Enjoying cult status among folk horror fans, The Outcasts, set in pre-famine Ireland when poverty and magic were rife, sees a young girl (Mary Ryan) discover a magical world of the imagination through ‘a wild, ungodly man’ (Mick Lally). When she is accused of witchcraft she uses her own supernatural powers for protection. Robert Wynne-Simmons combines horror, comedy and tragedy to produce this intelligent and visually stunning directorial debut. A 2k restoration by the IFI Irish Film Archive for IFI’s Digital Restoration Project funded by Screen Ireland/Fís Éireann with further support from Association des Cinémathèques Européennes (ACE) and EU Creative Europe MEDIA programme.

Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn