‘Colmcille – An Naomh Dána’ is a going to be a landmark, feature-length bilingual documentary film exploring the life, myth and legend of Colmcille to celebrate his birth 1500 years ago in 521AD. Our film will be told through the eyes of two Donegal men who wrote life stories of Colmcille. The first is Adomnán, and the second Manus Ó Domhnaill. Adomnán, also known as St. Eunan, was a distant relative of Colmcille’s. He was descended from one of his cousins and would have been very aware of records of Colmcille’s life, not least because of coming from the same family. He compiled what is still the most detailed and appreciated record of the life of Colmcille, the ‘Vita Columbae’. Our film will use a Donegal actor reading from Adomnan’s biography of Colmcille for much of its narrative content, and the stories will reference his life from his early education, right up until his death, and they will be contextualised by historians who will give expert testimony to some of the tales we tell. Another Donegal actor will play the part of Manus Ó Domhnaill and again he will read extracts from his biography of Colmcille to help bring the stories to life and introduce the dramatic re-enactments of Colmcilles life and time.
We will endeavour to shed light on some fantastic stories that are generally hitherto unknown by the public, a situation which is remarkable considering all the historical research and writing that has been carried out about him.

Please note that the details of events listed above are provided by the relevant Local Authorities.