That They May Face The Rising Sun

Capturing a year in the life of a rural, lakeside community in 1980s Ireland, That They May Face The Rising Sun is a sensitive and beautifully realised adaptation of the last novel by John McGahern. It’s directed by Pat Collins, who previously made a 2005 documentary about McGahern’s life and work.

Joe (Barry Ward) and Kate (Anna Bederke) have returned from London to live and work in a small, close-knit community in rural Ireland, close to where Joe grew up. He’s a writer, she’s an artist and photographer who retains part ownership of a London gallery. Now embedded in a remote lakeside setting, the drama of a year in their lives and those of their neighbours unfolds through the rituals of work, play and the passing seasons.

A quietly stunning adaptation of a book by a writer concerned with the ways Irish lives were changing and modernising in the 20th century, with gorgeous scenery filmed on the shore of Loch Na Fooey in County Galway.