Randal Plunkett, 21st Baron of Dunsany facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
The Lord Dunsany
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Plunkett in 2021
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| Born | 9 March 1983 New York City, U.S.
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| Nationality | Irish |
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| Alma mater | Kingston University |
| Occupation | Film director, property owner, rewilding advocate |
| Years active | 2009–present |
| Title | 21st Baron of Dunsany |
| Predecessor | Edward Plunkett, 20th Baron of Dunsany |
| Partner(s) | Laura Dillon (fiance) |
| Children | 1 daughter, 1 stepdaughter |
| Parent(s) |
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Randal Plunkett, the 21st Baron of Dunsany (born 9 March 1983), is an Irish filmmaker and a person who owns a lot of land. He is also a big supporter of something called rewilding. Randal Plunkett holds a special old title called a "peerage." He lives at Dunsany Castle, which is one of the oldest homes in Ireland where people have lived for a very long time. He also manages the land around it.
Randal Plunkett became the Baron of Dunsany in 2011 after his father passed away. He has directed many short films and worked on lots of other movie projects. He also helps other filmmakers by providing places to film and services for editing movies at his home. In 2018 and 2019, he made his first full-length movie called The Green Sea, which came out in 2021. Since 2014, Randal Plunkett has been very passionate about rewilding. He has turned about half of his family's land in County Meath into Ireland's biggest private nature reserve.
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Early Life and Education
Randal Plunkett was born on 8 March 1983 in New York City. At that time, his parents lived there and ran a business that designed buildings. His father was Edward Plunkett, the 20th Baron of Dunsany, who was an artist. His mother, Maria Alice de Marsillac Plunkett, was an architect from Brazil. Randal is the older of two sons. He also has an older half-sister, Joana, and a half-brother, Daniel, and they all grew up together.
Randal Plunkett later lived with his family in London and at Dunsany Castle. For primary school, he went to a local school and then to Headfort School, a private school near Kells. He completed his Junior Certificate at The King's Hospital in Dublin. For his later high school studies, he attended Institut Le Rosey, a boarding school in Switzerland. He also studied at a special center in Oxford, where he learned about old classic subjects, English books, and how societies work. He said one of his teachers there, Louise Longson, helped inspire his interest in film.
Plunkett went to Kingston University in London to study Film. After he graduated, he thought about working in sports science, maybe opening a gym. But his parents encouraged him to go back to film. So, he took a special course in Digital Video at the SAE Institute in Amsterdam, where he learned many practical skills. He later studied more at the SAE branch in London, where he met Stefano Battarola, who would become a filmmaking partner.
Becoming the Baron of Dunsany
Randal Plunkett became the Baron of Dunsany on 24 May 2011, after his father passed away. He still lives at Dunsany Castle, which is on a large estate of over 1,500 acres. The castle is located near Dunshaughlin and Kilmessan, about 30 kilometers north of Dublin. Even though some of the land was given to farmers a long time ago, it is still a very big property. Randal's younger brother, Oliver, who designs computer games, is currently the next in line to become the Baron.
Filmmaking Career
Randal Plunkett started making films around 2009. He produced and directed several short films that were shown at different film festivals. His first film as a director was a thriller called Kiss Kiss (2010), which was set in London. After that, he returned to Ireland and produced Guerrilla (2010). This low-budget film was shot on the Dunsany lands. It was about Ireland after a big social problem in Europe.
Next, he made the horror film Prey (2011). His fourth short film, Walt (2011), included some parts of his own life story. Randal Plunkett has often used his estate, including old buildings, as filming locations for his movies, like Prey and Walt.
Out There and Other Film Work
Randal Plunkett received money from private sources for his next film, a horror movie called Out There. He wrote the script for this film with his brother Oliver. Out There won awards like "Best Industry Short" at the Limerick Film Festival and "Best Short Movie" at a festival in Germany. It was also chosen to be shown at the famous Cannes Film Festival.
In 2010, Plunkett started his own film company, Dunsany Productions, at Dunsany Castle. He worked on more than 40 film projects in Ireland, doing many different jobs in film production and editing at his facilities. He was also planning to make his own longer movies.
The Green Sea Feature Film
Randal Plunkett's first full-length movie, a drama called The Green Sea, was filmed in different places. These included Mullingar in County Westmeath, Dublin, Brittas Bay in County Wicklow, and at Dunsany Castle. About half of the movie was filmed in Mullingar. The movie was filmed and produced in 2018 and 2019, but it was released in mid-2021 because of delays from the Covid pandemic. Randal Plunkett was the director, writer, and one of the main producers for this film. He also helped edit the movie. He has said that parts of the film were inspired by his own life.
The Green Sea received good reviews. The film and Randal Plunkett's work won several awards. These included "Best Feature Film" at the Paris Play Film Festival in April 2021, and "Best Indie Feature Film" and "Best Feature Script" at the Florence Film Awards in April 2021. It also won "Best Production" and "Best Editing" at the New York Movie Awards in April 2021.
Rewilding the Dunsany Estate
Randal Plunkett is very active in and supports rewilding. Rewilding means letting nature take back control of an area. He became a vegan in 2014 and learned about rewilding around the same time. First, he changed the Dunsany estate to organic farming, meaning he stopped using chemical pesticides.
Later, he set aside 750 acres of the Dunsany Estate as a nature preserve. This area includes hundreds of acres of forest. On the other remaining land, farming is limited to crops like wheat, rapeseed, and beans. The Dunsany Nature Reserve is Ireland's largest private nature reserve. As of 2022, it is the only rewilding project in Ireland that is part of the European Rewilding Network. Many animals have returned to the estate, and the variety of plants and animals has increased.
Randal Plunkett has also stopped hunting on his land. He has said this decision led to some people making threats against him. Small groups can visit the reserve if they arrange it beforehand. However, Plunkett does not plan to build paths, signs, or visitor centers like cafes. The rewilding project does not get money from the government or other private groups.
Personal Life
Randal Plunkett's father passed away in 2011 after being sick for a long time. His mother passed away in 2020. Both of his parents are buried on the Dunsany estate.
Randal Plunkett met his partner, Laura Dillon, in Mullingar. She is an occupational therapist. They announced their engagement in November 2020. They have a daughter, who is the heir to the castle and the estate. Randal Plunkett has said that his daughter will inherit the property. However, as of 2022, the title of Baron would still pass to a male relative. This is because of old rules that usually only allow males to inherit most titles. Randal Plunkett hopes this rule might change in the future. He is also Catholic.
