Bob Quinn – (Director of Poitín)

Robert Quinn (Son of Bob Quinn & Director of 'Cinegael Paradiso“)

Bio-Filmographie - Poitín

Original Title „Poitín“ (Ireland | 1977 | 65mins | 35mm | Colour | Gaelic with English subtitled )

„Poitín“ was made in 1977 and was met by public outrage after its Irish television premiere on St. Patrick’s Day in 1979. Controversial for its defiantly unromantic depiction of the West of Ireland, Poitín.
The film’s negative went missing for many years until cinematographer Seamus Deasy (whose first feature it was) uncovered it in the vaults of Technicolor. Now Poitín has been digitally remastered and a new 35mm print produced - the original was on 16mm. A music score has been composed by Bill Whelan (composer of Riverdance). Originally there was no music used in the film.

Contents:
Poitín is rightly regarded as a classic of Irish cinema. Based on a story by Colm Bairead, it tells of an elderly poitín maker and his daughter who exact revenge on the two agents who cheat and then terrorise them. Its stars three of Ireland’s greatest actors, Niall Tobin and the late Cyril Cusack and Donal McCann, in their only appearance together on film. All the supporting cast are well known Connemara (West Coast of Ireland) actors and the film was shot entirely in Connemara.

The new version was premiered in the summer of 2007 exactly thirty years after the film was shot in Connemara.

Bio-Filmographie „Cinegael Paradiso“ is a companion documentary (53 minutes) that will be screened directly after „ Poitín“

„Cinegael Paradiso“ (Ireland | 2004 |53mins | 35mm |Colour | Gaelic & English-with English subtitles|

“Originally the film was going to be about the cinema that we lived in, and it wasn't going to be anymore than that,” explains Robert Quinn. “To be honest with you, it became more than that because of the interviews I started doing. Not just with him, my father, but with my mother. My mother was a huge part of it. There were all these mad revolutionaries out there making films in the west of Ireland. This was like the middle of Mexico in the '50's, and this group of them went out there with no tv, no electricity and started talking about creating a film industry. It was like pushing the cart without the horse, or some kind of cliché like that. There was just something about it that I found fascinating, and, in ways, I wish we could go back and do it all again.”

Films:

Bob Quinn (Poitin)
He is primarily known as an independent film-maker, and has made more than 100 films, including documentary, feature and experimental, which include:
Budawanny (1987)
Atlantean (1985)
Listen (1978);
He has received many awards, and two of his films are in the Museum of Modern Art, New York. He is a member of Aosdána, and lives Connemara,Galway,West of Ireland.

Robert Quinn ( Cinegael Paradiso )
Breakfast on Pluto (2005) (first assistant director)
Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry (2000) (first assistant director)