"Right from the opening minutes of Alan Gilsenan's documentary,
The Ghost of Roger casement, one realises this is a contentious debate -
one that makes you wonder if this ghost will ever be laid to rest (...)
The Ghost of Roger Casement is absorbing viewing."

Sarah Caden, Sunday Independent

Roger Casement served the British Government, was knighted, turned Irish rebel and was executed within the space of just ten years. He was one of the world's first great humanitarians in the modern sense, a man who achieved world wide fame for his defence of native peoples but whose life was destroyed by a set of homosexually explicit diaries used by the British Government to hang him for treason. These 'Black Diaries' have become the focus of one of the great forgery debates of the 20th century. To this day, they remain a contentious issue in Anglo Irish relations, feeding an ongoing and ferocious debate over their authenticity. Shot in Ireland, Europe & South America, this film tells Casement's extraordinary story and features the only modern forensic investigation of the 'Black Diaries'.

For the first time a serious effort was made in 2002 to unveil the truth about the most notorious aspects of Casement's private life and the authenticity of the Black Diaries. Crossing the Line Films part funded and had privileged access to a major investigation into their provenance, the results of which form part of the documentary - albeit a small part in the context of the man's remarkable and truly expansive life.

Casement defended the rights of millions of oppressed people from the Congo to the Amazon, two genocides almost forgotten today. He then became one of the key figures behind the Irish rebellion of 1916. After Casement was found guilty of treason against the British Crown a campaign was launched to save him from the gallows - Arthur Conan Doyle, George Bernard Shaw, Joseph Conrad, TE Lawrence (of Arabia), the Archbishop of Canterbury all threw in pleas for clemency. But the growing clamour of support for Casement was snuffed out by the appearance of the 'Black Diaries'. They described athletic homosexual acts between Casement and a variety of partners. They were shown to a select few including King George V, the American Government and the Anti Slavery League. Casement's reputation was unsalvageable and the world turned it's back on him. He was hung in the Tower of London on August 3rd, 1916.

Filmed by Richard Kendrick, Ross Bartley & Neal Boyle
Written & Directed by Alan Gilsenan
Produced by John Murray

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