Using James Joyce's timeless words to create a very contemporary take on Ulysses, a remarkable virtual gathering of 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 - watch above.
Performers include actors Olwen Fouéré and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor; former US Democratic presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg and Beto O'Rourke; novelist Colum McCann; leading European actors 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.
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 was created Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) - go here for more on James Joyce, Ulysses and Bloomsday.
