Film Club: Ancestor

Photo: Olwen Grindley and Robyn Byrne 

Tuesday 27th October, 8pm

Dir: Fiona Quilligan, Ireland, 2024, 90 mins

Ancestor is a film in four parts by award-winning Dublin choreographer Fiona Quilligan.

This immersive work, beautifully captured on film in the woods of Cruagh, Co. Dublin, brings us closer to nature through vibrant colour, music and dance. Choreographer/Director Fiona Quilligan in collaboration with dancers Robyn Byrne, Anderson De Souza, Olwen Grindley, Joshua Scott and Roisin Whelan explore and interpret the Neolithic period in Ireland channelling the lives of Neolithic bodies; their physical interactions with each other and the landscape of an emerging farming community; their burial rituals and construction of passage graves.

Ancestor explores a people that presumably cared for nature, experienced time, the night skies and perhaps even death, in an entirely different manner to the way in which we inhabit the contemporary world. The dance is driven by the dynamic score of composer Ed Bennett, Tom Adams, and Faran Ensemble, and the editing by Kristian Mantalvanos.

"Last night I passed a tribe sitting outside their house on Ingram road as they kindled a primitive flame bound to their Ancestors, the clatter of voices, spirits and laughter drew me close" - From diary for Ancestor Fiona Quilligan 2022

"Timeless and immersive. Elemental and affirming' - a mesmerising visual treat that is both ancient and modern" - Seona Mac Reamoinn 

Tickets: €7 (+booking fee)