A recent crowdfunding initiative started by a London based Irish artist and charity worker is seeking to make a documentary called “The Killarney Story” to address environmental issues in Ireland’s National Parks.
The target for the initiative is to raise $23,000 (€20,000), which is meant to give the Irish government the motivation to work harder at preservation efforts and addressing environmental concerns in these areas.
“Cutting back on the care of Ireland’s National Parks is a false economy. It will be costlier in the long run and shouldn’t continue. We should be treasuring these great spaces. It’s not just because of the huge contribution to the economy they make,” said one member of The Killarney Story team.
Wild wonders, glassy lakes and rugged beauty: find it all in abundance along Ireland's #WildAtlanticWay!
MT @markobrienkerry Killarney National Park, County Kerry pic.twitter.com/pjkC4QVWD4
— Tourism Ireland US (@GoToIrelandUS) May 3, 2018
The premise of the film is largely inspired by concerns that organizations such as An Taisce and the Irish Wildlife Trust have for Ireland’s National Parks.
The producer of the film, Elizabeth Grant, has strong links to Killarney through her family, hence the film focuses around the Killarney National Park, which is one of Ireland’s first out of six national parks.
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The park in Killarney began with The Bourne Vincent Memorial Act, which was put in place after the endowment of the land by the US senator who owned it.
Nowadays, parks like that of Killarney are in need of more volunteering efforts from the local population and others to fight off the Rhododendron plants and the problematic increase in the deer population. There simply aren’t enough park rangers to deal with the scale of problems facing Ireland’s parks.
Gary Haran was filming red deer in Killarney National Park when one of the new arrivals to the herd, unfamiliar with humans, decided to say hello...
Video via @wilddeerireland (Always exercise extreme caution around wild animals.) pic.twitter.com/wxFOPmfsTv
— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) June 5, 2018
The film aims to be a celebration of the people of Killarney and how their sense of identity is intrinsically linked to the park, as well as what needs to be done to care for it for the future.
For the project, Grant found an award-winning director, Benjamin Scarsbrook, as well as an experienced crew who are passionate about documentary-style filmmaking.
“My two biggest passions are filmmaking and wildlife conservation, to be given the opportunity to combine the two is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” Scarsbrook stated as to why he wanted to take part in the project.
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“My recent visit to Killarney really opened my eyes to the beauty of the area which I want the world to experience, but without our help and the help of the people of Killarney, the beauty is not sustainable.”
“By bringing this film to the world, we hope to change the way the park is looked at for the better, preserving what is unquestionably one of the true wonders of the emerald isle.”
Fundraising for the project can be directed to fundit.ie and filming is due to start in September of this year.
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