On November 4, 2025, the Film Studies Center at the University of Chicago, in partnership with the Nicholson Center for British Studies and Chicago Irish Film Festival, hosted a screening of the documentary From that Small Island. The story of the Irish, produced by the team behind the award-winning documentary series 1916: The Irish Rebellion and narrated by Colin Farrell. Shot on location in 17 countries worldwide, the film animates the history of the Irish as a global nation, drawing on genetics and archeology to tell the story of the Irish people from the island’s first inhabitants to the present day, tracing the ebb and flow of people into and out of the island over the course of two millennia.

The screening was followed by a Q&A with Drs Bríona Nic Dhiarmada and Jane Ohlmeyer, moderated by Dr. James Chandler (William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor of English at the University of Chicago). The event was a great success, with over 80 guests in attendance, including the organizers of Chicago Irish Film Festival and representatives of Ireland’s Consulate General in Chicago.

Bríona Nic Dhiarmada (writer and producer) is the Thomas J and Kathleen O’Donnell Professor Emerita of Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Nic Dhiarmada has written numerous screenplays and produced and directed award-winning documentaries including writing and producing multi-award-winning documentary series 1916: The Irish Rebellion narrated by Liam Neeson for RTE, PBS, and BBC. Her companion book to the series won the Foreward Prize for History.

Jane Ohlmeyer is Erasmus Smith’s Professor of Modern History (1762) at Trinity College Dublin, where she was Trinity’s first Vice-President for Global Relations (2011-14). She was a driving force behind the 1641 Depositions Project and the development of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute which she directed (2015-20). She has held appointments and fellowships across the globe, and chaired the Irish Research Council (2015-21). She is the author or editor of numerous articles and twelve books, most recently Making Ireland: Ireland, Imperialism, and the Early Modern World (2023).