RTÉ Documentaries

Hitler's Irish Movies centers around a number of wartime feature films produced by Joseph Goebbels' department, using Ireland’s struggle for independence as pro-Nazi propaganda. Shot in Germany with German actors, these three filmsattempted to ally Hitler's aggressive assertion of the historic destiny of the German nation with Irish nationalists' struggle for self-determination.

Treasure of the bogs is documentary about a unique archaeological find in County Tipperary which revealed potential links between Irish Christianity and the Coptic Church of the Middle East. The find - which has become known as the Faddan More Psalter - was a fragmented illuminated vellum manuscript encased in an unusual leather binding, a book of psalms dating back to the late eighth century.

Ryan Tubridy investigates the trip president John F Kennedy made to Ireland in the summer of 1963 by speaking to witnesses, family members and visiting locations.

'Kanata: An Irish Story' explores the history of the Irish in Canada in a new light through voices from Newfoundland to Northwest Territories. The film is a family album of individuals some famous; others should be and some just want to be heard on topics of stereotypes, religion, politics and culture which has been generally ignored in the Canadian mosaic. The viewer will meet individuals from the north and south of Ireland and from the Jewish, Protestant and Catholic cultures providing personal accounts to create a gentle framework of history telling. 'Kanata: An Irish Story' is the forgotten story of the Irish in Canada/Kanata.

Programme One introduces us to our presenter Colin Stafford-Johnson and to his journey. Opening with early morning mist rising off the river, viewers will be transported to a world few ever see. Close-ups of riverside wildflowers revealing the minutiae of river life give way to massive aerial shots of the river as it flows to the sea. Colin offers thoughtful reflections from inside his canoe or by the light of his campfire. A kaleidoscope of colour and action crosses the screen with giant butterflies and dragonflies powering up and taking off in slow motion. Kingfishers are filmed crashing into the river on their relentless hunt for fish while the Daubenton’s Bat is filmed at night scooping insects from the water’s surface.

In Programme Two Colin brings us to the source of the mighty river and its unassuming beginnings. From here, it is a non-stop journey through breathtaking encounters with beautiful migrant Whooper Swans, Great Crested Grebes and Cormorants to name but a few. An explosion of Starlings gathering at dusk is perhaps the greatest wildlife spectacle to be seen in Ireland. Unseen and underwater we follow the mating antics of freshwater crayfish – argumentative male suitors fighting over females, protective mothers with their delicate babies. In slow motion a Red Squirrel is transformed from a cute rodent to an arboreal acrobat whose mastery would match any leaping lemur in Madagascar.