After 70 years you can now watch Ireland's first feature film 'The Dawn'

Killarney man Tom Cooper cast veterans of the War of Independence in Ireland’s first feature film. Its restoration means it can be screened again, writes Ellie O’Byrne

“HE JUST disappeared off. He didn’t say anything to anyone, and the first we heard of it, he was on the news.”

The director of Ireland’s first ever feature-length film, Killarney entrepreneur Thomas G Cooper, was a modest man. The award he received in the late 1970s from Cork Film Festival for his contribution to film in Ireland was the only official recognition he ever received for his achievements, but his grand-daughter, Michelle Cooper Galvin, says he shied away from praise.