In our third episode, Bramcast is joined by the esteemed film & TV producer, Ireland's last Film Censor, and first Film Classifier, John Kelleher.

John has been one of Ireland’s preeminent film and TV producers for many years. After studying law in UCD and doing a master's in Drama in the US, John returned to work as a producer, director, and ultimately as the controller of programs at RTE. Subsequently, he would serve as the editor of the Sunday Tribune and set up his own production company, Fastnet Films.

In 2003, after public consultation, John was appointed as the nation’s Film Censor. Since its establishment soon after the birth of the state, this office held and exercised the power to cut, ban, and otherwise censor films in the republic if they were found to be “contrary to public morality” or otherwise “deprave or corrupt” - usually, this constituted anything contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Though it had liberalised somewhat in the years preceding his tenure, John’s monumental efforts brought about the modernisation of the office for the 21st century. Changing the office, in his words, from “guard dog to guide dog,” IFCO was renamed from the “Irish Film Censor’s Office” to the “Irish Film Classification Office.” In effect, banning films was out of the question. IFCO went from deciding what content was morally pure for the population to watch - and censoring accordingly - to simply assigning age classifications to movies, allowing citizens to exercise their own discretion as to what content was fit for their personal consumption.

Today, John is as active as ever in the film and TV industries. Recent productions of his company, John Kelleher Media, include “The Guarantee,” “Mammal,” and “The Sparrow.” He is currently working on a new film with Charlie Bird, “Ransom 79.”

We discuss that film in today’s episode. We talk about the history of IFCO, some of the more absurd examples of historical censorship, his own experience growing up in Ireland under that censorship, and about his own time at the helm of the IFCO, his reforms during that time, and his career in production. Finally, John shares parting words with a generation of Irish that have never known film censorship.

Thank you to EY for their sponsorship and support. 

Introduction Music Credit: Eastern Blokhedz Live at Barbes for WFMU's Transpacific Sound Paradise with Rob W

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