Arracht

Tom Sullivan’s striking Irish language debut captures the desperation of the 1840’s potato famine on the spectacular shores of Ireland’s west coast. Fisherman Colmán Sharkey works hard to provide for his family. At the behest of the local priest, he welcomes Patsy, a former soldier with a dark past, into his home. No good deed goes unpunished. As land taxes rise and crops rot, Colmán confronts his Landlord, but the night ends in deadly violence and Colmán is forced into exile, leaving him in search of redemption.

‘I grew up in Tallaght, a working-class part of Dublin. When I was a boy in the eighties, there was an Irish language school established near us by two young teachers from the West of Ireland. They used to take us urchins on trips down to Connemara. This was the beginning of a life-long affinity for me with the west coast and our language. It is a place that has always mystified me; the people, how they sound and how the hard landscape shapes them. As the idea for the film was forming, I was fascinated with the idea of being isolated in this place out at sea both physically and mentally - that came first.’

Tom Sullivan, Director