At Home and Abroad

The Silver Branch, directed by Katrina Costello, is a philosophical vision-poem about one man’s journey through life which underpins a search to reconnect with nature and culture as primary sources from which we learn a deeper understanding of ourselves and our surroundings.

An uplifting and emotional celebration of people and place, which captures the delicacy of the natural world; the heart and soul of a farmer-poet, Patrick McCormack; and the ancient rural spirit of Ireland which stands behind him. The Story is centred around Patrick and the land, The Burren, Western Ireland. A wild place where Mesolithic tombs, famine villages and present day small rocky fields are like jewels telling of our long human story on these hills. Patrick longs to farm in the quite pace his ascendants did. But his life gains a different momentum when he’s called to Battle in the Supreme courts to decide on the fate of this iconic wilderness