Nuala O'Connor features on this week's episode of the Irish Stew Podcast.Irish Stew Podcast
Filmmaker Nuala O’Connor joins Irish Stew cohosts Martin Nutty and John Lee for a “Global Irish Nation Conversation” on her documentary "In Time: Dónal Lunny," her filmic tone poem in black and white on the enigmatic innovator of Irish music.
Co‑founder of the seminal groups Planxty, The Bothy Band, and Moving Hearts, Dónal introduced the flat-back bouzouki to Irish music and broke through with new time signatures, revolutionizing the sound and status of Irish trad music without breaking its fundamental architecture.
Previously an RTÉ radio producer, Nuala is now an Emmy Award-winning writer and director whose work in music and arts documentary filmmaking spans more than three decades.
The director explains how the title "In Time" carries intertwined meanings that mirror the musician’s life and work. “You know sometimes things come to you for no reason and then they seem to be very reasonable after they’ve arrived,” she says of the name. “There’s the idea of time signature in music. Dónal explored time signatures previously unheard in Irish music, and he has been at the forefront of Irish music for so long, you know, literally in time.”
The episode also delves into Dónal’s deep relationships with fellow musicians, his creative collaborations with his Planxty bandmates, and newer sonic explorations as he is still pushing boundaries in his late seventies.
He also pushed boundaries in his personal life which the film unflinchingly shows and the podcasters explore.
Nuala explains that she wanted to paint a portrait of an artist still very much in motion, not a nostalgic retrospective, a commitment captured powerfully in the film’s climactic scene where an ailing Dónal and his Planxty colleague Christy Moore reunite.
“I took Dónal out of hospital, drove him to where we shot that, and then put him in the car and brought him back to hospital after,” she says, “I honestly didn’t know, will he be here when the film comes out?”
"In Time: Dónal Lunny" will screen on Day 3 of the Solas Nua Capital Irish Film Festival, which runs from February 26 through March 1.
Irish Stew will once again be the festival’s Podcast in Residence and will record an episode on stage with filmmaker guests on Friday, February 27, at 6:30 pm, following the Northern Ireland Spotlight screenings of "Three Keenings" and "No Ordinary Heist."
You can listen to Nuala O'Connor on the Irish Stew Podcast here:
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