In this Film Ireland Podcast, we catch up with writer/director Róisín Kearney whose latest short, ÉIST, starring Stephen Rea, is set to premiere at the Fastnet Film Festival on Sunday 24th May following its Puttnam Script Award win.
Róisín has established a career across film, TV and theatre, from directing RTÉ documentary series Keep It Up to producing award-winning shorts including The Ferry and Prodigy. She directed the short multi-award-winning short PADDY, which screened at festivals around the world.
In this episode, Róisín joins fellow filmmaker Rachel Melita to talk about coming back into the industry, the realities of funding and development, directing documentary versus drama, writing authentic characters, and the collaborative process of bringing ÉIST to life.
Starring Stephen Rea, Aaron Monaghan, and Louis Kirwan, Éíst is written and directed by Róisín Kearney and produced by her long-time collaborator Caroline Grace-Cassidy as well as Kevin Cassidy for Document Films.
Éíst is a meditation on memory, loss, and childhood trauma, explored through the quiet bravery of a young boy who listens. When he hears his ailing grandfather cry out, he hatches a plan to break him out of his nursing home and return him to his island home, where he hopes to make peace with the ocean that claimed his brother’s life. A story of innocence and empathy, the film explores a child’s sense of fairness as he breaks the rules to fulfil his grandfather’s wish.
A story of innocence and empathy, Éíst explores a child’s sense of fairness as he breaks the rules to fulfil his grandfather’s wish. Shot on location in West Cork, the film's cinematography is by Eleanor Bowman.
Éíst will premiere at Fastnet Film Festival on Sunday, 24th May in the Palace Cinema at Schull Harbour Hotel. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Róisín Kearney, Caroline Grace-Cassidy, Stephen Rea, David and Patsy Puttnam, Jean Van Sindern Law, moderated by John Kelleher.
Beginning her career in theatre lighting design and stage direction, Roisin moved into film after working on low-budget independent productions in the late 1990s and early 2000s. She later stepped back to focus on family, working on the periphery of the industry in script development and copywriting for producers. She returned to writing with the comedy short The Love Agency (2014), later developed as a radio play.
Her film work includes The Ballad of Olive Morris (EP, shortlisted BAFTA 2023), The Secret Life of Jim (producer, multiple award winner), PADDY (director, premiered Galway Film Fleadh 2020), The Ferry (co-producer, Academy long-listed 2021), The Family Way (writer/producer, shortlisted EdFest New Voice Award), RUN (co-writer/director, premiered Galway Film Fleadh 2019 and toured internationally), No Dogs (writer/director, nominated Best Female Director Cork Indie FF), and Keep It Up (hybrid documentary series for Macalla Teo and RTÉ, Celtic Media Festival nominated).
She is also producer of the award-winning radio play Adventures of a Young Pirate Queen, now in its third season on RTÉ Jr Radio. Her projects in development include Playing For Ireland (documentary, Tile Media), RIP (comedy drama series, Babyjane Productions, Screen Ireland supported), Spoke (feature film, Roundstone Media, Screen Ireland supported), Moon Walk(theatre, Arts Council supported), and Like, Vintage (comedy drama feature, with Caroline Grace Cassidy and Document Films). She has also developed TV scripts including Patrius (Belfast crime thriller) and Bloodlines (blue-sky drama series).
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