North Circular is a documentary musical that travels the length of Dublin’s North Circular Road, from the Phoenix Park to Dublin Port, exploring the history, music and streetscapes of a street that links some of the country’s most beloved and infamous places.
Told in black and white 4:3 Academy ratio, the film evokes many narratives from the history of the city and nation, from colonialism, to mental health, to the struggle for women’s liberation while also engaging with urgent issues of today, including the battle to save the legendary Cobblestone Pub, centre of Dublin’s recent folk revival, from destruction at the hands of cynical property developers.
The film also includes musical performances from artists local to the North Circular, including John Francis Flynn, Séan Ó Túama, Eoghan O’Ceannabháin, Ian Lynch & Gemma Dunleavy.
SCREENINGS & AWARDS
World Premiere: Dublin International Film Festival 2022
International Premiere: Sheffield DocFest 2022
2022 Galway Film Fleadh
2022 Louth International Film Festival, Dundalk
2022 IndieCork Film Festival
2022 London Irish Film Festival
2022 FIPADOC (French Premiere)
2023 DocPoint Helsinki (Finnish Premiere)
2023 DocPoint Tallinn (Estonian Premiere)
2023 Santa Barbara IFF (North American Premiere)
2023 Big Sky DFF
2023 Tempo DFF (Swedish Premiere)
2023 CPH:DOX (Danish Premiere)
2023 Salem Film Fest
2023 ZagrebDox (Croatian Premiere)
2023 BAFICI – Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (Argentinian Premiere)
2023 Thin Line Fest
2023 Human Rights Arts and Film Festival (Australian Premiere)
2023 DOXA (Canadian Premiere)
2023 Beldocs (Serbian Premiere)
2023 Millennium Docs Against Gravity (Polish Premiere)
2023 Doc-Cevennes
2023 Documentarist İstanbul Documentary Days
2023 Izmir International Film & Music Festival
2023 Iceland Documentary Film Festival IceDocs
2023 HEIMAT EUROPA Filmfestspiele
2023 Apricot Tree Ujan IDFF
2023 POP Montreal
2023 Architecture Film Festival (Dutch Premiere)
2023 Liverpool Irish Festival
2023 Irish Film Festival Australia
2023 In-Edit Film Festival
2023 Irish Film Festival Ottawa
2023 CamerImage
2023 DOCUMENTARIST İstanbul Documentary Days
2024 Norient Festival
2024 IRL Festival
2024 Berlin Irish Film Festival
2024 Rencontres du cinéma européen
2024 SCÉAL EILE Film Festival
2024 Trento Film Festival
2024 Rock this town FF
2024 European Film Festival in Chile
And more: London Irish Centre, Bozeman Doc Series, Solas Nua Capital Irish Film Festival, Celtic Calling Festival, Tonn Nua/ New Wave, Ireland on Screen, Etonants Voyageurs
Upcoming: Music Film Festival at the Copenhagen Cinemateket (Sept 13), The Irish Festival of Oulu (Sept 25-29)
AWARDS
- Special Mention Award in Documentary Competition at Dublin IFF 2022
- Best Documentary Award at Louth International Film Festival 2022
- Special Mention in Documentary category at IndieCork FF 2022
- Spirit of IndieCork Award 2022
- Grand Prix in the Music Documentary Competition at FIPADOC 2023
- American Cinematographer Magazine Award at Salem Film Fest 2023
Shots of natural settings and urban landscapes are presented in
Stephen Pizzello, Editor-in-Chief, American Cinematographer Magazine
graphically compelling frames that create an aura of melancholic reflection as subjects discuss the hardscrabble realities of life in this particular section of Dublin. The images have a truly cinematic quality that occasionally recall black-and-white “kitchen sink” films of the 1960s, or even film noir. Tougher images are balanced with others that have a lighter, lyrical quality, providing viewers with the full sense of the area’s ambience.
