In Time: Dónal Lunny (2025)
Directed by Nuala O'Connor
Not Rated, 95 minutes, DCP
In English and Irish and English subtitles
5:45 pm: Reception and music by the Celtic Revue
7:00 pm: Screening followed by a conversation with Executive Producer P.J. Mathews and Ted Barron
Dónal Lunny is one of Ireland's outstanding artists. This will be the first film account of his life, revealing a peerless contribution to Irish culture and music. A founding member ofPlanxty, The Bothy Band, and Moving Hearts, Lunny helped revive and transform Irish traditional and folk music. Music fuses with the personal material of Dónal Lunny's biographical journey and brings the artist into being in this film. The film reveals how significant events of his creative and personal life converged with major cultural, political, and historic changes in Ireland and around the world. The film features rare performances, including a powerful reunion with Christy Moore.
A pre-screening reception and musical performance by The Celtic Revue will begin at 5:45 pm, followed by the screening at 7:00 pm.
Discussion to follow with P.J. Mathews, Professor of Irish Literature, Drama, and Culture at University College Dublin and Director of the UCD Creative Futures Academy, and Professor Ted Barron, Executive Director, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center and Judd and Mary Lou Leighton Director of Performing Arts.
About P.J. Mathews
P.J. Mathews is a Professor of Irish Literature, Drama and Culture at University College Dublin and Director of the UCD Creative Futures Academy. He is the author of Revival: the Abbey Theatre, Sinn Féin, the Gaelic League and the Co-operative Movement (Field Day); co-editor with Declan Kiberd of Handbook of the Irish Revival (Abbey Theatre Press / UNDP); and editor of the Cambridge Companion to J.M. Synge. Film and television credits include: Executive Producer (with Philip Kind and Adam Clayton) In Time: Dónal Lunny (South Wind Blows, 2025); Creator, The Flourishing (Tyrone Productions / RTÉ, 2021); Script Writer and Literary Advisor, Voices of Ireland (Red Shoe Productions / Sky Arts, 2021). Prof Mathews previously served as a Naughton Visiting Professor of English at the University of Notre Dame, Academic Director of the W.B. Yeats Winter School in Sligo (2017-20), and Director of the Parnell Summer School in Avondale (2002-05).
About the Celtic Revue
Aidan Duffy is a traditional musician and songwriter from Trim, County Meath. He plays traditional Irish guitar, mandolin, and bouzouki. He has an extensive repertoire of Irish ballads and songs, and is a gifted singer. He plays in the The Leon Stax Equation and Lo-Flier, as well as produces music for others.
Ben Duffy is a drummer, singer and songwriter from Trim, County Meath. In addition to his extensive experience as an Irish trad musician, he is the songwriter, lead singer, and drummer of The Leon Stax Equation, a six-piece soul and funk band.
Tadhg Ó Raghallaigh is a uilleann piper from County Meath. Irish is his first language, and he comes from a long line of respected players. He is also a traditional Irish music teacher. His family started the local chapter of Comhaltas Irish music education in County Meath.
Paul Spring is a songwriter from Minnesota, now based in NYC. Together with Tadhg, Aidan, and Ben, he recorded an album, which fuses trad and American music. Spring’s new album Dumb and Free was released on November 11th, 2025. His 2022 album Thunderhead was praised by the Irish Times as a collection of "richly realised songs with deft lyrics and considered sensibility."
Co-presented by the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. Screening is free, but tickets are required.
Originally published at irishstudies.nd.edu.