Filmmaker Ross McClean premieres new film ‘Magilligan’ @ Visions du Réel, is a Puttnam ’26 Scholar & features in Variety Magazine

Published date: 10 Jul 2026

aemi was thrilled to learn that filmmaker Ross McClean’s new feature ‘Magilligan’ recently had its premiere at Visions du Réel.

The objective of Visions du Réel is to show the world as it is perceived, to break away from the mainstream. All the players of the brand Visions du Réel are mobilised to ensure a very high level of quality in their work and to contribute to the common good. The Festival offers a diversity of committed and inspired points of view whilst making it possible to correlate experiences, reflections and aspirations.The official 2026 selection of Visions du Réel – around 160 films chosen from 3700 submissions – along with the festival’s guests, reflected a remarkable visual, formal and narrative vitality and resilience. 

‘Magilligan’ will also screen tomorrow at the Galway Film Fleadh: Sat 11th. July | 14:00 | Town Hall Theatre

‘Magilligan’ Synopsis:

Between the all-too-familiar prison walls and his mother’s house, Ryan grapples with himself, eventually finding an escape with the sheep in the verdant fields of Northern Ireland. Ross McClean (No Mean City, VdR 2025), whose great-grandfather was also a unionist, offers his protagonist a space for freedom, a friendly and graceful embrace, in which to escape determinism.

On the 15th June, Atticus Education, Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland and Northern Ireland Screen announced the 2026 Puttnam Scholars. Congratulations to Ross who has been selected as a 2026 participant!

A cross-border initiative, the Atticus Education ‘Puttnam Scholars’ programme is a series of interactive online seminars for early-to-mid career filmmakers with Oscar-winning producer David Puttnam (Local Hero, Chariots of Fire, The Killing Fields), run in conjunction with Screen Ireland and Northern Ireland Screen.

Now in its seventh year, the Puttnam Scholars Programme offers eight talented people from both sides of the border the chance to help develop their creative resilience and professional acumen and forge cultural connections and stimulate business networks across the island of Ireland. The 2026 participants were chosen by Northern Ireland Screen and Screen Ireland following a highly-competitive application process. This year the participants come from wide-ranging backgrounds that include writing, producing, and directing, across documentary, features and television.

Ross’ new film was also featured in Variety Magazine in a recent article by Lisa Pederson: ‘Magilligan’ Follows Former Inmate Struggling to Navigate Life After Prison: ‘I Don’t Think He’ll Ever Find Peace.’

Ross’ work featured in ‘Spirit Messages’, aemi’s 2024 touring programme, an annual selection made to bring together some of the most exciting new moving image work by Irish and international artists. The programme also included new Irish works by Amanda Rice and Niall Cullen  alongside works by artists Jamie Crewe, Luis Arnias, and Dan Guthrie.

Ross also generously gave him time to host an aemi online skills sharing event with filmmaker and  Michael Higgins.