We are delighted to welcome Terri Hooley to the IFI for a Q&A with Paul Byrne following the 20.40 screening on Saturday, April 13th as part of Spotlight: New Irish Film at the IFI. 

Beset by sectarian conflict, Belfast in the late 1970s hardly seemed like fertile ground for an onrush of musical energy, but thanks to the unbridled enthusiasm of mover and shaker Terri Hooley, the local punk scene raised two fingers in the face of the Troubles. Now a new generation of the province’s creative talent gazes back on those near-mythical days with this affectionate and witty celluloid tribute. 

Character actor Richard Dormer seizes the moment with his energetic portrayal of the one-eyed dynamo whose eponymous city centre record shop and indie label gave this ‘Alternative Ulster’ its focus, and delivered The Undertones’ Teenage Kicks into the annals of 45rpm immortality, though the movie gains a tragic-comic dimension by never-underselling maestro Hooley’s wilfully self-destructive foibles. A nostalgia fest for anyone who remembers Rudi and The Outcasts, this is eminently a tale worth telling – an uplifting reminder that two chords, a terrace-chant chorus and a gobbet of attitude really could make the world a better place (Notes by Trevor Johnston.)

Accompanying the release of Good Vibrations, we are delighted to present two films from master documentarian John T. Davis which document the actual men, music and mayhem of Ulster punk in the late 1970s. Shellshock Rock & Self-Consious Over You will screen as part of our Monthly Must-See programme on Saturday, March 30th (16.10).