Fastnet Film Festival to open with the story of Charlie Bird's last scoop

The Ransom '79 documentary sees the late broadcaster deal with his early symptoms and diagnosis of motor-neurone disease while following the trail of a criminal gang

Thu, 25 Apr, 2024 - 11:45

Mike McGrath Bryan

The annual Fastnet Film Festival, taking place between Wednesday May 22 and Sunday May 26 in venues around the West Cork village of Schull, has landed a scoop for its 2024 opening screening.

The festival announced on Wednesday evening that Ransom '79, a documentary film charting late reporter and campaigner Charlie Bird as he pursued his final story while dealing with motor neurone disease, will open this year's installment with a special event at the Schull Harbour Hotel.

It's a story as vivid as any that Bird pursued in a five-decade career on the beat for RTÉ — in 2021, he obtained the Garda file of a secret operation to foil a ransom threat from 1979, where a criminal gang threatened to destroy the Irish economy by releasing foot and mouth disease into the national herd unless paid £5 million.

The late Charlie Bird, alongside journalist Colin Murphy, his collaborator on his final scoop, in Ransom '79

But at the outset of Bird's investigations, the reporter noticed what would be the first symptoms of motor-neurone disease, a diagnosis that would change his life and lead him to the Climb With Charlie fundraising campaign, before his passing in March of 2024.

Enlisting the help of journalist and writer Colin Murphy, Bird stayed with the story, chasing leads, interviewing prominent figures of the time, and searching for the people at the centre of the demands — even as his condition took its course.

"An investigation into a bizarre crime, a revisiting of a troubled time in Irish history, a celebration of journalistic integrity and a portrait of human resilience, Ransom '79 is fundamentally a story of someone confronting his mortality," says a statement issued by the festival.

"Through this race against time, Charlie not only seeks to unravel a historic mystery but also to cement his final legacy. Sadly he is not here to see it being screened at its first film festival."

The screening event will feature a Q&A session with director Colm Quinn, producer John Kelleher, and associate producers Claire Bird & Colin Murphy, moderated by Niamh Fagan, Project Manager with Screen Ireland.

Meanwhile, other highlights of the festival in Schull include a discussion between UK actress Daisy Edgar Jones and Lenny Abrahamson, the director who worked with her on Normal People.