Mic Christopher Documentary Heads To Irish Film Festival London
‘Heyday — The Mic Christopher Story’ has contributions from friends and other notables whose lives he touched, including Glen Hansard, Mike Scott of the Waterboys and Josh Ritter.
A new documentary about the life and death of Mic Christopher, the influential and charismatic former frontman of Irish rock favourites the Mary Janes, will be screened at the Irish Film Festival London (IFFL) on 20 November.
Heyday — The Mic Christopher Story has contributions from fellow artists that he worked with and other notables whose lives he touched, including Glen Hansard, Mike Scott of the Waterboys, Josh Ritter, Lisa Hannigan, Bronagh Gallagher, writer/actor Sharon Horgan and Rónán Ó’Snodaigh.
The film documents Christopher’s early days as a busker on the streets of Dublin and his rise to fame with the Mary Janes. The band formed a large following around the world throughout the 1990s, signing a publishing deal with Warner Chappell and playing at Glastonbury Festival, various Fleadh events, CMJ in New York and beyond.
Photo: Patrick Glennon
After the band split in 1999, Christopher went solo and, shortly afterwards, survived a near-fatal motorcycle accident to release the Heyday EP that lends its name to the documentary. His final year is charted through the eyes of friends from the same Dublin circuit, such as Hansard and Scott.
Christopher was touring with the Waterboys when he suffered the fatal injury from which he died in 2001, at the age of just 32. Hansard, his former flatmate in Dublin, went on to great success with the Frames, as a solo artist and an actor in the BAFTA Award-winning The Commitments and Once, for which he won an Oscar for Best Song.
Glen Hansard still: Patrick Glennon
The ninth IFFL will take place between 20 and 24 November at London’s Regent Street Cinema, offering a diverse programme of mainstream and independent films. Says festival director Kelly O’Connor: “Irish film continues to amaze and delight global audiences and the film industry, and it’s our pleasure to be able to present the UK premieres of some of the finest examples of that film-making.” More information is at the festival website.
UK English
