Filmmaker Nuala O’Connor joins Irish Stew cohosts Martin Nutty and John Lee for a “Global Irish Nation Conversation” on her documentary In Time: Dónal Lunny, her filmic tone poem in black and white on the enigmatic innovator of Irish music.
Co‑founder of the seminal groups Planxty, The Bothy Band, and Moving Hearts, Dónal introduced the flat-back bouzouki to Irish music and broke through with new time signatures, revolutionizing the sound and status of Irish trad music without breaking its fundamental architecture.

Previously an RTÉ radio producer, Nuala is now an Emmy Award-winning writer and director whose work in music and arts documentary filmmaking spans more than three decades.

The director explains how the title In Time carries intertwined meanings that mirror the musician’s life and work. “You know sometimes things come to you for no reason and then they seem to be very reasonable after they’ve arrived,” she says of the name. “There’s the idea of time signature in music. Dónal explored time signatures previously unheard in Irish music and he has been at the forefront of Irish music for so long, you know, literally in time.”

The episode also delves into Dónal’s deep relationships with fellow musicians, his creative collaborations with his Planxty bandmates, and newer sonic explorations as he is still pushing boundaries in his late seventies.

He also pushed boundaries in his personal life which the film unflinchingly shows and the podcasters explore.

Nuala explains that she wanted to paint a portrait of an artist still very much in motion, not a nostalgic retrospective, a commitment captured powerfully in the film’s climactic scene where an ailing Dónal and his Planxty colleague Christy Moore reunite.

“I took Dónal out of hospital, drove him to where we shot that, and then put him in the car and brought him back to hospital after,” she says, “I honestly didn’t know, will he be here when the film comes out?

In Time: Dónal Lunny will screen on Day 3 of the Solas Nua Capital Irish Film Festival, Feb. 26 through Mar. 1. Irish Stew will once again be the festival’s Podcast in Residence and will record an episode on stage with filmmaker guests following the Fri., Feb. 27, 6:30 PM Northern Ireland Spotlight screenings of Three Keenings and No Ordinary Heist.

Links

Solas Nua

• Website
• Capital Irish Film Festival
• In Time: Dónal Lunny

Nuala O’Connor

• IMDB

South Wind Blows Productions

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Facebook

Irish Stew Links

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Media Partner: IrishCentral

Episode Details: Season 8, Episode 8; Total Episode Count: 149

In this conversation recorded at the 2025 Capital Irish Film Festival, host Martin Nutty sits down with two trailblazing Irish filmmakers who are pushing boundaries in their respective genres.

Aislinn Clarke discusses her groundbreaking Irish-language horror film Fréwaka, exploring how her childhood love of horror (she saw The Exorcist at seven!) and her father's commitment to preserving the Irish language converged into a unique cinematic vision. Clarke reveals the gift of discovering the perfect location for the film in Ravensdale Forest, and why horror fans have always embraced foreign language films. With international distribution through IFC Shutter and more projects in development, Clarke is proving that Irish-language cinema can compete on the global stage.

Tanya Doyle takes us behind the scenes of her five-year documentary odyssey Eat, Sleep, Cheer, and Repeat, which follows Ireland's cheerleading team to the World Championships in Florida. What began as a search for a film about women in sport became an intimate portrait of athleticism, identity, and belonging. Doyle shares the moment she knew cheerleading was the story—watching a young competitor vomit from sheer physical exertion—and defends the sport against anyone who questions its legitimacy. With 160 hours of footage to wrangle and characters lost to COVID shutdowns, the film became a testament to resilience both on and off screen.

Both filmmakers discuss the challenges of funding independent cinema in Ireland, the intimacy of the editing process, and the importance of creating spaces where diverse stories can flourish. Whether you're interested in horror, documentary filmmaking, Irish language revival, or women in sport, this episode offers rich insights into the craft and passion of contemporary Irish cinema.

Links

Films

• Preview: Eat, Sleep, Cheer, and Repeat
• Preview: Fréwaka

Aislinn Clarke

• IMDB
• Instagram

Tanya Doyle

• IMDB
• LinkedIn
• Griffith College

Solas Nua

• Capital Irish Film Festival

Irish Stew Links

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Media Partner: IrishCentral

Episode Details: Season 8, Episode 7; Total Episode Count: 148

Recorded at the 2025 Capital Irish Film Festival in Washington DC, this episode features a conversation with two Irish women who have both made significant transitions into film from other careers.

Kathleen Harris, a former Irish Times video journalist, discusses her environmental documentary Birdsong, which won the 2025 CIFF Audience Award for Favorite Irish Feature. Denise Deegan, a novelist, talks about her award-winning short, The Innkeeper.

Birdsong follows ornithologist Seán Ronayne as he attempts to record every bird species in Ireland, traveling to some of the country's most remote locations along the way.

The Innkeeper is a short comedy drama set around a school nativity play, which carries a quiet but powerful message about homelessness in Ireland.

Both guests left stable careers — Harris from journalism, Deegan from running a PR business — to pursue film making, and both talk candidly about the leap involved. A thread running through the conversation is how each approached social issues in their work: Harris structured Birdsong to balance wonder with concern about Ireland's biodiversity crisis, while Deegan deliberately withheld The Innkeeper's central point until the final moment. Neither wanted to lecture. Both wanted to leave the audience feeling something had shifted.

Links

Capital Irish Film Festival

Kathleen Harris

• Website
• LinkedIn

Denise Deegan

• Website
• Instagram

The Films

• Birdsong
  • Website
  • Preview
• The Innkeeper
  • Preview
  • IMDB

Irish Stew Links

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Media Partner: IrishCentral

Episode Details: Season 8, Episode 6; Total Episode Count: 147