Latest news with #Siobhán
Irish Independent
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Documentary on former Wexford hurler to feature at Galway film festival
Since his retirement, the primary school teacher has developed a reputation for being an advocate for Irish language, arts and culture. Diarmuid and his partner Siobhán, run retreats which feature cultural skills, sweat boxes and 'wild hurling'. The couple are greatly influenced by the teachings of John Moriarty, a Kerry philosopher. Now a documentary on his life is set to be screened at the Galway Film Fleadh. Immrám is produced by filmmaker Michael Holly and Mieke Vanmechelen. The two previously collaborated on a film called Hungry Hill, which told the story of a group of sheep farmers in Beara, the famous peninsula on the south-west coast. The two were passionate that there next project would encompass the Irish language. It wasn't initially planned that Diarmuid and his family would be featured in the documentary but having heard Diarmuid in a podcast Michael contacted him and the rest is history. 28 hours of footage was filmed and a bond was developed between the film making pair and the couple as they followed them on a pilgrimage across the south of Ireland over 10 days. Unsurprisingly hurling, or 'wild hurling' is part of Diarmuid and Siobhán's exploration of identity. Michael makes the point that Diarmuid feels hurling in its modern capacity has lost something of what it was initially intended to do for Ireland. Immrám screens at Galway Film Fleadh on Saturday, July 12.
Irish Independent
02-07-2025
- Irish Independent
Teen who died following fall near Co Kerry lake named locally
He had been visiting the area with his parents Siobhán and James on Tuesday afternoon. It is understood Darragh was a student at CBS Charleville. The alarm was raised by his parents on Tuesday afternoon when Valentia Coast Guard and the Shannon-based Rescue 115 helicopter were scrambled to the area near a location known locally as Peddlers Lake. Gardaí and emergency services attended the incident after the boy reportedly fell from a height near a lake while visiting the area with his parents. Despite the help of rescue teams that reached the site, the boy died at the scene. In a post to Facebook CBS Charleville said: 'Darragh was a bright and uplifting presence in our school community – a gentle, kind-hearted, and considerate young person who radiated warmth and positivity. Whether in the classroom, walking our corridors, or spending time with his friends, he left a meaningful and lasting impact. His generous nature, intelligence and talent inspired all who knew him. 'Darragh will be missed deeply by his friends, his classmates, and all the staff here at CBS Charleville. His absence leaves a space that cannot be filled, and we will remember him with great affection and sorrow.' Members of the Coast Guard Unit based in Daingean Uí Chúis, members of Kerry Mountain Rescue Team, gardaí, and National Ambulance Service crews were also involved in the recovery. Frank Heidtke of Dingle Coast Guard said the multiagency operation did all it could to rescue the boy. 'There was good cooperation among all the rescue services. A lot of resources were on the scene and everything that could be done was done. Unfortunately, the boy had some traumatic event and his injuries overcame him,' said Mr Heidtke. North Cork Fianna Fáil Councillor Ian Doyle said the community is in deep shock by the tragedy. 'My sympathy, and that of the community, is with the boy's family at this time. There was terrible sadness in the town on hearing the news. Our hearts go out to his family,' said Cllr Doyle. Mallow based Fine Gael Councillor Liam Madden said 'its very tough on the community'. 'These accidents don't escape any area that is the sad thing about it. My sympathies to the family.' A post-mortem examination will take place in due course and a file prepared for the office of the Coroner.
The Irish Sun
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
I'm an ex-GAA star, now I'm starring in a film documentary with my wife about our philosophical retreats
FORMER Wexford hurling captain Diarmuid Lyng and his spoken word artist wife Siobhán de Paor are the subject of a new documentary. The 44-year-old spoke to 3 He and Siobhán are running retreats to help people with their minds as well as bodies 3 Lyng was a leading figure for the Yellowbellies from 2004-2013 3 His career was honoured in a 2020 episode of TG4's Laochra Gael It centres on how they're fronting retreats that "aim to reclaim indigenous Irish identity, customs, religion, and language." Their retreats involve festivals crammed full of Irish customs with hurling featuring prominently. Irish language poetry is also cited as a core element of these spiritual getaways. The documentary tracks Diarmuid, Siobhán and friends over the course of a 10-day retreat which is described as a pilgrimage. Read More On GAA A Fierce Quiet Films production, IMMRÁM was directed by Mieke Vanmechelen and Michael Holly. The former spoke to Wexford Weekly ahead of its premiere about its primary vision. He outlined: 'Immrám is an immersive, experimental documentary, more of a sensorial journey than a traditional narrative. "We recognised Diarmuid and Siobhán's open-mindedness, thoughtfulness, and engagement in a broader cultural dialogue, which makes them fascinating subjects. Most read in GAA Hurling "In a post-Catholic, neo-liberal Ireland, they are working to establish new cultural and spiritual connections that resonate with nature. I believe that viewers will find their journey truly inspiring. 