THE landscape and environment of West Cork are celebrated in three stunning nature documentaries screening this month.
Gary Lennon’s documentary An Irish Atlantic Rainforest brings the beauty of Beara into sharp focus. The one-and-a-half hour film follows conservationist and rewilding advocate Eoghan Daltun who turned a derelict 73-acre farm into a living, breathing woodland.
Part ecology film, part intimate portrait, it charts Daltun’s journey from an inner-city Dublin upbringing and his work as a sculptor to his years creating the rainforest near Eyeries.
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An Irish Atlantic Rainforest, inspired by Daltun’s bestselling book, is now showing at Bantry Cineplex and cinemas nationwide. Director Gary Lennon says the documentary was created through all seasons over the course of a year and ‘weaves together a universally human story with the wild behaviours and moods of the flora and fauna of an Irish rainforest’. Another West Cork nature film is set just around the corner from the Beara rainforest: The River Remembers takes a deep dive into the Coomhola River, the community around it and its stories.
Through intimate oral history interviews with locals, anglers, farmers, musicians, conservationists and school children, the Heritage council-funded film explores the deep connection between the river and the people looking after it. The documentary has its premier later this month at Coomhola Lodge along with a citizens workshop organised by Bantry-based charity StreamScapes. ‘Atlantic salmon across Ireland are in decline but Coomhola has a fairly decent salmon population,’ said Maggie McColgan, CEO of StreamScapes. ‘There is a real sense of pride, shared ownership and stewardship in the community. It comes out in the film. There’s respect for the river and the salmon population in it.’
The River Remembers premiers on August 23rd at 7pm at Coomhola Lodge, a place that crops up in several of the stories featured in the film. Echoes of Faith: The Holy Wells of West Cork, from local production company Wombat Media, will be shown as part of West Cork History Festival at Inish Beg from 7.30pm on Saturday (August 8th).
