Oidhche Sheanchais

Cited in nearly every history of Irish cinema, this short film by documentary pioneer Robert Flaherty has been missing, believed lost, since a fire destroyed the only known prints in 1943. A nitrate print of the film was rediscovered by Houghton Library curators in 2012. OIDHCHE SHEANCHAIS depicts a typical Irish hearth, where the main cast members of Flaherty’s MAN OF ARAN sit, listening to an ancient tale. It is Flaherty’s first work in direct sound and the first “talkie” in Irish Gaelic.

With LE RAPPEL DES OISEAUX