Rats Island

Eddie was unemployed and homeless when he found refuge on a small island in a river estuary.

He built a rudimentary shack there, a box-like structure made habitable with some basic furniture and a wood burning stove. This provided some semblance of domesticity for himself and his son, Andrew, who would stay with him from time to time. Their immediate surroundings could be considered pastoral, and their life as one of different freedoms.

In fair weather life on the island was hard, but tolerable. But now the two men are individually faced with the prospect of wintering there for the second time, and the drone of the nearby motorway is a reminder of the world they left behind.

Rats Island is spare and measured. It offers an observational account of how, in the face of personal and economic adversity, a father has made a home for himself and his son. It documents his efforts to survive in a social and geographic margin, as he tries to hold on to his family.

Rats Island is a twelve minute observational documentary, directed by Mike Hannon and produced by Sinéad Ní Bhroin of Still Films.

Gdansk DocFilm Festival
Liverpool Irish Festival
Cork Culture Night
curt.doc, Girona, Spain
IndieLisboa, Portugal
Jameson Dublin International Film Festival
Capital Irish Film Festival, Washington D.C.
Made in Cork Award for Best Short Film, Corona Cork Film Festival
Camden International Film Festival, Maine
Singapore International Documentary Festival
Sheffield Doc/Fest
Galway Film Fleadh
Best Documentary and Best Cork Short, Fastnet Short Film Festival
Project Award, Cork County Council Arts Office