Podcast: Cara Holmes, Director of ‘Notes from Sheepland’

In this podcast, Gemma Creagh talks to Cara Holmes, Director of ‘Notes from Sheepland’.

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Orla Barry is a self-confessed ovine addict.  She is a decade in sheep, she’s still wondering what possessed her to start but yet she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.  Orla lived in Brussels for 16 years and now lives and works in South East Ireland where she runs a flock of pedigree Lleyn sheep.  Her work deals with the tensions of being an artist and an eco-farmer in rural Ireland.  The Sheep have slowed her art career but at the same, caring for them has hugely inspired it.  She escapes the studio by going to the sheep, escapes the sheep by hiding in her studio. Notes from Sheepland follows Orla, an outlier, as she floats between these worlds.  It reflects upon the primal, poetic and unpredictable bond she has with the natural world.

In cinemas from 26th July 2024.

Cara Holmes

Cara Holmes is a multifaceted queer activist, musician, and filmmaker. Her artistic journey spans diverse arenas, including playing in queer and feminist post-punk bands, touring extensively across Ireland, the UK, Germany, Poland, and Lithuania. As a film editor and director, Cara’s prowess shines through her acclaimed works. Notably, she directed the IFTA-winning film Welcome To A Bright White Limbo (receiving a Special Jury mention at the Tribeca film festival in 2020 and screened at HotDocs, Sheffield Doc/Fest, and Aesthetica) Cara’s debut feature documentary,

Notes From Sheepland, premiered internationally at the Telluride Film Festival in 2023, garnering accolades like Best Documentary at the Dublin International Film Festival 2023 and the Pull Focus Best Irish Feature Documentary at Docs Ireland 2023. Notes from Sheepland was also nominated for an IFTA in 2024. Cara’s editing credits include the feature documentaries, Housewife of The Year, Piano Dreams, Father of the Cyborgs and Lost in France. She has worked with Screen Ireland ,TG4, RTÉ, BBC and the Arts Council of Ireland to create works that expand the form of documentary storytelling in Ireland.