“In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old traditional of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom.”

On Easter Monday in 1916, Irish Republicans issued this proclamation of independence and staged an armed uprising against the British rule. Despite its simultaneous involvement in the First World War, the British Army suppressed the rebellion in six days. Nearly 500 were killed, 3500 arrested, and the seven signers of the independence proclamation faced the firing squad.

The 1916 Easter Rising was a military defeat for Irish Republicans, but it galvanized the independence movement and inspired similar movements around the world.

Five years ago, Briona Nic Dhiarmada, O’Donnell Chair of Irish Language and Literature at the University of Notre Dame, conceived of a film that would share this history and encourage a critical examination of the event’s controversial legacy.

Now, on the centennial of the Easter Rising, the documentary 1916 The Irish Rebellion is reaching millions with campus and community screenings, gala premieres, and television broadcasts.

The Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies will present the 80-minute, feature-film version of the documentary, narrated by Liam Neeson, followed by a panel discussion with the filmmakers, on Tuesday, April 5, 6:00 p.m. at 100 Hutchins Hall. The event is free and open to the public and is presented in partnership with the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

After the screening, Nic Dhiarmada, who wrote and produced the documentary, will join Christopher B. Fox and Thomas Bartlett in a panel discussion about the film and the significance of the Easter Rebellion. Fox served as an executive producer of 1916 The Irish Rebellion and directs Notre Dame’s Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies; Bartlett served as a consultant for the film and is an emeritus professor at the University of Aberdeen.