Roll Up Your Sleeves is an Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 documentary about do-it-yourself counterculture

Counterculture

Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...

 directed by Dylan Haskins

Dylan Haskins

Dylan Haskins is an Irish broadcaster and social entrepreneur.Haskins first became known as a proponent of the DIY ethic in Ireland for his work on several projects initiated as a teenager, including the establishment of all ages, non-alcohol spaces in north Wicklow and Dublin.He has since become...

. It also examines the relationship between DIY culture and the need for autonomous social spaces, looking at various projects across Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and how these compare with the situation in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

.

Outline

Roll Up Your Sleeves was shot over a two year period by Haskins and his friends. The film begins by focusing on the non-profit all ages gigs in his Haskins' own home 'The Hideaway House' in Ireland leads him to drive US folk punk band Ghost Mice

Ghost Mice

Ghost Mice is a two-piece folk-punk band from Bloomington, Indiana. Both members, Chris Johnston and Hannah Jones, have been in a handful of pop-punk bands together: namely Disarm, The Devil is Electric and Operation: Cliff Clavin...

 on their European tour and to the conclusion that this is all about much more than music.
Interviewees include Ian MacKaye

Ian MacKaye

Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, label owner, and producer. Active since 1979, MacKaye is best known for being the frontman of the influential hardcore punk bands Minor Threat and The Teen Idles, the post-hardcore bands Embrace and Fugazi, as well...

 of legendary alternative bands Fugazi and Minor Threat

Minor Threat

Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C. in 1980 and disbanded in 1983. The band was relatively short-lived, but had a strong influence on the hardcore punk music scene, both stylistically and in establishing a "do it yourself" ethic for music distribution and...

, Ellen Lupton

Ellen Lupton

Ellen Lupton was born in 1963, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ellen Lupton is a graphic designer, writer, curator, and educator. Well known for her fascination and study within "typography", Lupton decided to expand her love for design, and later took on the graphic design world...

, author of DIY: Design it Yourself and Curator of Contemporary Design at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York, Ellie and Louise Macnamara of young Irish band Heathers (band) and members of long running Dutch experimental punk band The Ex

Funding

The film was received BCI Sound & Vision funding. It was produced by Project Arts Centre

Project Arts Centre

Project Arts Centre is a multidisciplinary contemporary arts centre located in Dublin's Temple Bar that showcases cutting-edge visual art and performance....

 for DCTV.

Reception

‘Roll Up Your Sleeves’ premiered at the 2009 Stranger Than Fiction Festival in the IFI in Dublin.

In January 2011, the film was made available free online garnering international media attention.