Pat Collins’s long-held admiration for John McGahern, now manifest in his exquisite adaptation of That They May Face the Rising Sun, was first revealed in this documentary portrait, completed just a year before McGahern’s passing in March 2006.

Since the publication of his first book in 1963, John McGahern was at the cultural heart of Irish life and was loved by critics and the reading public alike. His memoirs (published in 2005) form the backbone of the documentary.

It is a testament to Collins’s sensitivity, as both interviewer and filmmaker, that he gets the reluctant McGahern to open up on camera. The results, offering a rare insight into the creative process, are by turn fascinating and quietly moving, a portrait of an artist at peace in his final days.

Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn