Film Forum

Combining documentary and fiction filmmaking, SONG OF GRANITE portrays the hardscrabble life of master Irish folksinger Joe Heaney (1919-1984), from his boyhood in the extraordinarily picturesque Carna (County Galway, on Ireland’s west coast) to his anonymous life as a New York City doorman, and finally to recognition at the Newport Folk Festival in 1966. Heaney is said to have known 200 sean nós, traditional songs unaccompanied by music -- their poignancy underlined by Pat Collins’s austere, fragmented approach to storytelling and elegant black and white cinematography. SONG OF GRANITE is a deeply felt love letter to Ireland – a land of rare, wild natural beauty – many of whose sons are compelled to leave, fated to reimagine their earliest years through poetry and song.

Ireland’s official submission for Foreign Language Film competition for the 90th Academy Awards®

IRELAND / CANADA • 2017 • 104 MINS. • IN ENGLISH AND GAELIC WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
OSCILLOSCOPE LABORATORIES

Reviews

“Strikingly beautiful. Formally audacious. A soulful, austere piece of auteur filmmaking which shirks narrative convention for a story told through haunting sound and fleeting impressions. Quite perfectly-made. Wholly unique (with) a striking performance from Colm Seoighe [as young Joseph]. The story in essence ceases to be linear and the film breaks apart into beautiful fragments.  This is perhaps as far from the traditional biopic as film is ever likely to stray, but there’s a stirring song of the exile here for those attuned to Pat Collins’s exceptional hymn.”
– Fionnuala Halligan, Screen Daily

“Formally adventurous. Appropriately lyrical. A stirring, solemn tribute. From Ireland’s breathtaking natural wonders to the citizens lining its street… this continuous emphasis on both talent and environment make for a far more satisfying portrait of an artist at all ages. A profile of not just a singer but the country that made him. SONG OF GRANITE posits Irish folk music as mythic, oral tradition, greater than any one individual could transcend. An impressive sense of scale and scope. Would hypnotize even the staunchest folk song agnostic.”
– Steve Greene, Indiewire