In Time: Dónal Lunny, Nuala O’Connor’s Film Chronicle of the Enigmatic Innovator
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
Nuala O’Connor
South Wind Blows Productions
Irish Stew Links
- Website
- Media Partner: IrishCentral
Episode Details: Season 8, Episode 8; Total Episode Count: 149
00:00 - Introduction
02:32 - County Identification
05:51 - Movie Title Meaning: In Time
09:10 - Multiple Dimensions of Donal Lunny
13:58 - Shooting in Black and White
16:28 - Musical Relationships and Influences
19:42 - Maedhbh Mc Cullagh: CIFF 2025
26:10 - Donal Lunny: Trad and Boundaries
29:51 - Handling Difficult Passages
32:57 - The Illness
36:16 - Showing the Film at CIFF in Washington D.C.
37:51 - John & Martin Recap
39:18 - Credits
Writer / Director
Nuala O’Connor is an Emmy Award-winning writer and director whose work in music and arts documentary filmmaking spans more than three decades. She is the co-founder of South Wind Blows, a creative production company established with Philip King and Tina O’Reilly to make high-quality films exploring culture, music, and the arts.
Nuala began her career as a radio producer with RTÉ before moving into television, where she was a researcher and writer on the landmark BBC/RTÉ series Bringing It All Back Home (1987). She went on to author the companion book Bringing It All Back Home – The Influence of Irish Music, and in 1994 won a Primetime Emmy Award for her script for a one-hour standalone version of the documentary.
