Blood Fruit: Stranger than Fiction Focus
Blood Fruit, a feature documentary focussing on the Dunnes Stores strikers in 1980’s Dublin, will screen on Friday as part of the Irish Film Institute’s (IFI) Stranger than Fiction festival, which will be attended by director Sinead O’Brien.
The story begins in 1984, at the height of the apartheid regime in South Africa. In Dublin, a 21-year-old Dunnes Stores checkout girl named Mary Manning refused to sell two Outspan grapefruits under direction from her union in support of the anti-apartheid struggle. When she is suspended, all the staff troop out in loyalty, then all but nine return to work (they are later joined by a further striker). Against the odds, the strike continues and gains momentum with support from famous names such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Jesse Jackson, Bono, Niall Toibin, The Dubliners and Ewan MacCall, as well as donations from around the world. The strike continued for two years and nine months with both widespread support and opposition. In April 1987, the strike ends when the Irish government banned the import of South African goods. In 2008, when a commemorative plaque was placed in front of Dunnes Stores, Nelson Mandela sent a message: “The young workers who refused to handle the fruits of apartheid 21 years ago in Dublin provided inspiration to millions of South Africans that ordinary people far away from the crucible of apartheid cared for our freedom.”
Archbishop Tutu, a contributor to the film, said of it: "I am delighted that these extraordinary people seem to be finally getting the recognition they so richly deserve. You are part of the history of South Africa's struggle for freedom. Your stand was a beacon of hope during dark days in our history."
Blood Fruit was supported with funding from Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board. Watch a trailer for Blood Fruit on YouTube. For details on the Blood Fruit screening at the Stranger than Fiction festival, see the IFI website.