Synopsis
The Secret of Roan Inish (1994) is an Irish family fantasy you can watch online on iFILM. Director John Sayles adapted a Celtic folktale about selkies — seal-folk who shed their skins and walk among humans — into something rare: a children's film that treats myth as plain fact and never condescends to its audience.
Ten-year-old Fiona is sent to her grandparents' fishing village on the Donegal coast after losing her mother. There she hears the family legend: a selkie bride once entered their bloodline. But Fiona is focused on something more urgent — her baby brother Jamie was swept out to sea in his cradle years ago, and the grown-ups have given up. On the deserted island of Roan Inish, she spots a small wild boy no adult seems able to see.
Shot entirely on the grey Atlantic shores of County Donegal with Irish-speaking locals in supporting roles, the film moves at the pace of tide rather than plot. Sayles keeps the magic matter-of-fact and the emotion earned. Stream The Secret of Roan Inish (1994) online on iFILM.
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