'Footage and interviews with the Lyng family are juxtaposed with archival television footage of John Moriarty. Tomas O'Se calls out GAA's mid-season rule change but fellow Sunday Game pundit disagrees "Moriarty wanted to reconnect with his wild nature to decivilise himself by living a life in communion with the rhythms of nature and engaging with the profundities of mystical philosophies from around the world. "Viewers will encounter poetic visuals, personal moments of ritual and contemplation, and a meaningful exploration of Irish culture, ecology, and spirituality, all accompanied by a beautiful musical score composed by Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh.' The 90-minute production will be available to watch at the Galway Film Fleadh on Saturday, July 12. Those based elsewhere in the country who would like to see it should keep an eye on related social media channels as further screening locations and times will be revealed in time. HURLING JOURNEY Lyng walked away from inter-county hurling at the relatively early age of 31 having been left Upon his return in a coaching capacity in 2017, he told SunSport: 'It's interesting, I didn't have it for the last few years because I fell out with hurling. 'I was left broken from hurling and that was my own relationship with it. 'Hurling didn't do it, it was how I applied myself to it and how I allowed myself to be treated by the game. My own relationship with the game just broke me. 'That doesn't matter though, my body was physically f***ed so I had to rebuild and try to understand why I allowed myself to get to that point. 'I allowed myself to be dictated and overindulge in something that's just a game that you play and enjoy. "It's a pastime in a sense and at that level now it's increasingly professional in its outlook and everything else.'
Irish Independent
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Kerry Condon: ‘I did like being violent. That was really relaxing for me, bizarrely. There was something about a character who didn't give a f**k that was really freeing'
'I was really glad that it was at this point in my career, because it was a very big role opposite him, and maybe if I had been younger, I would have been very nervous about it,' she says. 'We had both worked with David Fincher, so we had that in common. So he was really in the moment to act opposite, which was a lot of fun and very relaxed. I knew no two takes were going to be the same.' Condon has, for years, found herself on every type of TV and movie set going, from the Marvel Cinematic Universe epic through to the handcrafted Irish indie film. But being nominated for a heap of major awards in 2023 (including a Best Supporting Actress Oscar) for her role as Siobhán in The Banshees of Inisherin seems to have unlocked another level professionally. 'Two days after the Oscars, Joseph (Kosinski, F1's director, who also directed Tron: Legacy and Top Gun: Maverick) called and said, 'Hey, I'd really like you to be Kate.' I was kind of waiting to hear if I'd gotten it, so that seemed to me that things had changed,' Condon says. 'I mean, I might have gotten it before [the Oscar nomination] but I don't know. I do feel like it was a major bunch of flowers I got two days afterwards.' Condon has always had a knack for picking nuanced and substantial characters — Banshees' Siobhán being a case in point — and in F1, her character is no love-interest shrinking violet. F1 sees her star opposite Pitt, Javier Bardem and Damson Idris as Kate McKenna, the race director of the fictional APXGP team, and the first female technical director in Formula One. The character is heavily influenced by Condon's research work with the Irish strategy engineer Bernie Collins. The film is also produced by Hollywood giant Jerry Bruckheimer, who knows a thing or two about a megabucks project. 'I've always wanted to do a blockbuster movie, and obviously this is the female lead in a massive blockbuster movie,' Condon says, on a Zoom from her home in Los Angeles. 'And then they wanted me to be Irish. I thought, 'Jeez, I don't think I've seen that before, the Irish accent in a female lead, in a big massive movie.' I wanted to wear my Claddagh ring in the movie too, one that my mother got me and I wear all the time, so my character got to wear that.' The filming of F1 happened over two years, and took Condon and the cast all over the world to film at various Formula 1 tracks and real race events. Somehow, Condon shot substantial roles in two other feature films amid it all: Pressure, opposite Andrew Scott, and Train Dreams, alongside Joel Edgerton. 'I just knew we were going to have crazy fun on the movie,' she reflects of the F1 experience. 'Saying goodbye at the end was very emotional. I really didn't want it to end. I could have done it for years more.' As the F1 cast and crew made their way around the world, Pitt, in particular, was photographed regularly by paparazzi as he appeared at various F1 Grand Prix events. Fame and celebrity are part of a world that Condon wants nothing to do with. Condon has long been intensely private about her off-camera life in favour of keeping the focus on the work, and F1's American publicist politely reminds me to keep my interview questions movie-related. Condon is careful not to reveal any details of her personal relationships, although did tell the RTÉ Guide in 2018, 'I don't really care if I never get married. I don't really care if I never have kids. There's loads of things I've planned for my life. So I've gone on and made plans for my life regardless of those things happening to me.' Now, she explains, 'My family are very private. Without me being an actress, we just always kind of were and are like that. So it seems a bit odd for me to be ramming my achievements down people's throats. It's just not my style. And particularly in Ireland, all my friends there have normal jobs, and I like getting the train and going on the bus with my friends to restaurants and things like that. 