Yeats Country

Yeats Country is a lyrical film commissioned by the Department of Foreign Affairs to commemorate the centenary of the birth of William Butler Yeats.

The first film made by cinematographer and director Patrick Carey in Ireland, this documentary celebrates the landscape of Yeats’s poetry through stunning photography and a voiceover rich in poetry and in biographical detail narrated by Tom St. John Barry. Evocative images of the west of Ireland illustrate the poet’s life including: Thoor Ballylee Castle where he lived; Coole Park, home of Lady Gregory where literary figures of the period socialised; Lissadell House; Knocknarea Mountain; the slopes of Ben Bulben; the waterfall at Glencar; and finally, Yeats’s grave at Drumcliffe.

Yeats Country is part of The Department of Foreign Affairs Collection, to see more this collection, click here. Yeats Country is also part of The Oscar® Collection: A Selection of Irish Academy Award® Nominated Short Films. It was nominated for the Academy Award® for Best Documentary Short in 1966. To see more from this collection, click here.

To view more of Patrick Carey’s work, please view The Patrick Carey Collection here.

With kind permission of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

IFI recommendation: 6+