The Best Two Years

The Best Two Years 2004

7.10

Two pairs of Mormon missionaries from America live in a beaten-up apartment in the Dutch city of Haarlem. Their personalities are distinctly different. Elder Johnson is the District Leader and oversees their efforts. His companion, the vain Elder Van Pelt, seeks to become the assistant to the mission president (the top post available) as soon as possible. The capable Elder Rogers has become disillusioned and inattentive to his duties ever since a previous missionary companion returned to America and married Elder Roger's girlfriend. The three meet Elder Roger's new companion, Elder Calhoun, in the train station. This new elder is a nerdy but enthusiastic "greenie" that has just arrived from the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Utah. Unfortunately, his training did not give him much fluency in the Dutch language. But as luck would have it, the first person he approaches to proselytize is a fellow American named Kyle.

2004

Silence

Silence 2012

6.40

Eoghan is a sound recordist who is returning to Ireland for the first time in 15 years. He has been given an unusual task: to find and record places without man-made sound. His journey takes him away from towns and villages, into remote terrain, to places free from the thumb-print of man.

2012

That They May Face the Rising Sun

That They May Face the Rising Sun 2024

7.60

Joe and Kate Ruttledge have returned from London to live and work among the small, close-knit community near to where Joe grew up. Now deeply embedded in life around the lake, the drama of a year in their lives and those of the memorable characters around them unfolds through the rituals of work, play and the passing seasons as this enclosed world becomes an everywhere.

2024

Song of Granite

Song of Granite 2017

5.90

The life story of traditional Irish folk singer Joe Heaney, who is estimated to have recorded in excess of 500 traditional Irish sean nós ('old style') songs. Heaney moved from Ireland to the UK, and then on to New York City, where he settled shortly after performing at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

2017

Amiko

Amiko 2022

7.70

Amiko isn't like other children. Her endless energy makes her an outcast at school and gets her in trouble at home. When a painful family loss disrupts her seemingly idyllic seaside life, her sense of isolation intensifies, yet it doesn't stop Amiko from inviting people into her world.

2022

John McGahern: A Private World

John McGahern: A Private World 2005

1

On March 30th 2006, after a life-time of dedication to his art, John McGahern, one of Ireland's most distinguished writers, sadly passed away after a long illness. Since the publication of his first book in 1963, John McGahern was at the cultural heart of Irish life. He was in the happy position of being universally praised by the critics and equally loved by the reading public. John McGahern: A Private World was filmed in 2004 just prior to the publication of his memoirs and these memoirs form the backbone of the documentary. Through intimate interviews, a strong and compelling sense of the man emerges, offering a rare insight into the creative process.

2005

Henry Glassie: Field Work

Henry Glassie: Field Work 2019

1

A chronicle of the worldwide travels and unique cultural finds of renowned American folklorist Henry Glassie.

2019

Tory Island

Tory Island 2002

10.00

Tory Island, nine miles off the coast of Donegal is the most remote inhabited island off Ireland. Its notorious inaccessibility and unforgiving landscape has not deterred 150 people from making this island their home. Oileán Thoraí captures, over the course of eighteen months, the changing patterns of life on Tory. It’s an intimate portrayal, exploring the lives of the islanders, their character and community.

2002

Living in a Coded Land

Living in a Coded Land 2014

1

'Living in a Coded Land' is a poetic and imaginative film essay that makes unexpected links between events and locations, history and contemporary life. The film revolves around the notion of a sense of place and stories associated with place, reflecting on the subterranean traces of the past in the present and probing themes such as the impact of colonialism, emigration, the famine, land, housing and the place of art in society. Making extensive use of archive from RTÉ and the IFI, the film seeks to explore the more elusive layers of meaning that make up this country.

2014

The Dance

The Dance 2021

1

Thrillingly documenting the creation of a new dance show by Michael Keegan-Dolan, acclaimed Irish filmmaker Pat Collins reveals a work that is expressive and exhilarating.

2021

Songs of the Open Road

Songs of the Open Road 2022

1

“Songs of The Open Road” sheds light on the life of the award-winning Irish Traveller, Traditional Singer, Thomas McCarthy. Thomas comes from a long line of singers and musicians who kept the tradition of singing strong within the Irish Traveller community. He now knows over a thousand songs and since 2021 has set about collecting a repertoire of this fabulous part of Traveller heritage. Filmmaker Pat Collins’ evocative documentary, Songs Of The Open Road’ sheds light on the life and prowess of this great storyteller who was named Traditional Singer of the Year in the prestigious ‘Gradam Ceoil Awards’ in 2019. The film follows Thomas as he moves from his home in London to perform, sing and speak in various venues, festivals and clubs throughout Ireland and England.

2022

Tim Robinson: Connemara

Tim Robinson: Connemara 2011

1

Documentarian Pat Collins adopts cartographer Tim Robinson's memoirs of his time in Connemara, exploring the ill-defined boundaries of the region through scenic imagery and hushed narration.

2011

Talking to the Dead

Talking to the Dead 2000

1

Based on the book by Pat Sheeran and Nina Witoszek, this hour-long documentary focuses on the hold that the dead have on the living in Ireland, and the tradition of the funeral in Irish culture.

2000

Pilgrim

Pilgrim 2008

1

Each year on the last Sunday of July one of the oldest pilgrimages in Ireland takes place. Pilgrims come from the surrounding countryside to ascend the 2,510 feet of Croagh Patrick. It has been traditional for certain people to climb the mountain at night and this is where the film begins.

2008

What We Leave in Our Wake

What We Leave in Our Wake 2010

10.00

Emigration, mythology, consumerism, socialism, the place of the church in Irish life, the central role of land in Irish history, and the sense of a civic society are explored in a series of conversations and imagery.

2010

William McKeown: Between Heaven and Earth

William McKeown: Between Heaven and Earth 2016

1

‘William McKeown: Idir Neamh agus Talamh’ is a meditation on the work of Irish artist William McKeown (1962-2011), who developed a body of work that has had a radical and fundamental effect on our understanding of the age-old relationship of art to nature, steering our attention not to the distant sky but to the air around us, to the openness of nature, the feeling of our emergence into light and our proximity to the infinite.

2016

Ballade

Ballade 2014

1

'Ballade' is a four minute film commissioned by the Trailblazery and RTÉ which was shown as part of 'We Need to Talk about ireland', a 90 minute show on what it means to be Irish in 2014.

2014

Cathair Chorcaí

Cathair Chorcaí 2005

1

A portrait of the history and people of the city of Cork, Ireland.

2005