Pat Collins

Documentary profile of the acclaimed Irish actor.

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.

a non-narrative, meditative film on isolation and thinking framed by the Fastnet Lighthouse off the South West coast of Ireland.

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

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.

'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.

Documentary profile of the acclaimed Irish actor.

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.

a non-narrative, meditative film on isolation and thinking framed by the Fastnet Lighthouse off the South West coast of Ireland.

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

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

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.

'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.

'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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Through an interview with Kiarostami in the Aran Islands and interviews with film critics and scholars at Cannes, the director examines Kiarostami's themes and methods. The director also profiles Kiarostami as a poet and a photographer.

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.

Filmed the year before his death, Necklace of Wrens is a documentary profile on the life of one of Ireland’s leading poets, Michael Hartnett. The documentary includes contributions from poets Seamus Heaney, Paul Durcan and Liam O Muirthile, artist Graham Knuttle and musician Sean Tyrell.

‘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.

'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.

Dramatic adaptation of J.M. Synge's 1907 collection of journal entries regarding the geography and people of the Aran Islands.

Dramatic adaptation of J.M. Synge's 1907 collection of journal entries regarding the geography and people of the Aran Islands.

“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.

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.

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.

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.