Making Dust

Making Dust is an essay film, a portrait of the demolition of Ireland's second largest Catholic Church, the Church of the Annunciation in Finglas West, Dublin.

Understanding this moment as a 'rupture', the film maps an essay by architectural historian Ellen Rowley on to documentation of the building's dismantling. Featuring oral interviews recorded at the site of the demolition and in a nearby hairdressers, the film invites viewers to pause and reflect on this ending alongside the community of the building. The film is informed by Ultimology, and invites its audience to think about the life cycles of buildings and materials, how we mourn, what is sacred, how we gather, what we value and issues of sustainability in architecture.

Making Dust will have its World Premiere at the IFI Documentary Festival 2023, screening on Sunday 1 October at 3:30pm at the Irish Film Institute, Dublin. The screening is in collaboration aemi, and will be followed by a Q&A with Fiona Hallinan and Ellen Rowley. Tickets are available to purchase here.

Making Dust will also be screened daily at 12 noon, from 2-17 October 2023 as part of the exhibition Buildings End at the Irish Architectural Archive, Dublin.

Running time 45.03 minutes

Directed by Fiona Hallinan

Based on an essay by Ellen Rowley

Produced by The Department of Ultimology: Fiona Hallinan, Kate Strain and Ellen Rowley

Written by The Department of Ultimology: Fiona Hallinan, Kate Strain and Ellen Rowley

Edited by Michael Barwise

Cinematography by Faolán Carey, Jamie Goldrick, Johnny Lyons, Francis O'Mahony and Tadhg O'Sullivan

Sound design and sound mix by Brendan Jenkinson

Composed by Davy Kehoe and Brendan Jenkinson

Organ music performed at Cavan Cathedral by Davy Kehoe and Hannah Curtin

Design by Alex Synge

Photography by Faolán Carey

Grade by Michael Higgins

Research by Ellen Rowley, Fiona Hallinan and Luke Corish

Voices of the community recorded in Finglas

Kathryn Dignam

Liz Carrick

Deirdre Clancy

Joan Kelly

Sandra Donnelly

Marian Beggs

May Ridgeway

Marie Quinlan

Bernie Enright

Paul Doyle

Janice Burn

Patrick McDonagh

Michelle Ward

John Ormsby

Corrina Flood

Pamela Hennessy