The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) have partnered to create ‘A New Day Will Be: A Short Film for Bloomsday 2020’, collaborating over the last month with Irish Embassies and Consulates worldwide, and their networks of local partners, to create a unique short film that celebrates a Bloomsday like no other.
Performers include actors Olwen Fouéré and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor; former US Democratic Presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg and Beto O’Rourke; novelist Colum McCann; leading actors from continental Europe including Yiannis Panagopoulos of the Greek National Theatre, Peter Bárnai from Budapest, Robert Roth from Bratislava, Ada Gales from Bucharest and Üllar Saaremäe from Tallinn; Indian actor Dalip Tahil; Aboriginal Australian artist Daniel Browning; Japanese kimono designer Satoko Baba; and performance artist Amanda Coogan. The original score is composed and performed by Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh.
Using Joyce’s timeless words to create a very contemporary take on Ulysses, performers from more than 40 locations across six continents join together to chart our universal, shared humanity as we journey through these extraordinary times: from silence, isolation, the desire for human touch and the quest for a vaccine, through remembrance and resilience, to hope, love and finally affirmation.
For each scene, the type of location chosen echoes the original setting of the relevant episode of the novel. Languages include Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, English, Estonian, French, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Irish Sign Language, Japanese, Maltese, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovene, Slovakian, Spanish and Swahili.
The film (run time 3 min 30 sec) will be available to view on the DFAT YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDR4vawLFLLlpkEyb8clepw) in the afternoon of Sunday 14 June.
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Performers (in order of appearance)
Dublin: Olwen Fouéré, theatre artist and actor
Budapest: Peter Bárnai, television actor
Shanghai: Xiao Sun, Public Diplomacy Officer at Irish Consulate, Shanghai
Down: Amanda Coogan, performance artist and sign-language interpreter
Athens: Yiannis Panagopoulos, member of the Greek National Theatre
Prague: Ondřej Pilný, Director of Irish Studies at Charles University
Rio de Janeiro: Françoise Forton, Leading telenovela actor
Valletta: Ivan Grech, Vocalist with Maltese band Winter Moods
Sydney: Daniel Browning, Aboriginal journalist, broadcaster, film-maker, artist and writer
Mumbai: Dalip Tahil, stage, film and TV actor
Mexico: Prof Aurora Piñeiro, Joycean scholar
Kent: Tom Vaughan Lawlor, stage, TV and film actor
Paris: Declan McCavana, senior lecturer, École Polytechnique, Paris
New Delhi: Dhruv Shetty, actor, Akshara Repertory Company
Tallinn: Üllar Saaremäe, actor, director, chair of Estonia-Ireland Parliamentary Group
Zurich: Martin Wheeler, translator and editor
Washington DC: Eric Motley, Executive Vice President of the Aspen Institute
Bogotá: Joe Broderick, actor, writer and translator
Nairobi: Nyambura Consolata, staff member at the Embassy of Ireland
Sofia: Dimitar Markov, theatre actor
Boston: Donal O'Sullivan, member of Here Come Everybody Players
Bratislava: Robert Roth, Slovakia’s leading stage actor
New Haven: Frankie Thomas, writer
Santiago: Federico Sánchez, architect, academic and broadcaster
Ljubljana: Špela Bešter
Hanoi: Nguyen Thi Huong
El Paso: Beto O'Rourke, former Congressman and Democratic Presidential candidate
Dublin: Olwen Fouéré, theatre artist and actor
Johannesburg: Nompumelelo Mahlangu, Sibikwa Inclusive Creative Arts programme
Ottawa: Margaret Harvey O’Kelly, Ottawa Bloomsday
Dublin: Kevin Doris, actor
Dublin: Prof Regina Uí Chollatáin, Head of School of Irish, UCD
Madrid: Sara Cantó, Founder of the Bloomsday Society, Madrid
Belfast: Amanda Coogan, performance artist and sign-language interpreter
St Petersburg: Tatiana Ivanova, Irish Cultural Centre, Herzen State University
Long Island: Colum McCann, writer
South Bend: Pete Buttigieg, former Mayor and US Presidential candidate
Bucharest: Ada Gales, film and TV actor
Nicosia: Vaggelis Gettos, poet and musician
New York City: Eon Grey, actor
Sofia: Iglika Vassileva, translator of Ulysses into Bulgarian
Tokyo: Satoko Baba, kimono designer
Riga: Samira Adgezalova, Anta Aizupe (silent), actors
Production Credits
Original score composed & performed by: Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh
Creative Direction: bigO, Eugene Downes & Simon O’Connor
Creative Producer: Jane Lawrenson
Editor: Enda Rowan
Cinematographer: Simon O'Neill
Music Production / Percussion: James Mackin
Mix & Sound Design: Tim O'Donovan
Live Score Sound: Alan Scully
Script (words from Ulysses by James Joyce)
Scene 1: Coast - Morning
A little trouble about those white corpuscles. Silence, all.
White breast of the dim sea. The twining stresses, two by two.
Scene 2: Coast – Late Morning
Touch me. Soft eyes. Soft soft hand. I am lonely here.
I am, stride at a time. A very short space of time through very short times of space.
Scene 3: Pharmacy - Day
Quest for the philosopher's stone… Living all day among herbs, ointments, disinfectants.
Something going on: some solidarity.
Scene 4: Cemetery, Memorial – Day
Faithful departed. As you are now so once were we.
Scene 5: Library – Day
Life is many days, this will end.
Scene 6: Hotel – Day
Nations of the earth. No-one behind. Then and not till then.
Scene 7: Irish Bar – Day
Love loves to love love.
Scene 8: Coast – Evening
The year returns. History repeats itself. Life, love, voyage round your own little world.
Scene 9: City – Night
But tomorrow is a new day will be.
Scene 10: Bedroom – Night
The sun shines for you he said…
yes I said yes I will Yes.
About the Museum of Literature Ireland
The Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) is a new landmark cultural institution in the heart of Ireland’s capital city. Picturesquely located on the southside of St Stephen’s Green in some of Dublin’s finest historic houses, MoLI’s cutting-edge exhibitions explore Ireland’s incredible literary heritage. Set amidst beautiful gardens, Dublin’s newest museum is an inspirational oasis for visitors to the city centre. The museum celebrates Ireland’s internationally renowned literary culture and heritage from the past to the present, inspiring the next generation to create, read and write. Immersive multimedia exhibitions, priceless artifacts, lectures, performances, free-to-access children’s education programmes, historic house tours, digital broadcasting, research facilities and a courtyard café set in one of the city’s most beautiful and tranquil gardens make the Museum of Literature Ireland a major contribution to the local and international literary landscape.
MoLI is a major partnership and creative alliance between University College Dublin (UCD) and the National Library of Ireland (NLI), supported by The Naughton Foundation and Fáilte Ireland.