Ahead of the film’s release in Irish cinemas this Friday (July 26th), IFTN spoke with filmmaker Cara Holmes about her award winning documentary Notes From Sheepland, which won Best Documentary at the Dublin International Film Festival earlier this year.
Funded through the Arts Council’s Reel Art Film fund, Notes From Sheepland is filled with candid observations of lipstick wearing, always swearing, no nonsense, artist and shepherd, Orla Barry. Through her fields, her digital diaries, and the pedigree sheep she cares for, we discover how the art is in the doing.
“The film would not have been possible without my very talented friend and the film's cinematographer Luca Truffarelli,” Holmes told IFTN when asked about the team behind the project.
“Luca is a dedicated collaborator. Myself and Luca worked on a short film before this called Welcome To A Bright White Limbo so I knew he would bring something very special to the project. We had a very small crew on the farm. It was mainly myself, Luca and on occasion Simon Murphy who was doing production sound.”
The project was produced by Nuala Cunningham and Jen Dunbar from New Decade Films as well as Aideen O'Sullivan who “were a great support” in production. Holmes’ good friend, Mick Mahon was the co-editor on the project. “Mick was also instrumental in encouraging me to push the boundaries of the documentary form,” Holmes added. “Our mantra in the edit was to 'release the bats' whenever scenes were starting to feel dull or boring. And that's what we did ...”
The original score was by Verity Susman, Matthew Simms did sound design, and the project was mix by Killian Fitzgerald with post production completed at Outer Limits.
“Orla's sister Sue opened her home to us during filming and we wouldn't have been able to make the film without her,” Holmes added.
An artist and self-confessed ovine addict, Orla Barry is a decade in sheep, she’s still wondering what possessed her to start but yet she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Orla lived in Brussels for 16 years and now lives and works in South East Ireland where she runs a flock of pedigree Lleyn sheep. Her work deals with the tensions of being an artist and an eco-farmer in rural Ireland. The Sheep have slowed her art career but at the same, caring for them has hugely inspired it. She escapes the studio by going to the sheep, escapes the sheep by hiding in her studio. Notes From Sheepland follows Orla, an outlier, as she floats between these worlds. It reflects upon the primal, poetic and unpredictable bond she has with the natural world.
Eclipse Pictures are releasing the film in selected cinemas including: Irish Film Institute (IFI) in Dublin on Friday, 26 July at 6:30 PM. There will be a Q&A with director Cara Holmes & Orla Barry, hosted by Selina Guinness, after the 6:30 PM screening); the Light House on July 26th; Light House Cinema Dublin (26 July-1 Aug) for a ‘Silver Screen’ screening; Pálás Cinema Galway (27-28 July); Triskel Cork (from 28 - 31 July); Arc Wexford – for one night only (Wednesday 31 July, 8:15 PM). Screening & Q&A with Orla Barry and director Cara Holmes, hosted by Wexford Arts Officer Liz Burns; and QFT Belfast (3-7 Aug).
We caught up with director Cara Holmes to find out more about the origins of the project, bringing the film to international audiences, and the collaborative process of working with artist/farmer Orla Barry.
IFTN: Following a fantastic festival run, Notes From Sheepland is getting a limited theatrical release across the country. How excited are you to bring this project to cinemas on July 26th?
Cara: “Very excited! It's great to be working with Eclipse Pictures to do this. And it wouldn't have happened without them. When we were halfway through the making of Notes From Sheepland we had no idea what the film would be or where it might end up so we are absolutely thrilled that people will get to experience the film in cinemas. It's a visual and aural feast and it was made for the big screen.”
IFTN: The documentary has enjoyed a fantastic journey so far, having its international premiere at Telluride Film Festival, screening at DocPoint, Denver Film Festival, IDFF, and winning Best Documentary at Dublin International Film Festival and the Pull Focus Award for Best New Irish Feature Documentary at Docs Ireland.
How has the journey been so far?
Cara: “We have been blown away to be honest. Irish festivals are so incredibly supportive. Grainne Humphries has been and continues to be a huge supporter, and DIFF's connection with the Reel Art scheme means that the film had its world premiere in Dublin. Our premiere at DIFF 2023 sold out - I had moved to Cork just pre-pandemic so it was just so great to be back in Dublin and to see lots of supportive filmmakers, family and friends in the audience at the IFI.
“Docs Ireland is another amazing festival in Belfast and I would encourage anyone interested in documentary to go. They screened my short there in 2020 (Welcome To A Bright White Limbo) and then to win the Pull Focus award in 2023 was incredible. We were blown away by the statements from the juries at both festivals. Having the international premiere at Telluride was, hands down, a career highlight for me personally.”
