When I published ‘One for the Little Fella: Ireland on Screen’ in 2020 when the pandemic had just hit, I will admit that I was clutching at straws. The films we did have to show as a nation were absolutely exceptional, but they were few and far between. The Crying Game, In The Name of The Father, The Commitments and The Snapper are outstanding, but all were made over 30 years ago. There seemed to be something in the water, with a glimmer of hope arriving in 2016, with the likes of Sing Street and The Secret Scripture, before everything going quiet again and rearing its head after the pandemic, seemingly for good. Over the weekend Ireland won its very first Best Actress award at the Oscars thanks to Jessie Buckley, just a year after Cillian Murphy won his Best Actor Oscar. There is change afoot, so this St. Patrick’s Day, take a moment to catch up on the vibrant, audacious and bold moves that the Irish film industry is finally making.
Post-COVID however the industry in Ireland is virtually unrecognisable, the likes of An Cailín Ciúin, Small Things Like These, Saipan, Kneecap and many more have helped spearhead the rise in Irish productions. In fact there was breaking production spend here in 2025 with €544 million contributed to the Irish economy €29.5 million invested by Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland in TV drama in last 10 years. International productions are coming here to film because of our skilled industry which we have always been good at, but finally Irish productions are starting to film on home soil too.
It was common enough practice to compare the Irish and Danish film industries, but the key difference was that Irish people weren’t going to see Irish language films. A film which changed this was Kneecap, directed superbly by Rich Peppiat, everything was captured creatively with a gritty and modern feel – something that the Irish language has always lacked in pop culture. And the release of Kneecap wasn’t just a box office success it was a palpable cultural moment and arguably a watershed moment, not just for commercial Irish films (they practically didn’t exist before this), but also the success of Irish language films (they definitely did not exist before this.) Now with the Cine4 scheme which chooses to fund a set number of Irish language films a year, writers are encouraged to write in their mother tongue.
“Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam,” Translation: A country without a language is a country without a soul.” Revolutionary Padraig Pearse had spouted this wisdom when the Irish language was the only dying vestige of a nation on its knees, holding on tight to an identity that had been eroded by wars, misfortune and poverty. Whether that language is English or Irish, the language of cinema is a distinct cultural vessel so intrinsically related to the identity of a nation. No other country in the world has an entire national holiday, celebrated the world over like Ireland. For such a tiny nation, we’ve had an incredible impact on the the world, particularly in the realm of culture. There’s something uniquely distinctive about hearing an Irish brogue on screen, I always find myself leaning in closer to hear what the soft musings from an Irish accent will be. That’s because our dialogue is special, with storytelling running through our veins it’s no wonder that we phrase anecdotes and tell a yarn unlike any other nation.
FILM FOR THOUGHT 