It started as a radical alternative community project.

Now the Quay Co-Op health-food store and vegetarian café on Sullivan’s Quay is the subject of a new documentary charting more than 40 years of social, political and cultural changes in contemporary Irish society.

The city hub, founded in 1982 by a collective effort of feminist, lesbian and gay, environmental and other alternative groups and individuals, is one of three well-known Cork organisations that will be taking to the big screen at the IndieCork Festival, which returns to The Gate Cinema from September 19th to 26th, 2021.

“This is a lovely tribute to the Co-Op, to find ourselves the subject of this documentary and as a part of Cork history for almost 40 years, it’s an important piece of archiving of our social and community history,” said Arthur Leahy, one of the founding members, of the doc, which premieres on September 26th.

“It’s very timely. As a community, we are looking forward to the big screening at The Gate Cinema, and we hope people see this as a celebration.”

Film fans can check out Hazel Hurley’s animated A Short History of Irish Travellers, produced by the Cork Traveller Women’s Network. The five-minute feature is written and narrated by Traveller women and dispels some common myths around the origins of Travellers, drawing on their strong oral storytelling tradition.

Another animation, Jane Lee’s Timpeall, was created for Graffiti Theatre Company. The theatre company was unable to tour its latest production because of Covid-19 and wanted a way to connect with its young audiences.

The bilingual short explores the magic that grows from moments of kindness between people, and the wide-eyed perspective of a child.

‘A platform for local filmmaking

“It is really interesting to see well-known organisations in Cork incorporating filmmaking into their work,” said Mick Hannigan, Festival Co-Director.

“One of the founding missions of IndieCork was to provide a platform for local filmmaking. It is wonderful when groups that would never have dreamed of making a film take the leap.

“Of course, The Quay Co-op film is the work of Emma Bowell and Eddie Noonan of Frameworks Films, who for many years have been producing excellent, community-based documentaries.”

The Quay Co-op will have its World Premiere at The Gate Cinema at 11am on Sunday, September 26th. A Short History of Irish Travellers will be screened at The Gate Cinema at 8.30pm on Tuesday, September 21st. Timpeall forms part of the Irish Animation Shorts which will be shown at 3.30pm on Thursday, September 23rd. All tickets are now available at gatecinemas.com.

Image credit: Arthur Leahy, the founding member of The Quay Co-op, taken by Marcin Lewandowski.