North of Dublin, on the beautiful Irish seaside, lies a bizarre-looking collection of rusting fairground rides and grey cement buildings with brightly painted doors. The compound, called Mosney, opened in 1948 as a summer holiday camp, a place where Irish families would escape the daily grind for a week in order to relax, dance, eat fish 'n' chips and enjoy the salty fresh air. A visit to Mosney today presents a radically different picture, but still a picture of escape. This former holiday camp is now a camp of another kind, a holding centre for asylum seekers from all corners of the globe. Here the residents wait years for the results of their asylum claims. Seaview's amusement-park setting and contemplative camera-work underscores the emotional state of its desperate inhabitants. To them, Mosney is limbo. Seaview is a poignant portrayal of the modern immigrant experience.
-Shannon Abel

Q&A with Director Nicky Gogan

How did you decide on this subject matter?

 We were interested in making a film about and with the new international communities that have come to live in Ireland over recent years and also as a reaction to the treatment of asylum seekers in Ireland. We actually started out researching for a fiction film where we would workshop ideas and casting with asylum seekers who had come to ireland , then we quickly realised it was a documentary project.

What was your main objective in making this film?

 It may sound cliched,but to give a voice to a voiceless people, asylum seekers are constantly spoken in the media in terms of statistics, we never hear them talking, in many countries they are interned or forbidden from talking to the media so with Seaview we tell the human side of the situation. Sometimes its heart wrenching and sometimes its told with humor, but always from the perspective of the asylum seekers.

What were the toughest challenges you faced?

Personally one of the toughest things I had to do was interview a man on hunger strike who had been starving himself for 9 days, 5 without water. I didn't know what to expect when I walked into his room, it was very tough, I still find it hard to watch that part of the film.

What is the most rewarding result from the making of your film?

 Its been really well received and hopefully will be in cinemas and TV in Ireland which is amazing as our main objective is for as many people to see it so it might effect some changes in attitude towards asylum seekers in Ireland and internationally. But so far the most rewarding moment was when we first showed it publicly in Ireland to all the people in the film and their friends who have already received asylum and the NGO community. I think I held my breath for the whole thing as I didn't have a clue how they would respond. But they were really moved and told us that we really captured what their lives were like in a sensitive and balanced way.

If you had to use three words to describe your film, what would they be?

Evocative, Compelling, Intimate

SEAVIEW SCREENING TIMES:

9:30 PM Mon, Apr 21 at the Royal

2:00 PM. Thu, Apr 24 at the Isabel Bader