Ruán Magan

Magan directed and filmed his first documentary in 1996 featuring his brother, the writer, Manchán Magan (Brandon books), beginning a long collaboration during which the brothers made over 60 critically acclaimed documentaries filmed across the planet, in India, North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and China. The series covered major 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.

Magan has worked throughout the planet and particularly in America producing notable works that include the Emmy-winning series The Men Who Built America (History Channel), telling the story of Vanderbilt, Canergie and their fellow “robber-barons”[4], Pearl Harbour - The Heroes Who Fought Back (Discovery)[1], the highest rated for Discovery Heroes Channel in 2017, Sacred Sites (Smithsonian)[11] a ground-breaking series exploring the mysteries of the ancient world produced by Tile Films and The Ghosts of Duffy’s Cut (Smithsonian/RTÉ)[12], an investigative film that examines the mysterious deaths of 57 railway workers in the 1850s. In 2003, with Tyrone Productions, 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 7 years producing her Emmy and Peabody-winning feature length documentary film, Banaz - A Love Story and with Mark McLoughlin in the making of Blood Rising and Outsider.

Alongside his international work for over a decade, Magan has been creating major documentary projects exploring key phases of the Irish historical experience. Among these On God’s Mission, Lifers and The Nazarene, produced with the support of The Iris O'Brien Foundation, examine the experience and impact of Irish missionaries and NGOs in Africa, South America and Asia. He directed the multi-award winning drama-documentaries, Waterloo’s Warriors (BBC/TG4)[13] and Death or Canada (History Television/RTÉ)[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. Magan collaborated with the late, great broadcasting legend, Gay Byrne making two documentaries, My Father’s War[15] revealing the terrible experiences of Irish soldiers during WW1 and Last Orders[16], which charts the rise and fall of the Irish Christian Brothers and the impact 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 (narrated by Liam Neeson, music by Patrick Cassidy, co-directed with Pat Collins, produced in association with Notre Dame University)[2] and The Irish Revolution (narrated by Cillian Murphy, music by Pól Brennan, produced in association with University College Cork)[17] were honoured with special performances attended by President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins. 1916 – The Irish Rebellion reached audiences of over 40 million people around the world.

In 2019, Magan worked in the eastern Gobi desert for several months filming Dunhuang - Mysteries of the Sands for IFA Beijing and Tencent. Written and Directed by Ruán 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 on Tencent in 2021.

Magan directed the pilot episode for the long-running crime investigation Discovery series, Redrum[18]. The true crime series flips the script of 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[19], starring Peter Coonan and Eoin McDonnell. This highly 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)[20] and the multi-award-winning short film, Angel[21]. He has written several screenplays including The Noticer (2015), No Fury (2019) and, with writer Mark Doherty, The Trouble with Charlie (2019).

With Tyrone Productions, Magan is set to produce Devil In The Feet, a genre-defying, cinema-documentary, merging performance with narrative, revealing the wild, fiery 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[22] with the support of the Royal College of Surgeons. The play was performed to specially invited audiences at the RSC, attended by President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins.

In 2018, Magan was Creative Director of the World Meeting of Families, a spectacular stadium music, dance and song show held in Dublin’s Croke Park[3] to celebrate the visit of Pope Francis to Ireland featuring Andrea Bocelli, Shaun Davey and a choir of a thousand. The event featured 1500 live performers and played to a record-breaking full house and television audiences around the world.

Magan fulfilled a similar role, as Creative Director of the Gaelic Athletic Association's 1916 Commemoration show, Laochra[23] staged in 2016 to stellar reviews and massive audiences.

In recent years, Magan has made a series of short films in collaboration with Irish state bodies and the Department of an Taoiseach. They include This Is Ireland (Creative Ireland 2017), Here We Live (Saint Patrick’s Day 2018) and Ireland’s campaign video for UN Security Council Seat.