‘An Tobar’ (The Well), a 52’ documentary film from Wildfire Films, directed by Anna Rackard and Adrian McCarthy will receive it’s premiere screening on TG4 this Saturday the 29th of January at 21.05pm.
The documentary explores the idea that every year thousands of people visit holy wells around Ireland. Some are large national gatherings while most of them are very small and very local. People visit holy wells for a variety of reasons some do so because it is tradition, just as their parents and grandparents did before. Others go to these ‘special’ places when they are in times of need and searching for comfort or cures. ‘An Tobar’ visits some extraordinary holy wells around Ireland recording a living tradition that predates the arrival of Christianity on this island.
“These places tend to be very local in their character, making each of them visually unique. This combined with the stories of cures and legends gives us a fascinating glimpse into a relatively unexplored area of Irish cultural heritage. We give people an insight into a world many either take for granted or simply don’t even know exists,” says Laura McCahill of Wildfire Films.
‘An Tobar’ visits seven wells in counties Carlow, Galway, Clare, Dublin and Limerick, including a little known well in Dublin’s Trinity College spending time with the ‘keeper’ or unofficial guardian of the wells.
‘An Tobar’ is directed by Anna Rackard and Adrian McCarthy. It is a Wildfire Films Production commissioned by The Irish Film Board and TG 4.
In 2004 Wildfire completed two one-hour documentaries ‘Muca le Maidí’ and ‘An Tobar’ (co-directed by Adrian McCarthy) in association with The Irish Film Board and TG4 and YLE Finland. The company also produced a documentary entitled ‘Rang a dó’ for TG4 and ‘Communion Kids’ for RTE. Adrian McCarthy other credits include a special documentary for RTE called ‘School No 1 : A Mission to Beslan’ which aired in December 2004.
Wildfire are currently developing two feature films, ‘Headbanger’ (Director Robert Quinn) and ‘Bridget Cleary’ (Director Thaddeus O’Sullivan) in addition to a drama for RTE called ‘Thomas Turley’.
Both Martha O’Neill and Adrian McCarthy are the Producers/Directors for Wildfire Films.
