“I remember the army comin into oor house and they left the front door open and it was very cold and I remember sittin on the sofa in the livin room and bein very cold and looking at the army rifles and sayin to meself, that’s the same rifles that killed me brathair.”
SO remembers John McKinney, more than 50 years after the events following Bloody Sunday, in the new documentary made by Rainbow Collective.
The film is a tapestry of the families’ voices, honouring the Irish civil rights movement, memorialising the dead and brutalised and intoning a generational resistance. It is also full of old scars and old silences.
The formal fight for justice spans from the 1972 Widgery Tribunal, which whitewashed the actions of the British state, to the Saville Inquiry of 2010.
Saville completely exonerated the 14 killed and found no justification for the shootings perpetrated by the shock troops of the Parachute Regiment. However, prosecution of the responsible remains elusive to this day, as does their naming. This is why the quest for justice now continues into a sixth decade.
Ahead of the film’s Scottish premiere, I asked the Rainbow Collective directors Hannan Majid and Richard York how the film came to be and why now?
York said: “The Day Innocence Died came about quite unexpectedly. While our previous documentary, To Kill A War Machine, was being screened in Ireland, we spent time in Derry and immediately felt a very strong connection to the city, its history and the people there.
“There was a real sense of solidarity, particularly around Palestine, protest and experiences of occupation and state violence.
“During that period, we began speaking with the Bloody Sunday Trust and the families, and it became clear how important it was to document not only Bloody Sunday itself, but the decades-long fight for truth and justice that followed.
“What struck us most was how personal and intergenerational the story still is. These are not events frozen in history for the families and survivors; they continue to shape everyday life more than 50 years later.
“It also felt like an important moment to revisit Bloody Sunday because many of the wider themes within the story – protest rights, state power, civil liberties and the suppression of dissent – continue to resonate strongly in Britain today.
“We wanted the film to honour the families’ voices while also reminding audiences that these histories still speak very directly to the present.”
I asked: This is the third film you’ve completed in 12 months. Your remarkable documentary about Palestine Action: To Kill A War Machine has been pulled from public view after the organisation was proscribed. How have you navigated all this?
Majid said: “To Kill A War Machine had already been completed and BBFC certified when the proscription was announced. We suddenly found ourselves in a situation where nationwide preview screenings had to be cancelled.
“Realising we had a very small window before the ban came into effect, we instead made the decision to release the documentary online directly to the public, and encouraged people to organise their own community screenings.
“We told audiences that if they purchased a copy of the film, they had our permission to screen it publicly.
“Over the following 10 days, more than 150 screenings took place across the country, ranging from community halls and independent venues to cinemas like the Watershed in Bristol, which screened the documentary three times in one night due to audience demand.
“This is actually the first time we’ve spoken publicly about that period, and we really want to acknowledge and thank everyone who organised screenings, shared the documentary, and helped keep the film alive during that moment.
“The response from communities across the country was genuinely overwhelming and reminded us how important collective spaces for political discussion and solidarity still are.
So they quickly pivoted to making another film?
Majid replied: “What was striking about that moment was how quickly questions around protest, censorship and civil liberties stopped being abstract political discussions and became something we were directly experiencing ourselves as filmmakers.
“At the same time, many of the activists we had documented were being arrested, imprisoned or facing increasingly serious legal consequences.
“Rather than step away from that moment, we felt a responsibility to continue documenting what was unfolding, which ultimately became Sign Of The Times.
“The film explores the growing criminalisation of protest in Britain today, but also the emotional and human impact this has on ordinary people who feel compelled to act.
“For us, these films are ultimately about people responding to injustice and what happens when states attempt to suppress dissent, whether historically or in the present day.
“What connects all three films for us is the question of how ordinary people respond when institutions and systems fail them.
“Whether it is the families of Bloody Sunday fighting for truth and justice over decades, or contemporary activists responding to the genocide in Gaza and increasing restrictions on protest rights today, there is a common thread of people refusing to remain silent in the face of injustice.”
The Scottish premiere of The Day Innocence Died screens at the Glasgow Film Theatre on Sunday, organised by Inclinations Film Club
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