Small town of Moneygall prepares for special guest - US President Obama

Описание: (21 May 2011) SHOTLIST
20 May, 2011
1. Various of musicians playing accordions and guitar
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Canon Stephen Neill, Church of Ireland minister:
"Well I'd already read one of his (Obama's) books, but I did get a phone call out of the blue from Salt Lake City in Utah from a researcher with ancestry.com asking me to check up on the Kearney family of Moneygall, who they believed were related to Senator Barack Obama. And I went looking in the parish records in April 2007 and found the names they were looking for, and on the basis of that the definitive link between Barack Obama and Moneygall was proved"
3. Various of Moneygall sign and US flag
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Canon Stephen Neill, Church of Ireland minister:
"I suppose he's about 5 percent Irish we reckon, but that's enough. They do say there's a little bit of Irish in everybody but it is absolutely documented and proven, and the researchers in my experience were very conservative and I actually waited an entire month from the initial discovery, before releasing it to the media, they wanted to make sure everything was in order, so it is a genuine link, albeit quite a distant one"
21 May, 2011
5. Various exteriors of "Obama Cafe"
6. Close of sign reading (English) "Opening Soon"
20 May, 2011
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Canon Stephen Neill, Church of Ireland minister:
"We're going to give the President a tremendous welcome, huge crowds, about 3-thousand people on the street. They're going to see the leader of the free world, a son of this village return, and meet his cousins, visit his ancestral home and we hope come and have the mandatory pint of Guinness"
21 May, 2011
8. Wide exterior of "Ollie Hayes" bar
9. Close of Irish flags outside bar
10. Wide of houses with Irish and American flags painted on them
11. Close of American flag painted on exterior of house
12. Wide interior of t-shirt shop
13. Close of t-shirt reads (English) "What's the Craic Barack?"
14. Mid of t-shirts on display
15. Close of t-shirt with image of Obama reading (English) "The Offaly Rover"
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Billy Hayes, T-shirt store owner:
"It's not a very big town and shops don't open every day, so if we can open the shops, get people into the village and keep them coming, then Moneygall can be a nice place to visit, not only this weekend but the weekends for the rest of the summer and the years to come"
17. Mid of Hayes printing an Obama t-shirt
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Billy Hayes, T-shirt store owner:
"We're just excited like. We just can't wait for the visit to happen. And we can't wait for what's going to be left of the village and how well it will be portrayed afterwards like, so."
19. Mid of customer looking at t-shirts
20. Pan of t-shirts on display
STORYLINE:
Musicians in the Irish town of Moneygall having been practising for a president, as they rehearse a routine to welcome the tiny village's most famous, if distant, son -Barack Obama.
A three-piece band was in full swing in Cairdin's accordion shop on Friday as a carnival atmosphere took hold of the streets of Moneygall, ahead of the much anticipated visit of the US President.
Moneygall has a population of just over 3-hundred people, but more than 3-thousand are expected on Monday when Obama spends about an hour there.
Church of Ireland minister Canon Stephen Neill traced the link from America's 44th President to Moneygall, through Obama's mother's family, to her great-great-grandfather.
"It's a genuine link, albeit quite a distant one."
But the President's response took more than two years.

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