Event

Song of Granite

Synopsis: Enigmatic and complex, Joe Heaney was one of the greats of traditional Irish singing (seannós). Shaped by the myths, fables, and songs of his upbringing in the west of Ireland, his emergence as a gifted artist came at a personal cost. Featuring performances from Colm Seoighe, Macdara ÓFátharta, Jaren Cerf, Lisa O'Neill, Damien Dempsey, and sean nós singers Micheál O'Confhaola and Pól Ó Ceannabháin, and beautiful black and white cinematography, SONG OF GRANITE is a distinct portrait of Heaneys life and a marvelous exploration of music and song.

Song of Granite, about the life of folk singer Joe Heaney, is Irelands selection for best foreign-language film at the 2018 Academy Awards.

Pat Collins has directed over 25 films. His first film Michael Hartnett, Necklace of Wrens won the Jury Award at the Celtic Film Festival in 2000. Since then he has directed Talking to the Dead which centered on the Irish funeral tradition. This was followed by Oiléan Thoraí, which won the Best Irish Documentary Award in 2003. He has directed documentaries on the Irish writer Frank O Connor, the poet Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and the Connemara based writer and cartographer Tim Robinson. His film John McGahern: A Private World won Best Irish Documentary at the Irish Film and Television Awards in 2005. The feature documentary Gabriel Byrne: Stories from Home was completed in 2009 and the film essay What We Leave in Our Wake in 2011. He completed his first feature film Silence in 2012 and it was released in the UK by New Wave Films.

In 2013 he completed a short film called What Remains co-directed with Tadhg OSullivan and which was funded by the Arts Council. He also completed a short experimental film Fathom which he directed with Sharon Whooley. He has just completed a feature documentary Living in a Coded Land which won Best Irish Documentary at Dublin Film Festival 2014.