Interviewing

It all started here:
spreading the good word about Down syndrome.

We wanted to lend support to an amazing event that raises more money for the Down syndrome community in Ireland than any other, the Tour de Munster. Realising that many of the cyclists/fundraisers had only a distant relationship with Down syndrome, we thought we’d use our film making talents to somehow bridge the gap, and send the athletes a love letter.

With the help of our local community, we interviewed people with Down syndrome around County Clare, and showed them doing things. Because we wanted to include people of all types and abilities, we wanted to keep the interview simple. Jonathan asked Fionn to decide what question we could ask, and Fionn came up with the best interview question in the world:

What do you love about your life?

This is an important question for all of us to consider.

That was the beginning of what is now a six year long project. We interview people that we are find interesting. Often they have lived lives practicing a career that Fionn is considering pursuing himself. More than 100 of the 600 interviewees so far are famous enough as to have a wikipedia page devoted to them.

After recently presenting some of these videos as part of a fundraising event – to help cover the healthcare costs of a man with Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s – an audience member reflected that typically people spend so much time focused on what we don’t love in our lives, working to change those things, that we forget to appreciate all that we do love in our lives. That’s what this is about, a reminder to practice gratitude, and a means of encouraging a sense of connectedness.

We would like you to nominate notable people, your neighbours and friends that you feel should be included in our project. Talk to them about this project, and if they are interested, let us know. Tell us also what makes them special, in your eyes. We'll add them to our worldwide list.

Also, we want to extend an invitation to send in your own videos. This project can be taken up by individuals, by school classes, community groups, etc. The video should include the name of the interviewer and interviewee, and a short biographical sketch of each person – whatever you’d like to include to tell people about yourselves. You could send the video to our email account at fionnathan.productions@gmail.com using WeTransfer.com.