On this episode, Caren Sullivan talks to award winner Irish film director, producer and leading advocate for rewilding, Randal Plunkett in 2021.
Randal Plunkett, 21st Baron of Dunsany, is an Irish filmmaker, landowner and rewilding advocate. Plunkett is the holder of a peerage title, and holds Dunsany Castle, one of the longest-inhabited houses in Ireland, and its remaining estate.
Plunkett succeeded to the Dunsany title upon the death of his father in 2011. In his professional life, he has directed a range of film shorts, worked on several dozen other film projects, and provided location and post-production services from his demesne. He produced his first feature film, The Green Sea, in 2018–2019 and released it in 2021. Plunkett became an advocate for rewilding in 2014 and has dedicated around half of the ancestral estate in County Meath as Ireland's largest private nature reserve.
Plunkett began his filmmaking career around 2009, producing and directing a range of short films, which have been shown at various film festivals. His directorial debut was the thriller Kiss Kiss (2010), set in London, and shown at the Leicester Square Odeon. He then returned to Ireland, producing Guerrilla, directed by Blaine Rennicks and starring Jack Lowe and Darren Killeen, on the Dunsany lands from winter 2009. The low-budget film, with a crew of 40, was based on a concept of Ireland under martial law after social collapse in Europe in 2013, and was released in 2010.
This was followed by the horror film Prey(2011). Plunkett's 4th short film, written with some autobiographical elements, was Walt(2011). Plunkett has used his estate lands and buildings, some partly ruinous, as locations for much of his filming after Guerrilla, including for Prey and Walt. Plunkett received external private funding for his next film, a post-apocalyptic horror movie titled Out There, co-writing the script with his brother Oliver. Out There was awarded Best Industry Short at the Limerick Film Festival as well as Best Short Movie at a festival in Germany. Subsequently, it was selected to play Cannes Film Festival.
In 2010, Plunkett established Dunsany Productions, a film production company, at Dunsany Castle. He worked on more than 40 film projects in Ireland, in various production roles, and in post-production at his facilities at Dunsany, while looking to produce longer work of his own.
Plunkett's first feature-length film, the drama The Green Sea, was filmed in Mullingar, County Westmeath, Dublin, at Brittas Bay in County Wicklow, and at Dunsany, where one lodge was painted black for the production; about half the scenes were from Mullingar. It was filmed and produced 2018–2019 but only released, after Covid-related delays, mid-2021. Plunkett was director, scriptwriter and executive producer. Plunkett performed the editing himself, alongside Chris Gill. Plunkett has described the film as having semi-autobiographical influences.
Plunkett's work and the film itself were awarded as Best Feature Film at the Paris Play Film Festival, April 2021, Best Indie Feature Film and Best Feature Script at the Florence Film Awards, April 2021, and Best Production and Best Editing at the New York Movie Awards, April 2021.
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