Films, books, music, agus... yeah: The Irish language's new cultural moment

An Cailín Ciúin became the first film in Irish to go all the way to the Oscars. 

And as both Irish and international moviegoers fell in love with Cáit, the quiet girl who has a life-changing summer in 1980s Ireland, many more screen stories as Gaeilge were already being fostered. 

In a world where streaming Scandinavian thrillers and French comedies has become the norm, global interest in foreign-language storytelling has never been greater or more accessible — and Irish filmmakers are dreaming big as they plan their next steps.

As well as a surge in Irish movies and TV shows, interest is being driven by some of our biggest stars using their cúpla focal on the world stage during Ireland’s ‘green wave’ this awards season.

“Seeing Irish actors like Paul Mescal on the red carpet speaking in Irish has been incredibly inspiring,” says Screen Ireland spokesperson Louise Ryan, who observed growing global interest in Irish in the build-up to the Oscars.

“I think it’s also encouraging people to use the cúpla focal, to use the few words that they have, and just to have that confidence in using the language without necessarily having to be perfect in what they’re doing. It’s giving new life to the language, I think, which is fantastic.” 

But An Cailín Ciúin’s success hasn’t happened overnight. It’s one of a number of Irish-language movies that have come to the big screen in recent years, big in both their ambition and diversity. Among them were the deeply moving Famine-set drama Arracht and Song of Granite, West Cork filmmaker Pat Collins’ documentary about legendary sean nós singer Joe Heaney.

Black ’47 gave us a revenge thriller set during the Famine’s darkest days, while Foscadh was a west-of-Ireland drama about a young man who navigates love and life following the death of his parents. 

The beguiling Róise & Frank, filmed in Ring in Co Waterford, centres on a grieving woman who starts to believe her GAA-mad husband has been reincarnated in the form of a stray dog who won’t leave her side.

Following a successful run in Irish cinemas, it’s currently charming US cinema audiences. Louise Ryan of Screen Ireland — which is a primary funder of Irish movies and TV shows — is noticing another fascinating trend, as interest in Irish-language storytelling extends beyond established Gaeilgeoirs. 

“What we’re seeing now is Irish actors, Irish filmmakers, they’re putting Gaeilge on their CV. They’re training up, they’re brushing up on the Irish. People are really proud to be making content in Irish and they really want to get involved, which I think is really exciting to see.”

She has also noticed a lot of scripts coming in with elements of the language within those scripts. It follows huge international media interest coming up to the Oscars. 

“In the US, there was an enormous amount of media coverage in the LA Times, in the New York Times, focused on the Irish language and the cultural impact that it’s making. You’re seeing audiences right around the world interested and engaging in Irish.

“It’s been a real cultural phenomenon that we’ve seen over the last five years around Irish-language filmmaking.”

There’s lots more to come.

Tarrac — a drama shot in Dingle and set in the world of Naomhóg racing — will be released in Irish cinemas this autumn. 

Fréwacka, a horror film centred around a young nurse who is plagued by a past trauma, recently started filming in Carlingford and Ravensdale in Co Louth. 

It’s one of several films which is not solely in Irish but features the language throughout, which Ryan has noticed as a growing trend. 

Others include the upcoming rural revenge drama Bring Them Down, starring Barry Keoghan and Nora-Jane Noone; Kneecap, a film about the Irish rap group; and Four Letters of Love, starring Pierce Brosnan, which recently completed filming in Donegal. 

“We are noticing a trend in a rise in pride in our Irish language,” says Ryan. 

“We are also seeing an increase in Irish screenwriters including Irish language dialogue in their scripts that come in for submission across many genres which is a very encouraging trend.”

Award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker Katie McNeice, having not used Irish with any frequency since her schooldays, was inspired to turn to the language in making her latest short film. The result is Focail Baile Croí (Words Home Heart), which she has written and directed and recently finished filming. It tells of how a father imagines moments he will share with his son, teaching him words for his experiences in a home full of language and heart.

“What I think it comes down to is permission,” she says of the experience. “For myself, I associate Irish with being in school. So, in a really weird way, it’s like this kind of infantilised attitude toward our language where we’re used to speaking things we don’t want to say, reading poems you don’t want to read, being told just learn it off, repeat it, it doesn’t matter.

“When I look back at it now that I’m learning Irish again, I realise at the time, I wasn’t learning a language, I was just trying to get myself across the line of a test that wasn’t formulated with speakers in mind. You don’t learn to love a language by being told to learn off paragraphs.” 

The Kerry-born filmmaker first thought about working in Irish following a conversation with fellow filmmaker and actor Tristan Heanue ( Ciúnas). He told her about a funding scheme, Comórtas — Físín, which she had thought you would have to be fluent to apply for. She ended up being granted the funding which helped her develop the film.

“The dialogue was so simple, and I kind of wrote towards my ability, as opposed to let my lack of language skills inhibit me in any way,” says McNeice. 

