News

‘Ireland’s Wild River – The Mighty Shannon’

Date Released: Wednesday, July 15, 2015

‘Ireland’s Wild River – The Mighty Shannon’ will be broadcast this Thursday, 16th July, on BBC 2 at 8:00pm as part of the Natural World series. The river Shannon documentary, supported by NPWS, will be broadcast as part of the BBC Natural World strand, going out as a one-hour version under the title “Ireland’s Wild River ”.

With technology previously used in Christopher Nolan's Inception, a small Irish film company has captured an intimate portrait of Irish wildlife in never before seen slow motion detail. Snapping kingfishers and dragonflies at 1000 frames per second, the award-winning documentary to be shown on BBC 2, uncovers surprising secrets about the private lives of Ireland's wildlife.

Revealing new animal behaviour, the film shows for the first time water bats hunting at night and remarkable underwater footage of the mating dance of Shannon’s great predator, the pike. The elusive kingfisher is shown hunting underwater and slowed down by 40 times is seen in all its vivid colour and grace.

Previously screened as a two-part documentary on RTÉ, the film has recently been enjoying massive success on the international stage not only screening across the USA on PBS but also taking top honours at both the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and Wildscreen giving it the enviable title of best wildlife film in the world of the past two years. In awarding the film best of festival, Wildscreen judges praised it as “a beautifully conceived film where the script, photography, music and editing create a magical hour, reconnecting us with nature in a way that very few films do today.“