Highway N71 to be revisited

By Finnian Cox

Cork's Triskel Arts Centre will be one of the select venues to show the award-winning documentary, The Song Cycle in a special screening this month.

The film, which will be shown on 11 June, follows musician and filmmaker Nick Kelly's journey from Ireland to England’s Glastonbury festival, a one he made almost entirely by bicycle.

He was accompanied by friend and fellow musician Seán Millar who tracked his progress and joined him onstage at a number of venues along the way.

Cork played a particularly active role in the inception of Kelly’s idea- though it has yet to be romanticised like the N17, the N71 was his chosen test route for the trek.

The test run saw him playing venues in Cork city, Clonakilty, Ballydehob and Schull, finished off with a 110km amble all the way back from the tip of West Cork to Kent Station.

“I felt pretty bullet-proof after I conquered the hill out of Roscarbery,” said Kelly. “What could the road to Glastonbury possibly have that would be tougher than that?"

Speaking on the genesis of the idea, Kelly explained that the film began life as a project on environmental sustainability- however, as he watched over footage a new direction became apparent.

“I started to realise that this could also be a film about sustainability in a broader sense,” he said. “How do we manage to keep going and stay relevant as artists and humans as we age?”

Keeping with what has become a theme of his life, Kelly is now cycling around Ireland with his guitar to attend the special screenings, answering audience questions as well as performing some of the songs from the film.

So far, the film (like Kelly) has had a successful festival run, with the select showings being supported by Screen Ireland’s Direct Distribution Fund, as well as Access>Cinema.

Kelly first came to prominence as the frontman of band The Fat Lady Sings in the ‘90s, and has since garnered acclaim for his solo artistry. The Song Cycle is his 2nd dip into filmmaking, following on from drama feature The Drummer and The Keeper which won 18 awards on the international festival circuit. His short film Shoe was Oscar-shortlisted at the 2011 Academy Awards.