- Best Sound on Screen Award at Thin Line Fest 2023
PRESS
Reviews: New York Times, Film Threat, Hammer to Nail, Hollywood Soapbox, Irish Echo, Irish Star, Movie Nation, NYC Movie Guru, Unseen Films, Writing:Movies, No More Workhorse, Hot Press, Unseen Films, District Magazine, RTÉ, Film In Dublin, Totally Dublin, The Guardian, The Irish Times, Dublin Inquirer, Cineuropa, Variety Interviews: Filmmaker Magazine, The Moveable Feast, Irish Echo, Irish Examiner USA, Pop Entertainment Archives, Irish Star, Irish Stew Podcast, Denton Record-Chronicle, Delightful Docs, We Are Moving Stories, RTÉ, Scannáin, Film Ireland, The Independent, Balls.ie, Off The Ball, RTÉ, The Irish World
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“McManus has fashioned a remarkable contemporary document of places, people, lives and times with North Circular, as past, present and future smash together in front of our eyes. Black and white rarely looks as colourful as in that final sequence.”
Luke Maxwell, Dublin Inquirer
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“resonant, vivid and beautifully shot film” … “What distinguishes North Circular is the overwhelming importance of music: there’s a musical tradition here that is not simply commemorative and static, but vital and evolving, and given a fresh burst of creativity by the emerging status of women in Ireland – the film features a potent contribution from north Dublin singer-songwriter Gemma Dunleavy. A film made with real artistry.”
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
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“Shot in a ghostly black-and-white… The film has an original and at times disarming approach to bearing witness.”
Ben Kenigsberg, New York Times
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“Strikingly perceptive and uncannily intelligent. A heartfelt feature, involved and thoughtful.”
Calan Panchoo, Film Threat
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“What really entrances… are the songs bellowed by subjects in pubs along the road, essentially supplementing individual interviews with a broader historical context of the North Circular Road, the city of Dublin and Ireland as a whole.”
Natalia Keogan, Filmmaker Magazine
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DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY
Luke McManus
Luke McManus is a director and producer based in Dublin. He has produced and directed award-winning projects for NBC, Netflix, RTÉ, Virgin Media Television, TG4, NDR/ARD, Al Jazeera and Channel 4, winning four IFTAs, one Celtic Media Award and the Radharc Award in the process.
His debut feature as producer was The Lonely Battle of Thomas Reid, which premiered in the Main Competition at IDFA in 2018, won the George Morrison Award for Best Feature Documentary at the Irish Film & Television Awards and the Best Irish Film Award at the Dublin International Film Festival.
North Circular is his debut feature documentary as a director.
CREDITS
Written & directed by Luke McManus
Camera Paddy Jordan, Richard Kendrick, Evan Barry, Jamie Goldrick, Luke McManus
Editing John Murphy
Sound Ross Carew, Gregory Dunn, Hugh Fox, Steve Power, Tony Crosse
Music Score Kevin Murphy, Thomas Haugh
Produced by Elaine Gallagher, Luke McManus
PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY
Elaine Gallagher
Elaine Gallagher is an Irish writer, director, producer and stand up comedian from Kells, Co. Meath. In 2018, Elaine co-directed the Filmbase masters comedy-drama-musical feature-film, “The Comeback”, starring Rob Arkins and Tara Flynn, which premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh. Elaine’s previous work includes the Screen Ireland-funded dance short, “An Rinceoir” (2011), which screened at a great number of film festivals around the world and is currently on the Irish language syllabus for the Junior Certificate First Year programme.
Elaine’s other short films include, “Reel: Irish Women” (2016), which explores the untold story of the women who took part in the 1916 Rising, and the comedy shorts, “Follow Me” (2017), “The Don’ts Of Cycling” (2018) and “A Fistful of Coupons” (2019).
Elaine has also written for television, for the RTÉ sketch comedy series, “The Mario Rosenstock Show” and in 2011 was a participant in the Torino Film Lab Script & Pitch programme. As well as writing and directing, Elaine has worked in television and film production for over a decade.
PRODUCTION COMPANY
Madhouse Films
Dublin, Ireland
northcircularfilm@gmail.com
+353 87 2886764
SUPPORTED BY
Arts Council/An Comhairle Ealaíon
