Ellie Traynor explores a case for rewilding with Gary Lennon's Irish Atlantic Rainforest.
Rewilding is a form of ecological restoration; removing the products of human interference from our ecosystems and allowing them to return to their natural state. This is the conservationism showcased in Gary Lennon’s new documentary, An Irish Atlantic Rainforest. The film follows climate activist and author Eoghan Daltun and his unconventional rainforest located along the Beara Peninsula in West Cork.
This documentary comes at an interesting point in the unfolding climate crisis, when so many experts are imploring people to consider the wellbeing of the planet they live on. The main conflict of the film stems from this uphill battle: getting people to care. Lennon’s previous features, Castro’s Spies (2020) and A Doctor’s Sword (2015), also put the human experience at the centre of a much bigger narrative. With An Irish Atlantic Rainforest, he turns his focus to another important, and highly urgent, topic, drawing on Daltun’s personal memoir of the same title.
When Daltun laments on his childhood moving around bedsits in Dublin council estates, there is one memory that stands stark against the others: how he witnessed the older boys in the estate burning down the lone cherry tree at the centre of the green. With such a visceral memory, Lennon integrates a re-enactment of the destruction. Close-ups of a cherry tree engulfed in flames, while young boys laugh and jeer. This is the sole recreated scene, which serves as a powerful metaphor for the disconnect between man and nature. A disconnect that Daltun – and, ultimately, Lennon – seek to heal.
In this film, Lennon showcases the natural beauty of rewilding, observing Daltun, who demonstrates with great care how the process works. He shows how it helps the landscape to thrive, and the role that he plays in it all. Daltun initiates the project by eliminating invasive species and unwanted wild goats, and reintroducing native plants to their habitat. The existence of everything in the forest is justified, from the flies to the fungi – each has a role to play.
Regrowth occurs at the rainforest’s pace, and Eoghan supports this process in whatever way he can, never overstepping. The rainforest’s population of Phoenix trees are a key indicator; many have fallen due to harsh weather and yet the tree only needs to have 10% of its roots in the ground to continue that growth. We are offered a glimpse into a world almost unknown to outsiders, Daltun platforms the unseen work of the rainforest – a labour of love that allows the rainforest to flourish.
As much praise can be given to the storytelling within the film, the cinematography deserves its flowers too. Cinematographers Brian O’Leary and Ross Bartley are a credit to their craft, beautifully capturing the fruits of this labour. The camouflaged tree cameras allow us to witness a rainforest uninterrupted by humanity. Hours of foliage footage produce a perfect sequence of the foxes and the pine martens scurrying through the undergrowth. In memorable night-time sequences, Daltun and his son lead the crew out into the wilderness to capture the enchanting bioluminescent glow of the fungi under a UV light.
It’s through this symbiotic collaboration between Lennon and his crew that we are able to arrive at the same conclusion as Daltun, to understand him when he says that the rainforest is:
Sacred. I said to myself this place is sacred. And I’ve never stopped feeling that.
A poignant tracking shot follows Eoghan through the rainforest, capturing a tender and personal moment. He gently holds each tree branch, treading through the foliage with intention. The amount of care taken to capture every insect, every fungus, is clear. To share that beauty with the audience is a love letter to Mother Nature herself.
An Irish Atlantic Rainforest screened at Docs Ireland on 18th June 2026.
