Film explores phenomenon of Knock

An apparition of the Virgin Mary. A multi-million euro restoration project. A plane full of American pilgrims en route. Thousands of faithful seeking a miracle. Strange Occurrences in a small Irish village explores the big question of faith, in a small Irish village.

One dark evening in 1879 in the town of Knock, Ireland, 15 villagers claim to witness a vision of the Virgin Mary. After two official inquiries, the village was declared a Marian Shrine. Today, Knock’s 2,000 residents welcome over one million pilgrims annually.

The film builds a vibrant portrait of the phenomenon through its devotees - invalids seeking cures; the eight sibling owners of rival religious merchandise shops; a woman relieved of multiple sclerosis during a 1970s pilgrimage; feisty Mildred, advocate for gender parity for the shrine's handmaids; the staff of the Knock Marriage Bureau and Fr Richard Gibbons, charismatic, outward-looking Parish Priest, on a mission to entice new transatlantic visitors via Knock Airport. 

With references to “the scandals”, falling church attendances, and the modernisation of the shrine and the village itself, Strange Occurrences in a small Irish village presents a timely reflection on the position of the Church in modern Ireland. For the faithful it celebrates a beacon of spiritual hope; for sceptics it opens an enticing window on an anachronistic but thriving world.

Director Aoife Kelleher (One Million Dubliners) commented, “It’s very important that every generation interrogate the stories that are passed down to them, and look at them afresh, and decide for themselves whether they should be embraced and preserved or discarded.  The story itself is so fantastic that you completely want to get to the bottom of it. You want to know what it is that they saw and how it was spoken about at the time.”

 

In Irish cinemas August 26th / Cert: TBC / Running time: 92 mins