12 Days in July

The annual marching season sees the resumption of political tension between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. In the late ‘90s, a return parade from Drumcree Parish Church through a Catholic area of Portadown provided a key focus of conflict between the two communities. Margo Harkin gained access to the two disputing parties – the Orange Order and the residents of Garvaghy Road, a small catholic enclave on the parade route - to film this compelling account of the events, which were to become so significant in forging a change in the political climate. The film revealed the deeply held convictions of two polarized communities arising out of the Drumcree crisis and foreshadowed the future that could be faced in Northern Ireland if the fragile peace process continued to falter.

This film was digitised and preserved by the IFI Irish Film Archive thanks to a grant from Coimisiún na Meán’s Archiving Funding Scheme, which aims to preserve content recorded for broadcast on radio or television.