Film still from Song of Granite
Friday, April 6 , 2018
1:00 PM*
*Note earlier start time than usual FIS events
Princeton Garden Theatre
FREE and open to the public
Acclaimed filmmaker Pat Collins screens and discusses his feature film, Song of Granite, a portrayal of the life of sean nós singer Joe Heaney and his music, on Friday, April 6 at 1:00 p.m. at the Princeton Garden Theater, 160 Nassau Street. An audience discussion with the filmmaker follows the screening. The event, which is free and open to the public, is presented by the Fund for Irish Studies at Princeton University. Guests should note that this event is earlier in the day than usual for Fund for Irish Studies Series events.
The film provides a portrait of Joe Heaney, covering his childhood in Connemara in the 1930s, his travels throughout the U.K. and U.S. in the 1960s, and then his reflection on his past and his legacy as an elderly man in the U.S. Collins’ film does not attempt to cover all the details about the singer’s life but rather mirror’s Heaney’s reputation as an elusive and enigmatic man. The film features performances by Colm Seoighe, Macdara Ó Fátharta, Jaren Cerf, Lisa O’Neill, Damien Dempsey, and sean nós singers Mícheál Ó Chonfhaola and Pól Ó Ceannabháin, and black and white cinematography by Richard Kendrick. Song of Granite had its world premiere at the 2017 South by Southwest Film Festival and was Ireland’s official entry as Best Foreign Language Film in the 2018 Academy Awards.
The film is presented in both English and subtitled Gaelic.
Modest in subject but ambitious in form, SONG OF GRANITE delivers a profile of not just a singer but the country that made him.”
— Steve Greene, INDIEWIRE
The event is part of a series presented by Princeton University’s Fund for Irish Studies. Free and open to the public.
The Fund for Irish Studies is generously sponsored by the Durkin Family Trust and the James J. Kerrigan, Jr. ’45 and Margaret M. Kerrigan Fund for Irish Studies. Sponsorship also provided by Culture Ireland.
