*The Best of 2025 - That They May Face the Rising Sun - Director Pat Collins

Director and writer Pat Collins’ latest feature film, THAT THEY MAY FACE THE RISING SUN, is set in the late 1970s in rural Ireland, just before the communications revolution vastly changed the dynamics of these small, close knit communities. Joe and Kate Ruttledge, having returned from London five years earlier to set up home near where Joe grew up, are now deeply embedded in their small, lakeside community. THAT THEY MAY FACE THE RISING SUN is a portrait of a community and a way of life in rural Ireland that remained largely unchanged for many decades until the coming of radio, television and phones. Award-winning Irish director Pat Collins (Silence, Song of Granite) joins us to talk about his an adaptation of John McGahern’s acclaimed final novel, as well as assembling a stellar cast of actors in service to his authentic, memorable and moving portrait of a community dealing with a changing society while staying connected to each other.