ford, so it made sense for John to also change his surname when he arrived in Hollywood. He was known as Francis Ford’s younger brother and his first paycheque was made out to Jack Ford.

He began working in Hollywood during the era of silent movies. Francis had already acted in hundreds of silent films and gave his younger brother a fresh start in the industry in 1914.

Pat Comer says that Ford got a great grounding in filmmaking during the era of silent films. He went on to direct over 130 films in a career spanning more than 50 years. Pat is delighted that this three-day festival will raise awareness of the man and his work in An Spidéal, a place he loved to visit to reconnect with his Conamara family.

The festival will open with ‘The Quiet Man’ on the Friday evening. Comer describes the film as “a love story that John Ford made for this place that he called home” and says that it took Ford almost 20 years to persuade a Hollywood studio to shoot it in the West of Ireland.

“There’s a reason he shot it in Galway,” says Pat. “People believe he would have shot it in An Spidéal if there was accommodation available, but Ashford Castle was more to his liking. So, he took the best of the west to make this fanciful place called Inis Free.

Pictured: Ward Bond, John Ford and his son Patrick Ford, John Wayne and Edward Ó Fearna at the pier in An Spidéal in 1951, during a visit while shooting the film The Quiet Man.