Immrám (2025)
Feature Documentary - 90 minutes
Directed by Michael Holly & Mieke Vanmechelen
Produced by Fierce Quiet Films
Funded by the Arts Council of Ireland
Musical score composed and performed by Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh
For one full year between the harvest festivals of Samhain, IMMRÁM follows a charismatic family who are at the centre of a growing movement that aims to reclaim indigenous Irish identity, customs, religion and language. Siobhán de Paor and Diarmuid Lyng situate themselves at the centre of this movement, as public figures and leaders. In a post-Catholic, neo-liberal Ireland, they are attempting to propagate new cultural and religious roots in tune with nature.
IMMRÁM encounters this family and their circle of friends and colleagues along a ten-day walking pilgrimage across the South of Ireland. It meets them at their home in Co. Kilkenny, at gatherings and rituals. It observes a men’s spiritual retreat in the Wicklow mountains with wild hurling and a sweat lodge, amongst several other intimate and poignant moments.
The family and the people around them follow the teachings of the enigmatic philosopher and mystic John Moriarty (1938 - 2007), who is always present in IMMRÁM, in scatterings of television archive. Moriarty wanted to reconnect with his ‘wild nature’ - to ‘decivilise’ himself by living a life in communion with the rhythms of nature and engaging with the profundities of mystical philosophies from around the world.
IMMRÁM is an experimental documentary film that visually and sensorially navigates the complex connections between place, identity, language, environment, and contemporary lived life in Ireland, which it sees as an outpost of a resurgent indigenous European culture
Director Statement
From the beginning, we approached this film as a lived experience rather than a conventional documentary. Our time with Siobhán, Diarmuid, their children, and their wider community was not just about observation but participation. We sought to create something that reflected their reality as it unfolded - intuitive, poetic, and deeply rooted in the land.
The title Immrám references an ancient Irish literary tradition of voyage tales - journeys that are both physical and metaphysical, real and imagined. In making this film, we were drawn to that duality, exploring how contemporary life in Ireland exists as an outpost of a resurgent indigenous European culture. Through non-traditional storytelling and experimental visual language, we aimed to map the tensions and harmonies between tradition and modernity, between human presence and the natural world, between language and the landscapes it describes.
As filmmakers, our practice is one of long-term engagement, allowing the process to shape the form. The film evolved in the time we spent together, guided by the natural rhythms of the seasons and the conversations that emerged organically. It is less about documenting a fixed reality and more about opening a space where experience, memory, and mythology intersect.
Ultimately, Immrám is an invitation - to listen, to see, and to feel the ways in which place and people shape one another. It is a meditation on the resilience of culture, the fluidity of identity, and the ongoing journey of belonging.
Selected Press
“Immrám: A film about wild hurling and the fascinating life of Diarmuid Lyng” Irish Examiner. July 2025:
https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/artsandculture/arid-41662895.html
“Galway Film Fleadh 2025: The big winners at the hottest festival in memory” Donald Clarke. Irish Times. July 2025
“Former GAA star Diarmuid Lyng on finding his wild side” Irish Independent Weekend Magazine. June 2025
“I’m an ex-GAA star, now I’m starring in a film documentary with my wife about our philosophical retreats” Irish Sun. June 2025
https://www.thesun.ie/sport/15429664/gaa-diarmuid-lyng-siobhan-de-paor-film-documentary-immram/
“Documentary on former Wexford hurler to feature at Galway film festival” Irish Independent. June 2025
Crew:
Photography, Sound & Editing: Mieke Vanmechelen & Michael Holly
Additional Photography: Matt Sullivan
Colour & Online Editor: Michael Higgins
Audio Mixing & Mastering: Seamus Slemon
Additional Music: Sarah Kelleher singing Rory Óg Mac Rory, Rónán Ó Snodaigh on bodhrán & vocals
Production Assistant: Francesca Ó Connor
Subtitles and Audio Description: Gigi Corcoran
Screenings
July 2025: Galway Film Fleadh
October 2025: Indiecork Film Festival
October 2025: Wexford Arts Centre
November 2025: Dingle Film Festival
May 2026: Belfast Cathedral Quarter Arts
