The beginnings of cinema: the land of origin
The Lad from Old Ireland (1910), made from a single roll of film, was one of the first films to be shot on Irish soil, and the first American film to be partially shot outside the USA. Its director, Sidney Olcott, chose the landscapes of Cork and Killarney to represent the native Ireland to which the hero returns.
One of the first sound films shot in Ireland was The Man from Aran by documentary pioneer Robert Flaherty in 1934. The film combines an observation of the living conditions of an Aran Island fisherman with a story of family and survival.
Twenty years later, director John Ford returned to his homeland to make The Quiet Man (1952), starring John Wayne, which would shape stereotypes of the Irish for years to come. Among local productions, Tom Cooper's The Dawn, set during the War of Independence, was the first Irish talkie, in 1936.
From the 1970s: cult films and filmmakers
In the 1970s, a group of filmmakers took advantage of the boom in cinema to engage in a practice that tackled social, economic and political issues. The Commitments, directed by Alan Parker in 1991, is a cult film in Irish musical cinema. A photo of the four main actors even became a stamp! Shot in North Dublin, it tells the story of Jimmy, played by musician and actor Robert Arkins, a music fan who forms a band with young people from proletarian backgrounds.
The two great filmmakers of the 1990s are undoubtedly Nils Jordan and Jim Sheridan. Sheridan directed My Left Foot (1989), adapted from the memoirs of Christy Brown, an Irish painter and writer suffering from an illness that forced him to use his foot to write, played by the incredible Daniel Day-Lewis. As for Nils Jordan, he directed The Crying Game (1992), which won the Oscar for best screenplay, Interview with a Vampire (1994) with Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst, and the magnificent Michael Collins (1996) with Ireland's Liam Neeson, for which he won the Golden Lion at Venice. The latter is a biographical drama that traces the life of Michael Collins (1890-1922), an early 20th-century revolutionary, soldier and politician who fought for independence.
2000s, opening of the Irish cinema
Many famous Irish actors have starred in international productions, including Colin Farrell, Kenneth Branagh, Michael Fassbender, Gabriel Byrne, Pierce Brosnan aka James Bond, Jack Gleeson aka Joffrey Baratheon in Game of Thrones, and Cillian Murphy, who won an Oscar for his role in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer.
In the 2000s, new filmmakers continued the line of talented Irish directors. John Carney released Once in 2007 and Sing Street in 2016. John Michael McDonagh directed The Irishman in 2011 and Calvary in 2014. Marian Quinn wrote 32A in 2008, the story of a young Dublin woman in 1979. Juanita Wilson directed As if I am not there, well received by the critics on its release in 2009.
Ireland, a source of inspiration for international filmmakers
The diversity of the landscape has inspired more than one foreign filmmaker. In addition to major international productions such as Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998), J. J. Abrams' Star Wars - The Force Awakens (2012) and David Yates' Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), there are several masterpieces that tell the story of Ireland and its history. In 2002, Britain's Peter Greengrass tackled a sad event in Irish history with Bloody Sunday, which recounts the events of January 30, 1972 in Derry, and won the Golden Bear at Berlin. Ken Loach's The Wind Rises, starring Cillian Murphy, won the Palme d'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Set during the War of Independence (1919-1921) and the ensuing Civil War (1922-1923), it follows the fate of two brothers who join the forces of the republic's army, only to be torn apart. In 2008, Steve McQueen's historical drama Hunger, starring Michael Fassbender, recounts one of the IRA's actions: the 1981 hunger strike. Fassbender plays Bobby Sands (1954-1981), a nationalist who fought in defense of political prisoners, who died after 66 days on hunger strike. Returning to the dark days of the IRA, Alan Clarke directed the incredible Elephant (1989) for the BBC, which gave its name to Gus Van Sant's film about Columbine(Elephant, 2003). More recently, in 2021, Kenneth Branagh directed Belfast, a multi award-winning autobiographical film about the filmmaker's childhood during the Troubles of the 1960s.
Ireland and the series: historical episodes
The settings that make up the fantasy world of Games of Thrones (2011-2019) can be visited partly in Ireland, notably on the Antrim Way hiking trail, but also on the gnarled tree-lined Bregagh Road, known in the series as the "Royal Road".
Another popular series, Vikings (2013-2020), by Michael Hirst, was filmed mainly on Wicklow Way. It features Lough Tay and the Powerscourt waterfall. The creator also invented The Tudors (2007-2010), a series that tells the story of Henry VIII (1491-1509), King of England and Ireland, played on screen by Jonathan Rhys-Meyers.
In the same historical vein, Irish director Nils Jordan created the series The Borgias (2011-2013), a historical drama set between the late 15th and early 16th centuries, telling the story of the Borgias, an Italian dynasty of Spanish origin.
The teen miniseries Derry Girls, on Netflix since 2018, is set in the late 1990s, during the Northern Irish Civil War. The comedy series follows a group of wanton youngsters who care more about their flirtatious problems than political tensions.
In 2020, BBC Three broadcasts the series adapted from the eponymous novel Normal People, the hugely popular title by young novelist Sally Rooney. The plot follows the complicated relationship of two teenagers, Marianne and Connell, from high school in County Sligo to university in Dublin. The series, like the novel, was an immediate success.
The Banshees of Inisherin
In 2023, Ireland once again takes center stage on the world cinema scene with The Banshees of Inisherin. The film, directed by Martin McDonagh, features a 100% Irish cast, with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two friends living on an island off the Irish coast while the country is torn apart by a terrible Civil War. Set on the two Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland, the film won four statuettes at the British Academy Film Awards, and was nominated in nine categories at the Oscars.