“It kind of leans into it. It’s like, ‘I know what my level of Irish is, I’m going to use what I have, I’ll write a story that suits it. People aren’t talking all the time, but what they do say really means a lot. Instead of having to get reams and reams of action, perfect dialect, and all that kind of stuff, I can just focus on words that sounded beautiful. That meant something real and meant something to me and really moved me.” 

A great deal of the success of our new wave of Irish-language storytelling can be attributed to the Cine4 funding scheme for Irish-language films, set up by TG4, Screen Ireland, and the BAI (now called Coimisiún na Meán) in 2017.

Róise & Frank, Arracht and An Cailín Ciúin were among the films backed by Cine4, and another, Tarrac, will be coming to the big screen this autumn. For producer Clíona Ní Bhuachalla, whose credits include The Clinic and Ros na Rún, it offered a remarkable opportunity — the chance to make her first feature film in her own language.

“Because it’s Cine4 and because it’s as Gaeilge, I thought: Oh my God, I’d be able to work in my own language, express myself, get a story that could be told in a Gaeltacht area. I’ve caught the bug now. Cine4 made it possible for somebody like me to make a feature film.” 

The drama, directed by Declan Recks, was filmed in Dingle and centres on a group of female Naomhóg rowers who take on a high-stakes competition. 

The film’s lead actresses all learned to row the traditional boats for the film. Ní Bhuachalla feels that the many recent successes have fostered a sense of optimism and aspiration for other filmmakers.

“No doubt about it. There’s a better understanding. I love seeing that this is now a realistic ambition, to be able to work in my own language,” she says. 

In a world where hit shows are streamed in several languages and a Korean film ( Parasite) can win Best Picture at the Oscars, there has never been a better time for film as Gaeilge to strike out, she adds. 

“In fairness, there’s always been lots of European small movies — but now it’s different. Maybe the fact that there are so many series as well now in other languages like Call My Agent, it just seems to be more accessible. It’s all about the story and then the nuance of the language adds to a story.”

MUSIC, BOOKS — AND THE TG4 INTERN

From Harry Styles’ ‘ céad míle fáilte’at Slane, to Oscars success and Paul Mescal’s red-carpet interview that went viral, it’s never felt like a more exciting time for the Irish language. 

Partly driven by those working in the arts and in public life, Irish is having a moment, with a growing number of high-profile storytellers expressing themselves in film, books, and music.

Mescal’s BAFTAs interview as Gaeilge with TG4 went global and was viewed by millions, leaving many Irish people with a sense of pride — regardless of whether they’re fluent or have a cúpla focal — at seeing the language celebrated on the world stage. 

Brendan Gleeson, too, brought Irish to the awards season in red-carpet media for The Banshees of Inisherin. It happened in a year where a low-budget movie, An Cailín Ciúin, became beloved worldwide and staged a serious Oscars run.

Later this year, Hector Ó hEochagáin will launch a book aimed at encouraging people to use the Irish they have — while expressing the belief that we have more than we think. 

The Irish Words You Should Know, to be published by Gill Books, is set to be an accessible guide to adding more Irish to everyday life. 

Meanwhile, writer and documentary maker Mánchan Magan — author of books including Thirty-Two Words for Field, and Tree Dogs, Banshee Fingers and Other Irish Words for Nature that have already celebrated our native tongue — has a new book out in September that again puts Irish centre stage. Wolf-men and Water Hounds: The Myths, Monsters, and Magic of Ireland is an engrossing look at magical Irish landmarks across the country.

In the world of music, Belfast rap trio Kneecap remain one of the most popular acts in hip-hop, working primarily in their native language, while others who have increased the profile of Irish in recent years include Cork performer and presenter Ray Cuddihy.

Even in the world of videogames, demand is growing for a Gaelgóir flavour for the international juggernauts – multiplayer sleuthing favourite Among Us received an official translation spearheaded by writer and content creator Úna-Minh Kavanagh, while perennial favourite Minecraft’s open-source Irish translation is available in its education-focused Java edition. 

Meanwhile, retro-gaming fans make personal efforts to breathe Irish into beloved classics. Reddit user Eireannnorudeigin’s Pokémon Dearg agus Pokémon Gorm are translated modifications of the 1995 Nintendo Gameboy classics Pokémon Red and Blue, which see longtime players return to the island of Kanto in search of all 151 original monsters – re-negotiating familiar territory, battles, and dialogue in the best Irish that technical limitations allow.

The growth in profile couldn’t have come at a better or more vital time for our native tongue. 

Just two years ago, Irish was listed as one of 12 EU languages most under threat of extinction by language platform Busuu. 

The study, collating data from Unesco’s Atlas of World Languages in Danger, listed Irish as “definitely endangered”.

There are opportunities, says TG4 director general Alan Esslemont, to use the growing popularity of and interest in Irish to drive the language forward. 

