DOCUMENTARY FILM has the power to give us a new voice, actor Stephen Rea told those attending a book launch in Dublin last night. Rea was speaking at the launch of Documentary in a Changing State: Ireland since the 1990s , a book charting two decades of documentary-making in Ireland. Dedicated to the late Mary Raftery, who made influential documentaries such as States of Fear, the book by Carol MacKeogh and Díóg O’Connell of Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology gives an insight into the working life of Ireland’s independent documentary-makers. Featuring interviews with documentary-makers Alan Gilsenan, Louis Lentin, Donald Taylor Black and Ken Wardrop, the book also looks at the documentary series Prime Time Investigates and Would You Believe. Addressing the audience at the United Arts Club, which included members of Ms Raftery’s family, Rea said, “at a time when our political discourse has become so debased, this is a book we need . . . we need a voice that’s outside the political system but reflects our stories”. DCU professor of communications Farrel Corcoran said documentary had the power to “set the agenda for political debate”.

This book gives a fascinating insight into the working life of documentary makers - it captures the passion that drives them, the commitment they make to their craft, and the issues they tackle in defining what constitutes documentary – indeed, what constitutes good documentary. This book will be read avidly not just by those in the business of creating and producing documentary but by a wide public who have learnt so much about their own society and culture through cutting-edge documentaries.