School of Creative Arts

Declan is an award winning filmmaker and academic. A lecturer in Film Studies, in the School of Creative Arts, Queen's University Belfast specialising in teaching film production particularly postproduction and cinematography. Declan has over 18 years of broadcast experience documenting key historical moments in our recent past. During 12 years at BBC Northern Ireland he filmed many major events such as the Good Friday Agreement, The Holy Cross Primary School Dispute and the Drumcree Protests. Declan has worked extensively as a documentary film maker. His most recent documentaries "We Carried Your Secrets', 'We Are Not Afraid' and "Release' have been screened nationally and internationally in over 17 countries to critcial acclaim. His research interests primarily involve the representation of conflict in documentary film and the use of disruptive media in non-linear storytelling. 

In the context of a post conflict society and with particular reference to Northern Ireland my work explores through practice lead research, the usefulness of ‘story telling’ and ‘truth recovery’ in film. Specifically three distinct elements. The first deals with the memory of past events. How does the legacy of ‘The Troubles’ influence cognate work and that of current practitioners in a transitional society? The second explores the usefulness and reliability of representing 'truth as testimony' in film.  The third element looks at transition and moving forward. What is best practice in relation to dealing with ‘story telling’ and ‘truth recovery’ by film practitioners? What work should be made to deal with the past and how does film fuction in that role of 'dealing'. This work though rooted in Northern Ireland draws international interest and has particular significant in the context of a post conflict society.