A Film by Colm Bairéad
Drama, Ireland 2022, 95 mins, Original with German subtitles
At the end of spring 1981, 9-year-old Cáit is taken to live with distant relatives in the country. The silent girl is supposed to spend the summer here without being a burden on her parents’ house. With only the clothes she wears on her body, she moves into the well-kept country house, to which an avenue of lush green trees leads. When and if she will return home, she does not know. Seán and Eibhlín Cinnsealach are hard-working farmers who have made it to modest prosperity. Eibhlín cares for Cáit gently and lovingly, giving her security and closeness. The relationship with Seán is distant, until he too allows the girl to help him work with the animals and slowly opens up to the quiet child. In the care of her foster family, Cáit slowly blossoms and discovers a whole new life. But even in this home, where there might be something like love for her, there is a silence that feeds on the quiet but constant pain of its inhabitants. In the midst of this barren, beautiful Irish landscape lies hidden a secret, the trail of which Cáit sets out on with newfound courage and confidence.
The Quiet Girl is a quiet sensation in the cinema year. In large cinematic images saturated with vibrant colors, Colm Bairéad’s directorial debut tells of how love and security create a shared space of speechlessness. A strong and intense film of images that misses that humanity that unfolds beyond words.
Colm Bairéad
Colm Bairéad was born in Dublin in 1981 and is a director and screenwriter. Colm studied film and broadcasting at the Dublin Institute of Technology. In 2012 he founded the production company “Inscéal”. The Quiet Girl is his feature film debut and was submitted and nominated by Ireland for the 2023 Academy Awards.
Director & Screenplay: Colm Bairéad (based on the short story The Third Light by Claire Keegan) – Cinematography: Kate McCullough – Editor: John Murphy – Music: Stephen Rennicks – Starring Catherine Clinch, Carrie Crowley, Andrew Bennett, Michael Patric, Kate Nic Chonaonaigh.