“There’s an awful lot of acting talent who have a lot of time for the Irish language. But the likes of Paul and the profile that he has internationally, and especially with young people — we have to keep on reaching young people. And I think that really cut through,” he says of Mescal’s BAFTA interview, which was picked up by dozens of news outlets worldwide. 

Across all of TG4’s social media, the Mescal interview has already notched up more than 2,112,300 million views.

The West of Ireland-based broadcaster has been one of the major promoters of the Irish language through its programming and through its Twitter account, persistently one of the wittiest and funniest on social media.

Already popular in Ireland, the TG4 intern account achieved huge reach worldwide when the channel took to the red carpet as a ‘green wave’ of Irish Oscars and BAFTAs nominees drew international interest. 

As well as Mescal’s interview with TG4 presenter Caitlín Nic Aodha, her colleague Mairéad Ní Chuaig was one of the few Irish journalists to interview the team from Oscar-winning short An Irish Goodbye immediately after their win. 

Other virals included footage of An Cailín Ciúin star Catherine Clinch heading to the Oscars. 

Since it was established, TG4’s account also has a lot of fun with followers regarding the identity of the mystery intern who posts to it. 

“Twitter for us is fantastic,” agrees Esslemont. “We don’t use it for publicity or corporate things, we just express our personality. And what I like about that is that our intern was something that came from the bottom up. I’m pleased in that that happened without a hierarchical input. Our intern speaks as our intern wants to speak. Our intern understands how TG4 is, understands what TG4’s personality is, and has really developed that in a fantastic way. I think that our intern really reflects our strategy as a broadcaster.” 

Scottish-born Esslemont was raised in East Scotland and following university decided to take a Scots Gaelic course, working on the Isle of Skye for a time before being offered a nine-month contract to teach Gaelic in UCG (now University of Galway). 

He took an immersion course in Irish Gaelic, which is where he met his wife, Máire. 

“I managed to get onto a course in Tralee, a Fás course, that took me into television and I started with a company, Telegael, in Spiddal. It was just at the time when people were beginning to talk about the need for an Irish language channel because the Welsh language channel (S4C) started in 1982. It was a time when we were trying to do lots of new things with Irish-language media.” 

Esslemont was involved in the setting up of TnaG in 1996 and its rebranding as TG4 in 1999. 

He returned to Scotland for a number of years to help set up Gaelic channel BBC Alba, before being appointed director general of TG4. 

Esslemont was instrumental in the formation of Cine4, a funding scheme for Irish-language filmmakers backed by TG4, Screen Ireland, and The BAI. 

The scheme, which funds feature films in Irish, has seen enormous successes since its establishment in 2017. It funded An Cailín Ciúin, which this year became the first feature film as Gaeilge to get an Oscar nod.

He has long advocated for the State to do more in support of the Irish language. He feels there are positive steps being made but that more needs to be done, comparing Ireland to places like Wales, Catalonia, and The Basque Country.

“I’ve said before that the State lacks ambition for the Irish language. For me, that means it only sees Irish as an ornamental or symbolic language. It hasn’t seen Irish as the living language of a truly bilingual community. I think that’s left its mark on people.

“If you look since the 60s in Ireland, in the area that I’m in — media — public investment in media has been almost totally in English-language media. It’s created a sort of normalised vision of a monolingual English-language Irish state. It has actually also, at the same time, normalised the Irish language as a community language in Ireland, and I think that’s a huge shame. That has to change to a certain extent under this government. I see some indications that the State is changing. But we’re really far from the bilingual state vision that you get in Wales, Catalonia, the Basque Country. Irish has constitutional status. It has full European status, but we’re miles behind other European countries with a minority language.”

He feels the creative arts are driving change. “Irish is a minority language. And, in general, minority languages disappear if they’re starved of status. For me, culture and media are hugely important creators of status. And the future of the Irish language is dependent on the State’s willingness to invest in Irish language creativity. Under this government, and especially this minister, Catherine Martin, I see indications that the State is changing. Then for Colm and Cleona ( An Cailín Ciúin’s director and producer) to do what they did, and to create this tie between the Irish language and the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, I just find fantastic and it’s exactly the thing that is needed to drive the Irish language forward.”

This autumn, TG4 will launch Cúla4, a dedicated children’s channel available on the Saorview platform, on Virgin, and online via the TG4 player and TG4 apps. 

This will lead to more children watching Cúla4 at home — but it’s also set to have a more significant presence in classrooms. 

Red C research showed that 44% of primary school teachers, 80% of teachers in Irish-speaking primary schools, and 250,000 primary school children throughout Ireland regularly use the TG4 or Cúla4 Player in the classroom.

It presents the latest opportunity, says Esslemont, to make the Irish language more accessible in our homes, classrooms, and lives.

“In many ways, we’re having to do two things. One is that we’re trying to serve the Irish-speaking community with the sort of same depth and richness of content that an English person will expect from BBC One. That’s a lot to do in itself. But as well as that, what we’re proud of doing is we try to open a door to people who have less or no Irish language. And I think that is really working.”