Lacrimosa

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A piece of art, an email from a stranger and a friendship born out of a bloody past.

In this serendipitous trilogy of tales, one search for a piece of art led to an email from a stranger which led to a story of friendship born out of a bloody past.

In this serendipitous trilogy of tales, one search for a piece of art led to an email from a stranger which led to a story of friendship born out of a bloody past. 

In 2015, Proinsias O'Coinn made a documentary called 'Lacrimosa' in which he went in search of a piece of art powerful enough to make him cry. While starting out on his mission, Proinsias found himself facing up to bigger questions about a part of himself that he had kept hidden his whole life. 

A month later, Proinsias received an email from a woman called Donna who wanted to tell him about the work of art that makes her cry - a sculpture in Rotterdam called The Destroyed City. Donna was terminally ill with the same type of cancer Proinsias had had and together they made another documentary called 'Pen Pals' in which Proinsias meets Donna for the first time after writing back and forth for over a year. They both then go to Rotterdam to see if the sculpture would also bring him to tears. 

On that trip, Proinsias discovered another story. In the 70s, when Donna and her husband Danny lived in Holland, they signed up to a cross community initiative that brought Catholics and Protestants from Northern Ireland together from across the divide. Their first kids to visit were Patrick O'Doherty and Raymond Hamilton. 'Derry Boys' is the story of two children who were never supposed to be friends, united by the kindness of strangers.

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Serendipity: Lacrimosa

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

BBC Radio 4 - Serendipity, Lacrimosa

Proinsias O'Coinn goes in search of a piece of art that has the power to make him cry.

4 Extra Debut. As 26-year-old Proinsias O'Coinn goes on a mission to find a piece of art that can make him cry. From 2015.

26-year-old, Proinsias O'Coinn, has spent most of his life thinking that something is wrong with him.

Ever since he was a teenager, he's been trying to find a song, a film, a poem 'any' piece of art which has the power to make him cry.

When friends would be moved to tears by a weepy film or a sad song, Proinsias would look on in envy, wishing it could happen to him.  You see in his head, being able to cry at a piece of art would let him engage with it and appreciate it like everyone else.

He's come close on a few occasions. Like when Jean Grey kills Professor X in X-Men 3 - or when listening to the Adele song 'One and Only'. But it's the sheer joy at these moments - that this could be it, this could be the time he's finally able to cry - that actually stops the tears from coming. 

It's like the sneeze that comes tantalisingly close but just never happens. 

So Proinsias is on a mission to finally find a piece of art that can make him cry. But as he embarks on this very personal challenge, he finds himself facing up to much bigger questions about himself and who he is.

Producer: Conor Garrett

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2015.

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