Enigmatic and complex, Joe Heaney was one of the greats of 20th-century traditional Irish singing. Shaped by the myths, fables, and songs, Heaney’s emergence from his upbringing in the west of Ireland to life as an NYC doorman to acclaim at the 1966 Newport Folk Festival came at a personal cost.

With elements of fiction and documentary, Pat Collins celebrates the art of Sean-nós singing through an atypical, poetic portrait of traditional Irish folk singer Joe Heaney. Told in fragments and sumptuous B&W cinematography, this work of stirring beauty is an ode to the sublime power of singing.