Helen Prout: Film-making, Cinema, Youth

Helen Prout: Film-making, Cinema, Youth

Life History;

Helen recalls her life as an amateur film-maker, as a teacher of film-making in Cork, and her involvement in the film festival scene.
Helen grew up in Millstreet, where her father’s cousin ran a cinema, through which she developed a love of film. She began making amateur films with a small camera. Her family moved to a farm in County Tipperary, but had to leave, and moved to Cork around 1950.
Helen won a film competition in Cork in 1977, and she taught young people in Gurranabraher how to make short films. She and her son, Con, began to liaise with schools to encourage film-making among the pupils. She also set up a festival for showing young people’s film and video. She was awarded the title of Cork Person of the Year in 1980.

11 May 1999

CFP_SR00271_prout_1999

Ireland; Cork; 1990s

Published Material:

Hunter, Stephen (1999), Life Journeys: Living Folklore in Ireland Today, Cork: The Northside Folklore Project.

Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive

Cork Folklore Project

English

Sound

.wav

40m01s

The Croppy House, Fairhill, Cork

Cassette

MO’M: Tell us about the parades ye used to have for the film festival?

 

H P: Oh sure that was another ordeal another event we used to organise we used to have filmmakers in from England and everywhere and from Yugoslavia and Denmark and America and they used to come yea and we used to have, we used to organise a parade like St. Patrick’s day parade I have it on video actually the whole parade I have and they would walk in the parade and we had the Civil Defence and all the Majorettes and we had them, who else had we em, the Cork Rose we had Roney Drew we had them all and em Cornel em whats his name Cornel Mc Lindon is it, I can’t think of his name now, he was the fellow that used to fix up the parade for me I think he’s from Wellington Road.

 

MO’M: Glendon.

 

H P: Glendon yea Major Glendon is it.

 

MO'M: I think he was a Colonel I think he was yea.

 

H P: But he used to organise the thing and we used to have St. Finbars pipe band and we used to have all the bands from Carrigaline and Ringaskiddy ea young peoples band we used to have all them buy ea it was great.

 

MO'M: But why did it die off a bit then, ok the festival is still running I know that and it's still very strong because I was at it and I saw the turnout but like you wouldn't have that parade now today.

 

H P: because it would be another event to organise and there wouldn't be enough people on the ground to do it and we used to hold the films in the cameo that them years as well and the place used to be packed and we had the people from the Irish film board down, and ea RTE came down and they came down to take a few minutes of the festival and they stayed for 4 days and filmed it all and ea we had a whole heap of things to do I don't know how we did them but we did.

 

MO'M: Of course it's getting people to do it now today.

 

H P: But it's all on a voluntary basis you know there's no pay.

MO'M: And I suppose it's hard to keep people then is it?

H P: No the people we have are so involved that they love it so much and when I see films they be some out there foreign and they have a camera and they get an event to film and they have upon it amateur video and that annoys me because it isn't shoddy because I says the word amateur for love of doing it.

MO'M: That's true yea.

H P: That's only a second-hand kind of a thing you know but em I said to the person behind the camera, actually it's the person behind the camera is the person thinking that makes the film and not the camera.