The Banshee Lives in the Handball Alley (Vol 3)

The Banshee Lives in the Handball Alley is a collection of local stories and superstitions as told by children from The Island and Moyross areas of Limerick City. The multi-part video work was recorded by Michael Fortune and Aileen Lambert as part of Young EV+A and The Cuisle Poetry Festival in 2004 and 2005. This collection was recorded in two Limerick City National Schools, over a two-week period in September 2004 and screened in Halla Ide in Limerick City in the month to follow.
Following the production of this collection, both artists were invited to undertake a larger collection as part of Young EV+A. Beginning in January 2005 both artists began filming as part of a larger three-strand project they were undertaking throughout the city. Recordings took place in three local national schools and as a result of this process they uncovered stories which revealed a remarkable knowledge and wealth of folklore, ancient and contemporary.
In this work Fortune and Lambert use the camera to collect and re-present folkloric superstitions and beliefs. They do not use folklore to service nostalgia, but instead attempt to highlight how folklore is constantly added to, and how it is intrinsically linked to both memory and occasion, fiction and interpretation. This is evident in this work, as the urban environment in which these children live is negotiated and charted by a mixture of ancient folkloric stories which have been intertwined with personal accounts and contemporary urban myths.
Ultimately, this work is a celebration of the storyteller and how folklore is constantly added to by boundless imagination of the storytellers themselves. Recordings took place in three local national schools and as a result of this process they uncovered stories which revealed a remarkable knowledge and wealth of folklore, ancient and contemporary.
A limited edition of 500 DVDs were produced and were available free of charge from the artists and Limerick City Arts Office. All DVDs have since been distributed and no more are available.
This film was 1 or 3 that featured on the DVD.