Wicklow film director to screen award-winning movie for first time in his home county

Irish Independent

08-07-2025

Director Robert Manson, from Redcross, is the founder of Ballyrogan Films, which was formed in 2015 to house his first feature film, Lost in the Living, the first of his Lost and Found trilogy.
Holy Island follows 40-year-old David (Conor Madden), who is stuck in a run-down harbour town waiting for a boat to take him home.
When all boats are cancelled indefinitely, he is left in a state of limbo. David doesn't know what to do until he meets fellow traveller 31-year-old Rosa (Jeanne Nicole Ní Áinle), who seems to know the inner workings of the city.
The two are described as 'an unlikely pair' – Rosa is exuberant and David is burnt out, but both want to leave the island and get back to their lives. Rosa doesn't have a ticket for the boat, and she's determined to find one before it leaves. Rosa leads David further into town and together they traverse 'this strange form of purgatory'.
They meet the islanders and piece together their past lives through shared conversations and memories as David is haunted by visions of his past, seeing people and places he thought he had lost.
When David is confronted with a different version of himself, he is forced to make a decision. With time running out to find a ticket, Rosa must face her own past before she can attempt to escape the island. Both David and Rosa must try to regain their souls piece by piece before the boat finally sets sail. In the end, only one of them can be saved.
Holy Island explores themes of death, loss, home, love, emigration, family, survival, redemption and loneliness. Contemporary archetypes and stereotypes of Irishness and national identity are explored through intergenerational encounters within this story.
Commenting on the film, Robert said the main role of David is played by two actors, an idea which was taken from Luis Bunuel's The Obscure Object of Desire.
"The first half is played by one actor, a sombre and melancholy performance. Then there is a change and a younger actor takes over the role for the middle and later part of the film; this character is softer, more vulnerable and compassionate.
"The psychological change and development of the character of David is visually emphasised by this change of actor. The actors playing the role of David do not look identical, but they come from the same part of the world and have grown up similarly. This concept highlights an exploration of the concept of the duality of the self."
The work is filmed in black and white, to depict 'the lifeless harbour city of 'Limbo'' and in key sections of the film, 'flickering patches of colour are inserted to represent moments when the screen, the locations and the actors come alive and rich again'.
"Super 8mm represents past memories in those healing moments when the characters close their eyes and their lives flash before them. These are not their lives or their direct memories, but the transplanted images of a collective consciousness. Super 8mm archive footage from my father's archive was collected for these segments of the film. This bridges the visual gaps between the past, the present and the future. We shot sections on standard 16mm to connect all formats, 4K, 16mm and 8mm.'
Film Ireland praised Holy Island as being 'reminiscent of so many Irish films made before it, but is undoubtedly and decidedly unlike anything that has come before'.
On its release in the UK, the British Film Institute said it is a 'sometimes playful, sometimes twisted evocation of a culture with the gift of speech, and its verbal landscape is a potent purgatory for the uncommunicative David'.
"Manson makes a contribution to the tradition of language as a site of modern adventurism and satire, which in Ireland stretches back to Joyce and O'Brien,' the institute's Ruairí McCann said. He adds that the film 'draws much of its strength from its side characters', including Les (Mark Doherty), 'a ferryman of souls in the body of a bullish taxi driver'.
"Doherty gives a great rendition of pure, inexplicable passive-aggression, his every line laced with latent threat. Madden and Ní Áinle also make for an engaging central pair: their performances are complementary, with Madden delivering a minimalist, mumbling performance of a man who at first seems to be suffering from an almighty hangover, only to steadily reveal a deep spiritual sickness.'
Robert will be joined by producer Claire McCabe at The Mermaid for a questions and answer session after the screening. Tickets for the 8pm show, Saturday, July 12, are available online for €10, at mermaidartscentre.ie