Official Selection - Out of Competition 2017 / Song of Granite / Ireland, Canada 2017
This visually meticulous and mesmerising film revolves around the life of the great traditional Irish singer, Joe Heaney. The power and magic of the songs provide the central motif threading its way through the film. Indeed, didn't the songs help the residents of this magnificent but desolate Irish landscape to survive and commune with God? And what part of his heart and soul must the artist sacrifice in order to satisfy his inner compulsions?
This visually meticulous and mesmerising film revolves around the life of the great traditional Irish singer, Joe Heaney. The stylised black-and-white picture, obscuring the border between documentary and fiction, is a cinematic ballad that invites viewers to join the enigmatic, talented and idiosyncratic artist on his dramatic life journey; along the way we also get a sense of the difficult yet humble life of the people of Ireland over the course of last century. The film takes us to the district of Connemara, and to the village of Carna, Joe Heaney’s birthplace, considered the cradle of local folklore, and then the camera accompanies him on his travels round the world. The power and magic of the songs provide the central motif threading its way through the film. The director stages the music scenes so skilfully and suggestively that we feel we are actually present in the room, swept up in the atmosphere along with the rest of the audience. Was it the songs that helped the inhabitants of this magnificent but desolate Irish landscape to survive and commune with God? And what part of his heart and soul must the artist sacrifice in order to satisfy his inner compulsions?
Ivana Novotná
97 min / Black & white, DCP
European premiere
Director Pat Collins
/ Screenplay Pat Collins, Eoghan Mac Giolla Bhríde, Sharon Whooley
/ Dir. of Photography Richard Kendrick
/ Music Delphine Measroch
/ Editor Tadhg O'Sullivan
/ Art Director Padraig O'Neill
/ Producer Alan Maher, Jessie Fisk, Martin Paul-Hus
/ Production Marcie Films
/ Coproduction Amerique Film, Harvest Films, ROADS Entertainment, South Wind Blows
/ Cast Macdara Ó Fatharta, Mícheál Ó Confhaola, Jaren Cerf, Pól Ó Ceannabháín, Colm Seoighe
/ Contact Marcie Films
Pat Collins, a native of Cork, has been making films since 1998 and now has more than thirty features, documentaries and short experimental films to his name. His filmography includes documentary works about writers Michael Hartnett, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and John McGahern. He also co-directed a documentary about Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami. In 2012 he turned out the feature film Silence, which had its international premiere at the London festival and was distributed by Element Films in Ireland and New Wave Films. Song of Granite is his second feature film.
Marcie Films
Filmbase, Temple Bar, 19-22 Dame Street, , Dublin
Ireland
Phone: +353 868 554 393
E-mail: [email protected]
Pat Collins
Film Director
Alan Maher
Producer
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