Tribute to

GLEN HANSARD     1970 - 2026 R.I.P.

FRIDAY AUG 7th with Glen Hansard: The Commitments & ONCE

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"It was with such shock and sadness that we learned of the death of the great Glen Hansard, far too young. Words don’t come easily. 🕊️

Glen was a proud Dubliner and a remarkable musician, so when we chose Dublin as our Featured Region for this year’s festival, we really wanted to celebrate his work on screen.

We hoped to show both films - The Commitments and Once, which featured the Oscar-winning song Falling Slowly. As fate would have it, I found myself beside Glen at the Hot Press 50th Concert in February. He waiting to go on stage with The Frames - he was warm, easy to approach and lovely to chat to. We spoke about our film festival, and he promised to see whether he could join us in March. Sadly, he wasn’t able to make it in the end.

We were fortunate to secure the screening rights to The Commitments, which became our main Festival Film and played to a sold-out audience. We held Once back for another day.

We also screened Robin in the Hood, a short film by director and fellow busker Kristin Vollset. Glen was executive producer and supported the film, which went on to win this year’s Audience Award. 🎬

In 2024, we also had the pleasure of screening Dónal Ó Céilleachair’s beautiful The Camino Voyage, featuring Glen, at our Irish Music on Screen Festival in Babylon.

We are all on a voyage. It is so sad that Glen’s has ended far too soon. He was deeply loved and will be greatly missed. 🎶

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis."  IRISH FILM BERLIN