Cin É: How did you become involved in this project?
Luke McManus (Producer): I was asked to come on board as producer by Tadhg O'Sullivan and Feargal Ward who I have known for a long time from when they lived in a house backing on to mine in Stoneybatter around the time of the millennium bug. My original thought was "No way - I'm a director, not a producer". But when I thought about it a bit more I thought - "Why not? It could be interesting..." And it has been. And I'd produced a few things in the past - my first doc was The Million Dollar Deal, a collaboration with John Butler that I took producer credit on. And an RTE series called Sampler back in the early 00s. Even though I work mostly as a director, I think most directors, particularly in telly, are producers too really. But this film has opened a lot of things for me and got me into a new scene which has been very refreshing. I also think it’s really important to work with good people in this industry, and Feargal and Tadhg are both top-notch people.
Tell me a little bit about the background to this story?
Feargal the director grew up in an area between Leixlip and Maynooth that is very rural, it feels like deep countryside. About a kilometre from his mother's house is this farm that had a lot of strange handwritten signs hanging from its gate. So Feargal, being the lunatic that he is, decided to go in and knock on the door of the house and befriend the guy inside. And that was Thomas Reid.
How would you describe Thomas Reid as a person?
Thomas is a very unusual person. He's intelligent, but not very educated. He spends a huge amount of time alone, and I think he feels the loss of his parents quite keenly still. He holds onto things - papers, VHS tapes, records that he can't play because he has no electricity. But he is highly principled. He ultimately wants to be left alone. And like any good story, he is pushed out of his equilibrium by an outside force so he must take action.
How long were you filming in total?
I think about two and a half years. Feargal had already shot a bit before I came on board. And then we were waiting for some legal transcripts for the best part of a year. So we finished shooting in the summer of 2017 with the courtroom scenes.
How much of an effect did all of this have on Thomas Reid?
The filming or the battle? I think he enjoyed the filming and the sense of occasion around it. He's got a very interesting face and holds a frame well. I think the legal battle took a terrible toll on him. I got a sense that he felt as if he had lost a lot in his life, and that ultimately the last thing left was his farm so the idea of losing it would be...apocalyptic.
How did the World premiere go at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)?
Great. It's a marvellous festival and to be in the Main Competition there is massive. That's the top fifteen docs around in any given year, certainly in Europe. We premiered in one of the beautiful cinemas in the world, the Tuschinski. The audiences were engaged, we had packed houses and we met a lot of interesting, nice people.
I am aware of the resolution of this case. Do you think that there is a general awareness of it?
I think at a low level that there is some awareness around the result, you can see in the film that there's plenty of radio chat about the case. There's also some legislation coming that is based on the result of the case, which if passed will give the IDA powers to take people's land to give to private corporations.
36 CinÉireann / February 2018
ADIFF PREVIEW: THE LONELY BATTLE OF THOMAS REID
Words: Jason Coyle