Irish Film Institute -International Film Directory – Film Listing

Broken Song

    • Director

      Claire Dix

    • Credits

      Producer: Nodlag Houlihan. Sound: Graham Newcombe

  • Category

    Documentary
    Music

GI, Costello and Willa Lee are street poets, hip-hop artists, rappers and song-writers from Dublin’s often-deprived suburbs. Through their words they have found a way to diffuse their frustration with the chaos that surrounds them and to inspire others to master forms of self-expression which nurture creativity rather than anger. The pared-back aesthetic of Claire Dix’s documentary, shot elegantly in black and white (with occasional, metaphorical splashes of colour), ennobles her young subjects and mirrors the raw texture of their work. Her method is un-invasive, dwelling not on the detail of the boys’ sometimes shambolic lives, but focusing instead on their music. And while all are immensely talented, attention is drawn inexorably to the astonishing, haunting voice of 19-year-old urban soul singer Willa Lee.

Notes by Sunniva O'Flynn.
 
Awards:
Audience Award for Best Film at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2013.

66 minutes, Ireland, 2013, B&W

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