Ruán Magan

Magan directed and filmed his first documentary in 1996 featuring his brother, the writer Manchán Magan, beginning a long collaboration during which the brothers made over 60 documentaries filmed across the planet. The series covered themes of human history, philosophy, progress and life and compared the human experience of cultures and people the world over. The brothers received the golden award for services to the Irish language from the Directors Guild for their work.

He produced work in the United States including the Emmy-winning series The Men Who Built America, telling the story of Vanderbilt, Canergie and their fellow “robber-barons,”[4] Pearl Harbor - The Heroes Who Fought Back,[1] Sacred Sites,[11] a series exploring the mysteries of the ancient world and The Ghosts of Duffy’s Cut,[12] a film that examines the mysterious deaths of 57 railway workers in the 1850s. In 2003, he filmed the story of Riverdance's first performance in China's Great Hall of the People.

As producer and editor, Magan has collaborated widely including with human rights activist, Deeyah Khan, as she worked for seven years producing her documentary film, Banaz - A Love Story and with Mark McLoughlin in the making of Blood Rising and Outsider.

He created documentary projects exploring Irish history. Among these, On God’s Mission, Lifers and The Nazarene examine the experience and effects of Irish missionaries and NGOs in Africa, South America, and Asia. He directed the drama-documentaries Waterloo’s Warriors[13] and Death or Canada[14] which explore the participation of Irish soldiers in the Battle of Waterloo and the experience of migrants fleeing the famine for Canada during the Great Famine 1847. He collaborated with broadcaster Gay Byrne making two documentaries, My Father’s War[15] revealing the terrible experiences of Irish soldiers during World War I and Last Orders,[15] which charts the rise and fall of the Irish Christian Brothers and the effects of child abuse scandals in Ireland.

Magan has written and directed two documentary series and feature length documentaries examining Ireland’s struggle for independence from 1913 to 1923. Both 1916 – The Irish Rebellion[2] and The Irish Revolution.[16] 1916 – The Irish Rebellion reached audiences of over 40 million people around the world.

In 2019, he worked in the eastern Gobi Desert for several months filming Dunhuang - Mysteries of the Sands. Written and directed by Magan in collaboration with Colm Whelan and Lu Bo, the historical drama series tells the story of the Silk Road city of Dunhuang, which, though long forgotten, was once one of the most important cities on China’s western frontier. The series will air in 2021.

Magan directed the pilot episode for the long-running true crime investigation Discovery series Redrum.[17] The series avoids traditional mystery programming by starting the stories at the scene of the crimes and working backward to reveal the killers.

In 2016, Magan directed the award-winning comedy-drama series, Wrecking the Rising,[18] starring Peter Coonan and Eoin McDonnell. This irreverent comedy series charting the adventures of feckless time-travelling amateur historians has been selected by the Irish Department of Education to be part of the Irish secondary school curriculum.

Magan directed the Irish-language film, Éoinín na nÉan (2015)[19] and the multi-award-winning short film, Angel.[20] He has written several screenplays including The Noticer (2015), No Fury (2019) and, with writer Mark Doherty, The Trouble with Charlie (2019).

Magan is set to produce Devil In The Feet, a cinema-documentary revealing the origins of Irish dance, due for international release in 2021.

Collaborating with Professor Chris Fitzpatrick, Magan wrote and directed the experimental play, And Spring Shall Come.[21]

In 2018, Magan was Creative Director of the World Meeting of Families, a music, song, and dance show held in Croke Park in Dublin[3] to celebrate the visit of Pope Francis to Ireland featuring Andrea Bocelli, Shaun Davey, and a choir of a thousand. The event featured 1,500 performers and played to a record-breaking full house and television audiences around the world.

He fulfilled a similar role, as Creative Director of the Gaelic Athletic Association's 1916 Commemoration show, Laochra.[22]

In recent years, he has made a series of short films in collaboration with Irish state bodies and the Department of the Taoiseach. They include This Is Ireland, Here We Live, and Ireland’s campaign video for a UN Security Council seat.