How have international audiences reacted to the film? Cara: “Really well, we’ve had screenings all over, the US, the UK and Europe. IFI international have also been incredibly helpful in linking us with International Irish festivals and Irish embassies worldwide. If there is a farmer in the cinema, or a farmer's son or daughter their hands are always the first up. It's a relief knowing that they are responding so well to the film and that there are so many parallels to their own lives, working or growing up on farms. I think there is a special connection with farming and the land that remains in the body.
“We always wanted to make these connections and hoped the film would bring the film and farming audiences together. Regarding farming, it’s the same situation everywhere: the audiences are very much responding to the world of the small farmer, and the challenges that come with that. The film also brings up bigger issues, the price of meat, the rapidly declining value of wool, the lost relationship we have to nature and farming culture, will the human race survive? It's quite easy to go existential on it! Audiences are also reacting to Orla, her personality, her life choices and her bravery to pursue the things in life that make you feel alive.”
IFTN: How did you first meet Orla and what did you find fascinating about her work/lifestyle?
Cara: “It was through researching the history of women in farming in Ireland that I was introduced to Orla Barry, an artist and shepherd. Orla invited me to visit her farm on the south coast in 2018. When somebody introduces you to their sheep by name, and tells you which ones she thinks are the most beautiful - you know there might be something different going on there. I had never heard of anyone describing sheep as beautiful.
I was curious. It seemed like Orla had her feet in both worlds, the art world and the sheep world. Coming from the filmmaking world, I really didn't know much about either.
“Orla described her relationship with the sheep, how she was a self-confessed ovine addict. When she was starting out, she talked about the farming community around her and the mentors who taught everything she needed to know about integrating back into rural life. She also spoke about the politics of farming. The capitalist systems and the pressures to produce meat to fit into neat packages for the consumer.
“My dad's career was in horticulture, he owned nurseries in Co.Louth so I knew how committed you needed to be to grow or breed anything. But how do you commit to sheep farming, your art practice and teaching? It was in the between, the middle bit that I was fascinated by. Orla, an outlier living between these worlds but also completely invested in each one.”
IFTN: How did the idea to document her work/lifestyle come about?
Cara: “I went to Orla's book launch in the Crawford Gallery in Cork in 2019 . The book is called Shaved Rapunzel, Scheherazade & the Shearling Ram from Arcady and to me, it was like a fever dream in written form, it included poems, song lyrics, performance texts recounting her experiences as she left the city and returned to her roots, words were falling off the page and also formed chemical structures . A unique voice shone through the book, it made farm life feel otherworldly so I knew I wanted to get to know the brain that produced that book! We had similar questions around identity, belonging , embracing contradictions, feminism, capitalism and the importance of wearing lipstick to the mart.
“I wanted to focus on the ideas of freedom and belonging, of agriculture and culture, to find the things in life that excite you, that give you joy and happiness.
Orla had a number of those things; farming, art and writing. And while not always financially stable they are life giving. As a filmmaker I wanted to move between these spaces, the in between and find the beauty of these connections. I wanted to discover how Orla found her place in the world.”
IFTN: As filmmakers, how did you establish the framework of your approach and identify the sort of collaboration that would allow Orla’s voice to be showcased as authentically as possible?
Cara:“We knew we wanted the film to be cinematic, character driven and visually immersive. Our roles were quite clearly defined, my role as the filmmaker (directing, co-producing, co-editing etc), and Orla would collaborate as the writer, telling her own story, in her own words. We did an extensive three day interview at the very start of filming and that allowed me to start assembling her narrative that would help structure the film. The year of filming was intense and chaotic, we were trying to weave the different worlds (sheep/art/teaching) into the narrative as well as schedule filming dates and organise the crew.
“Structurally we tried to stick closely to the sheep calendar year (scanning, lambing, shearing, showing, selling) however like most documentaries something unexpected was always around the corner. Orla had a knee injury, she was spinning plates and she sold a load of sheep in the middle of filming so it was these unexpected twists and turns that also added much nervous energy (and much doubt) into the film's journey. I kept Orla informed about what was happening in the edit and we arranged viewing dates for the latter stages of the edit so she could give feedback. That is always a nerve wracking but important stage in the making of a documentary but ultimately, communication and compromise is key in any collaboration.”
IFTN: The film received funding from the Arts Council’s Reel Art Film Fund. How were they to work with and how beneficial are these types of funds?
Cara:“These funds are absolutely essential. Especially for filmmakers who want to expand the form of documentary and who want to play and experiment with collaborations. The Reel Art fund allowed us to blur the lines between the art world and the documentary world but mainly it gave us the freedom to create.
“We had submitted a pretty solid treatment at the application and interview stage so I suppose they trusted us based on that and in the end we got quite close to the original idea for the film. You have to be clever with your resources though, when we applied the budget wasn't huge so it meant we had to be financially creative as well. The Arts Council also has additional exhibition funds that you can apply for and if successful this will help you get the film out to audiences, make trailers, posters and work with distributors.”
Notes From Sheepland is available on limited release from Friday, July 26th.
