When electricity is first introduced to the home of a rural Irish family,
the boundaries between folklore and the real world begin to fray.
Director: Jess Patterson
Written: Paul Cahill
Producers: Richard Gordon
Dave Minogue.
Winner Best Short Film, Irish Film Festa 2020
Winner Best Animated Short, Irish Animation Awards 2019
Winner Best Irish Short, Dublin Animation Film Festival 2019
Winner Best Irish Animated Short, China-Ireland International Film Festival
Winner James Horgan Award for Best Animation, Galway Film Fleadh 2018
(Qualifying ‘The Wiremen’ for the 2019 Academy Awards 2019 )
Winner Best Short, Scéil Eile 2019
Finalist Best Film, Fastnet Film Festival 2019
The Wiremen was produced as part of the Screen Ireland Frameworks Fund (2018) and is based on
memories my Dad had of growing up in rural Leitrim in 1965.
At the time, the Irish Electrical Supply Board (ESB) was rolling out a scheme to connect Irish country
towns and villages with electricity in order to effectively ‘bring the rural countryside out of the dark ages’.
However, this new power and technology was often met with suspicion and superstition from older generations.
Many didn’t trust the ‘Lightbox’; families would dress up to watch the TV in case the presenter might see them
and you always knew when the neighbours were milking the cows, as the TV screen would dip to a pinhole of light.
To achieve this electrification of rural Ireland, hundreds of electricians were sent afield;
known by all as the Wiremen.
