Bob Quinn followed his experimental film Caoineadh Airt ui Laoire (1975) with this second Irish-language feature, based on a story by Colm
Bairead. Featuring Cyril Cusack, Donal McCann and Niall Toibin in their only appearance together on film, Poitin is a universal tale of greed and revenge about an elderly poteen maker who wreaks revenge on two cheating agents. Quinn’s bleak Connemara is a far cry from the romanticised vision of rural Ireland common in films such as The Quiet Man. Poitin won the Arts Council’s first Film Script Award in 1977 and was funded by the Arts Council, RTE and Roinn na Gaeltachta, amongst others. We are pleased to be showing a newly
restored version of this film.