Fleadh on Film: Song of Granite

Blending ‘fictional’ re-creation, archive footage and musical performance, Pat Collins’ film about traditional Irish singer Joe Heaney is no conventional biopic.

Like Collins’ acclaimed Silence, Song of Granite is both audacious and perfectly accessible as it chronicles Heaney’s life from boyhood in 1940s Connemara to fame and further exile in North America, from the mid-1960s to his death.

The harsh landscape combined with the myths, fables and songs of his Connemara childhood helped shape this complex and fascinating character. Enigmatic and complex, Heaney’s devotion to his art came at huge personal cost.

Featuring performances from Lisa O'Neill, Damien Dempsey, Seamus Begley and sean nós singers Micheál O'Confhaola and Pól Ó Ceannabháin, the film is an intense exploration of music and song.