Audiences in Clare will have one last chance to see a local viewing of the award winning documentary The Silver Branch by Clare based director Katrina Costello.
The Silver Branch is a cinematic eulogy to nature, landscape and agrarian culture, which invites the viewer to follow in a hypnotic journey into the self.
The documentary is an uplifting and emotional celebration of people and place, which captures the delicacy of the natural world; the heart and soul of a peasant farmer-poet, Patrick McCormack; and the ancient rural spirit of Ireland which stands behind him. The Story is centred around Patrick and the land, The Burren, Western Ireland.
The film also covers a divisive 13-year battle by Patrick and a group of locals who stood opposed plans by the Office of Public Works (OPW) to build an interpretative centre at Mullaghmore. The Burren Action Group successfully sought to preserve the natural integrity of the local landscape over the development of a major tourism amenity.
Katrina’s work was recently honoured at Hot Docs one of the largest and most renowned documentary film festivals in the world. The 10-day event attracted audiences of an estimated 223,000 with over 370 documentaries screened, which tell important stories from across the globe.
https://www.facebook.com/TheSilverBranchFilm/videos/1724471887647221/
Katrina said: “And there we were, with our story from the Burren touching the hearts of this incredible audience to such an extent they stood and applauded and voted us Number 1 in the international Spectrum and 7th in the entire festival.
I was hugely gratified and almost surprised that it resonated with an international audience to this extent – I mean I could hardly believe we even got accepted into such a prestigious festival in the first place, never mind to get such a reaction.”
“This Award and overwhelming response from the audience has given me hope that the film has interest and relevance to audiences throughout the world and I will continue to self-distribute it nationally and internationally. My dream being that we will stop taking from the earth’s resources and to thread gentler with the planet and with ourselves,” Katrina added.
*The Silver Branch will have its final local screenings on Sunday 20th at 6pm in Kinvara and Thursday 24th Hotel Doolin at 8pm.