#northcircular

I'm working on a new film - my first feature documentary for cinema. It's a film about the north inner city of Dublin and the street that defines it, the North Circular Road that takes you from the gates of the Phoenix Park to the banks of the Liffey as it edges towards the sea.

The physical character of the road changes as you travel it. The buildings which you pass on the way are like an almanac of Ireland's history - barracks, prisons, cemeteries, hospitals, stadiums & asylums. The psychological resonance of the built environment will be an important theme in the film.

It's an area that has been a rich source of creativity, writers like Sean O'Casey, Brendan Behan, Austin Clarke & James Joyce lived and worked along it.

Music, and in particular folk and traditional music, has a powerful history along this road. Peader Kearney, who wrote Ireland's national anthem lived here. His nephew Dominic Behan also wrote many folk songs, including McAlpine's Fusilliers, Come Out You Black & Tans and Liverpool Lou. He first recorded the Auld Triangle as well, though the authorship of that song, like so many folk songs, is disputed. Luke Kelly, another son of the NCR, sang Dominic Behan's The Patriot Game in a Dublin pub, recorded by the German filmmaker Michael Mrakitsch.

North Circular will have its international premiere at this years Sheffield DocFest on Friday June 22nd - https://www.sheffielddocfest/film/northcircular The best place for the most up-to-date information is the film's social accounts - Facebook https://www.facebook.com/northcircularfilm Twitter - www.twitter.com/northcircular_ - Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/northcirculardoc/