All Politics is Local
In Ireland, “If you’re hungry enough, you’ll dig up the tar on the road with your teeth to get a vote.” It’s not only the other parties who are a threat to you; it’s your running mate. Indeed, it is the internal rivalry that can be the most “bitter and acrimonious”, as well as the “more entertaining.” Based upon three decades of ethnographic research, “All Politics is Local” is the story of a rural Irish election campaign that becomes as suspenseful as it is surprising; a memorable drama with a vivid cast of characters – leading to an unexpectedly poignant conclusion.
An anthropologist, novelist and poet, Chris Eipper has, since 1975, conducted extensive ethnographic research in Ireland. “All Politics is Local” is part of a larger study of the interplay between community and national dynamics in Irish society.
Declan completed a Bachelor and Master of Film & Television at the Victorian College of the Arts. His short films screened in over 35 international festivals, “I Suppose I Had It Coming” winning the Grand Prix at the L’Etrange Festival. Canal+ purchased the television rights , screening it in 44 countries.
Our film is an ethnographic documentary, not a journalistic or commercial documentary. It seeks to depict events as they actually occurred so as to illuminate the key dynamics shaping motivations, actions and consequences. It does so by making a participant-observer of the camera and microphone. No scenes are staged, no fake reaction shots are included, all scene sequences are chronological and there is no explanatory voice-over narration. The story has been edited to tell itself — condensing some 99 hours of footage to fewer than that many minutes. Rather than simplifying the complexities, instead of eliminating the intricacies, it explores them as ethnographers must when we set about trying to depict lives as they have been lived.