23 Apr 2018
“Sister India” recounts the story of Sr Loreto Houlihan, a 91-year-old Irish missionary, who has spent 70 years teaching in India.
A new documentary by Irish filmmaker Myles O’Reilly, which is currently being screened at a number of film festivals in Ireland and in India, tells the story of a 91-year-old Irish missionary sister who has spent 70 years teaching in India.
‘Sister India’ recounts the story of Presentation nun, Sr Loreto (Peg) Houlihan who was born near Carrick-on-Suir in Co Tipperary in 1927.
The documentary has already been screened at the Dingle International Film Festival and the Silk Road Film Festival.
“Sister India” is due to be screened at the Fastnet Film Festival on 23rd-27th May and at the International Christian Film Festival in Florida. Later this summer, it will be shown at the Ink Well Theatre in Tracton, Co Cork on 18th August, and at the Clare Island Film Festival.
Film-maker Myles O’Reilly has said that he is not very religious but when he saw Sr Loreto’s deep love of India and its people, he found it heart-warming.
“Sitting in front of her and listening to her talk was like being warmed by the hearth of an Irish fireplace on a rainy day hearing stories as she it from ‘the long ago’. I learned from her that India and its culture retains more of the life she left 70 years ago in Ireland than the country of her birth today, and so she chooses to live the rest of her days in India for that natural familiarity” he explained.
Read more about the life of Sister Loreto Houlihan here.
Information sourced from articles written by Áine Edwards for The Irish Times and Sarah Mac Donald for Catholic Ireland.