Leaves Festival of Writing and Music
PAUL MULDOON: Laoithe is Liricí - A Life in Lyrics
Film screening followed by an intimate conversation with Paul Muldoon and filmmaker Alan Gilsenan
A Film Directed by Alan Gilsenan
For Pulitzer prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon, music matters almost as much as poetry. In Alan Gilsenan’s original and acclaimed bi-lingual“documentary musical”, Muldoon’s creative life and times are explored by many of the performers he has worked with in words written by Paul himself. Shot in an eclectic variety of film formats, the unique and innovative ‘documentary album’ reflects the allusive and playful poetry of Paul Muldoon who also narrates this film.Among the stellar array of artists taking part are Paul Simon, Ruth Negga, Bono, Iarla O’Lionáird, Run DMC, Moya Brennan, Laurie Anderson, Van Morrison and PJ Harvey reflecting Paul’s personal and professional life on both sides of the Atlantic.
“A visually engaging, artfully constructed masterpiece that celebrates the beauty of language.”– Karen McMullen, DOC NYC Festival
The film screening will be followed by an intimate conversation sharing with Paul Muldoon and film maker Alan Gilsenan
Alan Gilsenan is an award-winning Irish writer, film-maker and theatre director. His very diverse and eclectic body of film work extends across documentary, feature films and experimental work.
His latest film The Days of Trees - a reflection on trauma and memory - recently won the George Morrison Feature Documentary Award at the 2024 IFTAS (Irish Film & Television Awards) and he has recently completed a new feature documentary, a meditation on the dark legacy of the Irish “Troubles” and the possible future of a united Ireland called The Irish Question.
As well as in his native Ireland, Gilsenan has made films in places as diverse as Japan, Paraguay, the USA, Greece and Brazil. Other recent films include the film-poem Ghosts of Baggotonia, a feature documentary about radical politician Noël Browne - The Seven Ages of Noël Browne and An Buachaill Gealgháireach/The Laughing Boy (which won the Audience Prize at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival).
Alan Gilsenan has also served on the Irish Film Board (now Screen Ireland) (2000 – 2008); as Chairman of the Irish Film Institute (2002 - 2007); as Chairman of Film-Makers Ireland - now Screen Producers Ireland – (1995 - 1998) and as a Board member of the International Dance Festival Ireland (2001 – 2007). In 2020/21, From 2009 - 2014, Gilsenan served on the Board of Ireland’s state broadcaster RTÉ. He is currently Chairperson of Fighting Words, a national creative writing centre for young people.