The Commitments

***NOMINEE – Best Film Editing – 1992 Academy Awards

Glen Hansard Tribute! 35th Anniversary!

Few films capture the electric collision of music, friendship, ambition, and sheer youthful nerve quite like The Commitments. Alan Parker’s beloved 1991 film brought the Dublin music scene to the screen through a band of unlikely dreamers determined to become “the greatest soul band in the world.”

The Commitments burst onto an international film scene, where Irish music was best known for The Dubliners, The Pogues, U2 and Sinead O’Connor. But, Roddy Doyle’s 1987 novel focused on the working-class of North Dublin, with Parker and the team casting a hybrid of actors and musicians to create a real band—that to this day still tours in some capacity—dedicated to celebrating their love for American Soul Music.  The soundtrack, which reached #8 on the billboard charts, sold a staggering 12 million copies worldwide and set off a firestorm of nostalgia for the likes of Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Al Green and Clarence Carter.

For fans of Glen Hansard, the film holds a particularly special place. As a young musician, Hansard appeared in the film as Outspan Foster, guitarist and member of the famously unruly band. It was an early chapter in a remarkable musical journey—one that would take him from busking on Dublin’s streets to international stages, and an Academy Award® for Best Original Song (“Falling Slowly” from Once with songwriting partner Markéta Irglová).

This screening is a celebration not only of an iconic music film, but a celebration of the extraordinary creative life that came from it.

_{1991, 118 Minutes, Ireland/UK/USA, Directed by Alan Parker, Rated R, Digital}