An award-winning director explores The Troubles in new documentary

Award-winning director James Bluemel has created a new series on the untold stories of of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Inspired by his time spent documenting the war in Iraq, Once Upon A Time In Northern Ireland is a new five-part documentary that combines personal accounts with archive footage to tell the stories of people and communities who dealt with violence on a daily basis throughout The Troubles.

The episodes start from the beginning of The Troubles in the late 1960s and run chronologically to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

Bluemel said his experience directing Once Upon A Time In Iraq, the Bafta and Emmy award-winning documentary series, inspired him to tackle a conflict that was closer to home. He described finding similarities between the divided communities of Iraq and Northern Ireland.

"I sort of had a vague idea that I knew roughly what it was about, but I realised, here I am in the Middle East really examining a civil war which happened in Iraq and on my own back doorstep it felt like it’s been completely ignored, in one way which is, how it felt to live through it," he told RTE.

Meet the people featured in James Bluemel's documentary series Once Upon A Time in Northern Ireland.

Extraordinary human stories from those who lived through The Troubles.

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The documentary will feature accounts contributed from people across the political spectrum - from a woman who took a decision to plant firebombs to the son whose mother was kidnapped by the IRA. Bluemel said that the series surprised the interviewees at times, giving them the opportunity to dig up and dislodge old memories and process them in real time.

"You can see someone, going, 'Okay, I hadn’t really thought about this for a long time, and not in this way’ and you can see it running all through them, and it’s happening right in front. It’s incredibly powerful," the director continued.

One of the contributors featured in the series is a man named James, a member of a Loyalist paramilitary group. Bluemel said that a lot of time and commitment was needed to help participants like James to open up. "It’s not easy for him, that struggle that you see him going through in the chair is a very real struggle, and I thought it was important to show that it wasn’t easy," he added. "It was important to include those moments where you can see him really battling with the person who used to be."

The director hopes that the series will encourage empathy as the contributors told their stories from a new perspective. "What I’m hoping is that when you watch the documentary and you see the people presenting and talking about their lives in this way, that you will be able to get swept up in that story," the UK native said.

"Feel what they’re feeling, empathise, see things from their point of view, perhaps you’re empathising with people that you never thought you would be able to empathise with."

Once Upon A Time In Northern Ireland will air on BBC Two, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC iPlayer on May 22nd.