80 mins, Colour / B&W, 16mm

(See also The Bishops Story)

"The theme of Bob Quinns latest and best film is clerical celibacy.
The title translates as The Monks Penis, not the sort of phrase used by polite film critics but with the Bible, Shakespeare and Gaelic you can get away with anything. The film is a regional one shot on Clare Island (Co. Mayo) and is acted largely by the islanders themselves.
The story relates how a young island priest becomes the lover of his housekeeper and faces his congregation with the announcement that he is to become a father. He intends to carry on as guardian of his flock as the girl leaves the island. Parallel with this is the problem of confronting his bishop who represents the bureaucracy of the Church.
The treatment of the film is complex and highly original, carrying many layers of visual meaning. The priests story is told in the style of the silent cinema with intertitles and is shot in black and white. The section dealing with the bishop has full dialogue and is shot in colour often alternating with the black and white of the priests story.
The treatment works for the film, moulds its tension and holds it from beginning to end. The leading roles of the priest and the girl are well-played by Donal McCann and Maggie Fegan while Peadar Lamb makes an impressive Bishop.
Seamus Deasys photography and Roger Doyles music add effectively to the film which is broadly based on a Gaelic novel by Father Pádraigh Standún. In spite of its controversial subject it is in no way anti-religious but handles a human problem in human if dispassionate terms. Its script won an Arts Council award".
Liam O Leary

"Budawanny is different, is important, is at once a populist expression of a simple story, and a deadly serious, artfully crafted, film of ideas. Sometimes these judgements are better left to posterity: its just that Ive got a nagging feeling that Budawanny belongs up there with Battleship Potemkin……. Above all, theres a a fluidity and mastery of form here that deserve recognition".
Gerry McCarthy