This film screened 18th September 2018.

This screening will be introduced by composer Roger Doyle. 

A love story is revealed through conversations between an elderly bishop (Donal McCann) and a younger priest in a ‘retreat’ house catering for members of religious orders. The bishop, a returned missionary, violated the laws of the Catholic Church when, as a young curate on a remote island, he had an affair with his housekeeper (Maggie Fegan), the tragic outcome of which profoundly changed his beliefs.

In what he has described as a homage to the purity of early cinema, Quinn employs black and white sequences (from an earlier imagining of the story, 1987’s Budawanny), silent inter-titles, and rugged Clare Island landscapes to create a minimalist backdrop to the powerful narrative.

This screening will be introduced by composer Roger Doyle whose spare & haunting music perfectly underscores the bleakly compelling narrative.

Brian Lally’s The Curious Works of Roger Doyle will screen as part of the IFI Documentary Festival on Thursday 27th at 20.20.

Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn