This intimate, confessional and highly cinematic film charts the remarkable rise to fame of these devil-may-care Irish singers, from their small-town beginnings in County Tipperary in Ireland to the folk hey-day of Greenwich Village in the Sixties where they absorbed black musical influences, played for JFK and out-sold the Beatles. The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem would go on to influence a host of popular artists from Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger to The Pogues, and become a powerful iconic presence on the Irish cultural map.

“I remember being over-whelmed...the songs that the Clancy Brothers sang came out ordinary life. The heartbreak, the fun, the foolishness, the tragedy, all tangled up together.” – Pete Seeger

They have garnered worldwide success and huge popular acclaim, but opinions are still divided about them. To many, they are the true embodiment of the Irish popular folksong tradition, while to others, they represent the worst excesses of stage-Irishness. Yet despite this, their songs remain our songs, the songs of a people, the inner soundtrack of a nation.

Director: Conor McPherson
Producer: Robert Walpole
Running Time: 88mins
Format: 35mm

THE ECLIPSE tells the story of Michael Farr (Ciarán Hinds), a teacher raising his two kids alone since his wife died two years earlier. Lately he has been seeing and hearing strange things late at night in his house. He isn't sure if he is simply having terrifying nightmares or if his house is haunted.

Each year, the seaside town where Michael lives hosts an international literary festival, attracting writers from all over the world. Michael works as a volunteer for the festival and is assigned the attractive Lena Morelle (Iben Hjejle), an author of books about ghosts and the supernatural, to look after. They become friendly and he eagerly tells her of his experiences. For the first time he has met someone who can accept the reality of what has been happening to him.

However, Lena's attention is pulled elsewhere. She has come to the festival at the bidding of world-renowned novelist Nicholas Holden (Aidan Quinn), with whom she had a brief affair the previous year. He has fallen in love with Lena and is going through a turbulent time, eager to leave his wife to be with her. But all Lena is trying to do is extricate herself from this mess and just get through the next few days.

As the festival progresses, the trajectories of these three people draw them into a life-altering collision.