Unwrapped 2020 - Safe Haven

UNWRAPPED 2019 marks 10 years of the festival with a theme that reflects the diversity of the participatory community event it has become.

For 2019, our title is Safe Haven.

Taking as our inspiration is an award winning animation Rocket Man by Iranian refugee animation artist Majid Adin. Majid Adin won a commission from the Elton John Foundation to reinterpret the song Rocket Man. Majid worked in partnership with Irish animator Stephen McNally to create a profoundly beautiful and moving film animation about a refugee’s search for safe passage-safe haven.

See link: https://youtu.be/DtVBCG6ThDk

Our theme is reflected in the words of President Michael D Higgins speaking at the UN Forum recently describing

‘migration as central to the Irish consciousness’ adding that ‘ Ireland had been transformed from a place where people were forced to leave, to somewhere that now has the opportunity to be a place of welcomes’.

Unwrapped -a Winter Festival of Lights for all the family!

 The Unwrapped Festival marks the beginning of the winter festive season. Established in 2009 UNWRAPPED has evolved as a FREE annual Winter Festival of Lights for all the family through a combination of music, performance and visual arts.

UNWRAPPED has established itself in Tallaght as an original outdoor performance with commissioned artists, fantastic costumes and a specially commissioned music score and has continued to evolve.

The event involves over 300 participants of all ages and cultural backgrounds from across the county working with artists to create an interactive original FREE performance for a family audience of up to 500 people.

Participants from youth and community groups and schools work with UNWRAPPED commissioned artists, composers, choreographers, designers and musicians between August and December to make large scale illuminated figures and lanterns.

Celebrating 10 Years:

UNWRAPPED is unique in that it has over the last 10 years developed a distinct culture of outdoor festive performance amongst the participant groups, especially young people. It is the only festival in South Dublin County that, by placing active participation at its heart, nurtures a sense of civic engagement and pride in participants and audiences alike.

An Invitation for the public to Participate in Lantern Parade

Over 300 participants working with our resident artist team have designed lanterns that will be paraded from Belgard Square West to Library Square Tallaght.

The Rocket Man film animation will be screened on the wall of Rua Red, Library Square as the culmination of the UNWRAPPED 2019 Lantern Parade event with live schools & community choirs and musicians providing the soundtrack.

UNWRAPPED 2019 Lantern Parade is on Saturday 7 December. 5 pm - 6pm

Meeting at Belgard Square West

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ARTIST Biographies

Majid Adin: Majid studied fine art at university in Iran, and after his BA chose to Major in animation, because it combined his two passions - film/cinema and fine art. After graduating, he worked for several animation production companies, until events in his life took a different direction. For ten difficult years he didn't so much as pick up a paintbrush. After journeying across Europe in the midst of the refugee crisis in 2015, he arrived in the Calais Jungle. In 2016 he was granted asylum in Britain and is now working as a director, artist and animator.

Stephen McNally: Stephen is an Irish animation director working in London. He worked in TV, at the national broadcaster in Ireland, before moving to London to study for a masters at the Royal College of Art. Since then he has been directing all sorts of animation, represented by Blinkink.

The annual UNWRAPPED programme is developed by a creative partnership between

South Dublin County Council Arts Office, Corporate Services Department; Community Service Department; South Dublin Libraries; Tallaght Community Arts; Alternative Entertainments; Contact Studio; The Civic, Rua Red and South Dublin County Music Generation.

About South Dublin County Council

South Dublin County Council is one of four local authority areas in the Dublin region. The Council provides and funds a broad range of services including housing, roads, walking and cycling routes, parks and playgrounds, libraries, sports facilities, litter control, art centres, enterprise units, fire services, community infrastructure and financial support. It also serves as a platform for local democracy with 40 councillors spread across seven electoral areas.