The next film in the Storymakers project is Aquiline – a deeply personal exploration of bereavement and the lingering effects of loss on a family.
Using archive footage, Paul Doran, the film’s narrator, reflects on the lives of his parents in Derry at the outset of The Troubles, a time of upheaval that placed immense strain not only on the broader society but on individual families, particularly his father. Through intimate recollections, Aquiline explores the relationship between father and son – the unspoken bonds, the weight of expectation, and the emotional distance that can sometimes exist between generations. Even in moments of estrangement, the depth of grief serves as a testament to the love that underpinned those relationships. Using archive footage, Paul Doran, the film’s narrator, reflects on the lives of his parents in Derry at the outset of The Troubles, a time of upheaval that placed immense strain not only on the broader society but on individual families, particularly his father. Through intimate recollections, Aquiline explores the relationship between father and son – the unspoken bonds, the weight of expectation, and the emotional distance that can sometimes exist between generations. Even in moments of estrangement, the depth of grief serves as a testament to the love that underpinned those relationships.
Paul Doran, whose story forms the foundation of the film, describes the significance of his father’s passing: “Tony, my dad, died in 2000 – a major event in my life. As his was the first death I ever witnessed, it had an added significance. It was not something I was likely to forget or consider unimportant. Like many Irish people, I had seen many corpses but had never witnessed the actual process of death. It was so gradual and so peaceful.”
For Paul, the days surrounding his father’s passing remain vivid – the drive to the hospital, the encounter with a police officer, and the complex emotions that accompanied each moment. Grief, as he reflects, is layered; it is shaped not just by the loss itself but by the unspoken histories and the mysteries that remain. “There are so many facets to people’s lives that I believe we never get to the whole story. There are so many things about Tony that I will never know, but I know he was a good man who tried his best in very difficult circumstances.”
Paul first shared elements of this story at Tenx9 in 2011, a raw and personal account of loss. One of the most affecting memories he recalls is the moment grief fully took hold, not at the funeral, but in a quiet, unexpected instant: “It’s not in this story, but I remember I didn’t cry for him until after the funeral. For some reason, I felt I needed to be in charge and in control. But after the funeral, I found a pair of his shoes upstairs and I broke down, clutching them to my chest, in so much pain for the man I would never fully get to know.”
This emotional weight is carried into Aquiline, where sound and image combine to explore the vastness and complexity of grief its harsh, non-negotiable pact with the bereaved. The integration of personal testimony with archive material transforms the film into a layered experience – one that speaks to both the personal and the collective memory of a time and place. For Paul, witnessing the creative process was profound. “I was bowled over hearing what Richard did with the audio of my story and again, when I saw it with images attached. I hope people will feel they understand something of the love and gratitude I feel for both my parents, Tony and Anna.”
Editor Stuart Sloan describes his approach to shaping the film – an effort to evoke both historical context and emotional truth: “My approach to the film came from two angles. The first was trying to find some contemporary footage for the story, which suited its time and place. Paul’s story took place shortly after the Good Friday Agreement was signed, and I wanted to place the viewer in that time period when Northern Ireland seemed to be coming out of the dark times.”
The second approach, Stuart explains, was less about literal accuracy and more about the intangible: “The second part of my approach was to use the editing in a way that reached for a slightly different truth – one made up of the emotion within.”
The project director, Richard Clements, was taken by Doran’s story. Clements writes: “In the early stages of putting Storymakers together, the search for material led me to the brilliant Tenx9 event, co founded by Paul Doran. I contacted Paul who not only put me in touch with other storytellers willing to allow me to record them, but also agreed to give me his own beautifully poignant story of loss and love. My approach to the music was to echo the movement of traffic that Paul describes and to allow space for those moments of reflection and reminiscence to shine. Paul is a passionate advocate for the power of storytelling and this project would not have been the same without him. His own contribution, Aquiline is very special indeed.”
Aquiline is not just a story of one man’s grief, it is a reflection on the enduring presence of those we lose, the gaps in our knowledge of them, and the emotional landscapes we navigate in their absence. It is a meditation on memory, grief, and the way death reshapes our understanding of those we love.