Alan Gilsenan

Early life

Career in Film

• Eliza Lynch: Queen of Paraguay, a drama-documentary with Maria Doyle Kennedy in the title role which premiered at the London Film Festival;
• God Bless America, a series for ITV in the United Kingdom, six portraits of U.S. cities through the eyes of American authors, including Gore Vidal, Neil Simon, Patricia Cornwell and Garrison Keillor;
• The Irish Empire, the opening and closing episodes of a five-hour history of Irish emigration;
• The Green Fields of France, a poetic meditation on the Irish who died fighting in World War One;
• Maura’s Story, the story of a young Irish-American woman who became a Buddhist saint in Japan;
• Ó Pheann an Phiarsaigh, a film-poem inspired by the creative writings of Patrick Pearse;
• The Ghost of Roger Casement, a feature documentary on Roger Casement, the international humanitarian and Irish rebel;
• The Irish Mind, a four-part look at the defining qualities of the Irish across the globe.
• Four Days in November, a one-hour documentary about the Ireland national rugby union team successes during the autumn of 2016.

Career in Theatre

• his own adaptation of John Banville's The Book of Evidence at the Kilkenny Arts Festival and Dublin’s Gate Theatre;
• Tom Murphy's plays The Patriot Game and On The Outside and On The Inside at the Abbey Theatre
• Tom MacIntyre’s What Happened Bridgie Cleary at the Abbey Theatre;
• Jean Genet's The Balcony at the Focus Theatre
• Tennessee Williams’ Small Craft Warnings at the Focus Theatre;
• Shakespeare's Hamlet for the Naked Theatre
• Steven Berkoff's Decadence for the Naked Theatre;
• Samuel Beckett's Footfalls at the Gate Theatre and London's Barbican Centre;
• Knives In Hens by David Harrower at Dublin's Smock Alley Theatre;
• a dance theatre piece The Burning House at the Dublin Dance Festival 2012.

  Filmography

Director

• Eh Joe, 1988.
• The Road to God Knows Where, 1988.
• Stories from the Silence, 1990.
• Prophet Songs, 1991.
• Between Heaven and Woolworths, 1992.
• God Bless America- ITV Documentary Series 1995–97.
• All Soul's Day, 1997.
• The Irish Empire, TV series documentary, 2000.
• Zulu 9, short film, 2001.
• The Ghost of Roger Casement, 2002.
• Sing on Forever, 2003.
• Timbuctu, 2004.
• The Asylum, 2006.
• The Hospice, 2007.
• Paul Durcan: The Dark School, 2007.
• The Irish Mind, 2008.
• The Yellow Bittern:The Life and Times of Liam Clancy, documentary, 2009.
• Treasure of the Bogs, 2011.
• Eliza Lynch, Queen of Paraguay, 2013.
• A Vision: A Life of W.B. Yeats, 2014.
• Unless, 2016.
• Meetings with Ivor, 2017.
• The Meeting, 2018.
• Daniel O'Connell: Forgotten King of Ireland'', 2019