ABSTRACT
This chapter contrasts the participatory production processes of three community filmmaking projects from Dublin to discuss how cultural production can support communities through the difficult process of urban regeneration. It highlights the practices and objectives of community filmmaking during a period of intense change for communities and shows how participation in cultural activity helps groups maintain their identity under the threat of change. The chapter also cautions against the danger of allowing community filmmaking to be co-opted for commercial gain, as globalism has generated intense competition between cities and prioritised the commercial motivation of cultural development over the social justice focus of community development. It provides an analysis of the community filmmaking practices encountered in Dublin, with examples from Fatima Mansions, a social housing estate in Dublin city. The chapter also provides a discussion of how participatory film production allowed the Fatima community to rebuild its identity and its relation to place.
