An Cailín Ciúin continues the quiet rise of Irish-language cinema
Catherine Clinch and Carrie Crowley in An Cailín Ciúin.
It’s the little Irish movie that’s gathering international momentum - and further proof that Irish-language cinema is having a moment. Following on the successes of films like Black ’47, Arracht and Song of Granite, An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl) is released this week to strong advance buzz and rave reviews.
Set in 1980s Ireland, the movie virtually swept the boards at this year’s Irish Film and Television Awards and tells the story of Cáit, a young girl from a dysfunctional home, who is sent to live with relatives for the summer.
It’s a powerful story that gives voice to its young central character and explores themes of family, childhood and neglect. Writer-director Colm Bairéad was deeply moved when he read Claire Keegan’s source story Foster, from which the film was adapted.
“I had become a father maybe two years before I'd read Foster,” says the Dubliner. “So I was in the thick of being a new parent and had this newfound understanding of the needs of a child. When I read Foster, I think my empathy for that young girl was amplified by virtue of the fact that we had our own young child in our lives at that point.”
Having cut his teeth as a shorts filmmaker and doing TV and documentary work for TG4 including Murdair Mhám Trasna, Bairéad felt a strong sense of wanting to adapt the story for screen - he could visualise it unfolding as he read Keenan’s book.
“That was certainly part of the impulse - I think it was a mixture of different things to do with my own personal circumstances at the time that I found Foster. And then that understanding that we all as a society are still coming to terms with, in terms of how we failed children in this country in the past.”
At the heart of An Cailín Ciúin is a remarkable performance from young actor Catherine Clinch. The 12-year-old is exceptional in the central role despite having never acted on camera before, bringing a quiet dignity to Cáit.
“She just has this extraordinary ability to allow the camera to witness her,” agrees Bairéad.
“She never over emotes, or she never falls into the bad habits of that slightly more theatrical style that children can often pick up. She's just an extraordinarily intelligent young person in every sense - emotional intelligence being the most important in terms of her ability to inhabit the character.
“She just understood that this is a young girl who has forced everything inwards, who has learned to sort of hide in plain sight. She had a real empathy. She really felt for Cáit”.
Bairéad has had a whirlwind few months since An Cailín Ciúin had its world premiere to strong reviews and two top awards at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival. In an era where we commonly watch subtitled stories like Call My Agent! and a Korean film - Parasite - takes best picture at the Oscars, it feels like an exciting time for Irish-language cinema.
He credits the 2017 introduction of the Cine4 scheme, established through TG4, Screen Ireland and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, with driving the current growth of storytelling As Gaeilge.
“It's wonderful that an Irish language film is doing well and has traveled beyond our shores, and has been so well received,” he says. “There is still a beauty to the music of this language, and the notion that this language is going to be bouncing around the walls of cinemas where it just hasn't been heard before, until recent years, really.”
His father is a native Irish speaker, and Bairéad was raised in a bilingual household through Irish and English.
He is already developing his next feature film Broken Hands, about a faith healer in 1970s Ireland, as An Cailín Ciúin is released in Ireland and the UK.
“I'm certainly really proud of the fact that an Irish film is getting noticed in this way. And I'm hopeful that it will sort of help with what feels like a slight shift happening in Irish society, just in terms of how we reflect upon our own identity and on our own language.
"I'm still trying to sort of parse all that out and figure out why that is, or where that's coming from. But there does seem to be something in that. Hopefully, our film can be part of that evolving thing.”
- An Cailín Ciúin opens in cinemas on Thursday, May 12