'I was aware that if I let that go, I would never get it back, and I didn't want to make everyone else's lives around me harder,' she adds. 'I wasn't crazy about the idea of chasing something like that. There's a real joy in being able to walk down Grafton Street and go and do fun things with my friends, where we're all just like it used to be years ago. It just doesn't come naturally to me to be posting private things [online] or be talking about private things.' And yet, Condon was in her element on the Oscar campaign circuit during 2023's award season, often in a Thurles accent that hasn't been blunted one bit by living elsewhere. Pressing the flesh, appearing on huge chat shows and getting into the public's eyeline is very much part and parcel of the nominee playbook, and Condon was memorably charming as she did it. 'To be honest, it was crazy,' she says of the hectic period. At the time, she was also filming Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. 'I didn't realise how much of a big deal it all was until I came home and my mother showed me all the newspaper cuttings. I wasn't sitting back observing this — it's very different when you're in it. I was miles from home too. I was here in LA on my own and all my family were in Ireland. So I would get texts where my mum would say, 'Oh, there's this thing and that thing' [in the media], and I would be like, 'Oh, that's nice.' And then I'd have to go to work.' Even now, Condon gets a bit emotional about the run-up to the Oscars in 2023. Famously, she watched the telecast of the nominations in her co-star Colin Farrell's house as he too got the Oscars nod. One memory from that time in particular sticks out, and it's largely down to the people of her hometown of Thurles. 'Loads of people in my hometown sent my mum cards to give me; it actually kind of made me cry,' she says. 'Everyone was so happy for me, and that was lovely. That was more moving to me. All these sweet families for no reason buying a 'well done' card. I just saw a lot of goodwill there. People were very generous and proud and that made me feel amazing.' She watched the Oscar ceremony at home earlier this year. 'My first thought was, 'My God, that was me.' It's very hard to explain.' It wasn't Condon's first Oscars rodeo — she attended in 2012 for her part in the short film Shore, which won the Live Action Short Film Category. She attended the 2023 ceremony with her younger brother, whom she described as her 'little lucky charm'. 'I was so nervous,' she admits. 'I said it to Saoirse [Ronan] when I saw her, 'Were you that nervous?' Like, you know it's coming. They say 'Supporting Actress' and your heart starts pounding. There's a camera in your face that you're really aware of, and then Brendan [Gleeson] and Colin [Farrell] want you to win, and ay-ay-ay… there's a million things on your mind. 'I remember at the Golden Globes, which was the first [major awards ceremony of the season], and when they said Angela Bassett, I was like, 'Thank God.' I just wasn't ready. I just wasn't ready to go up on the stage. I was just really cool with being nominated. There was no sense of entitlement — I've always wanted [just to be nominated]. But the fact it was a major career moment wasn't lost on me, you know.' Growing up in Thurles as the third of four children, Condon came from an unstarry family with few links to showbusiness. Still, the youngster showed an interest in acting from a very young age. She spent so much time talking about her escape from her hometown that, according to one report in the Los Angeles Times, her father gave her the nickname 'Fledgy-poo'. At the age of 10, she reviewed The Lion King for a local radio station. At 16, she wrote to Alan Parker, director of The Commitments, telling him about her dream of becoming an actor. It would turn out to be a fortuitous letter. At 16, and after she went for the audition entirely off her own back, Parker gave Condon her first on-screen role in Angela's Ashes. She played Theresa, the first love of the teenage Frank McCourt (when Condon won her Bafta in 2023 for The Banshees of Inisherin, she gave Parker a shout-out). A small role in Ballykissangel also materialised, and two years later, she starred in How Harry Became A Tree opposite Cillian Murphy. Not long after that, she was getting head-butted by Colin Farrell's character in an iconic scene for the movie Intermission. Though she had attended courses at the Dublin Theatre Arts School as a teenager, Condon was already working regularly and steadily by the time the idea of formal training at drama school came up. She reportedly enrolled in the now-defunct acting degree course at the Samuel Beckett Centre in Trinity College, but only went for one day as she got a call offering her a role in the film Rat on that very first day. She then moved to London for work at the age of 19, and was offered the role of Mairead in the premiere production of Martin McDonagh's The Lieutenant of Inishmore at the RSC. Not long after, she was cast in the same company as Ophelia in Hamlet. She was the youngest actor to appear in the role for the company and, at the time, she was the only person in the cast not to have attended drama school. Speaking of education, Condon is keenly aware that it's Leaving Cert season back at home. 'I look back and think, 'Why was so much pressure put on us at the Leaving Cert?' I remember how stressed I was doing it,' she says. 'It's only when you go to other countries that you do realise how amazing our education system is. We are so lucky to have such an incredible education. This character [Kate] is so smart and I was so proud that I had the education where I was able to go, 'Yeah, I can see an Irish girl doing this.'' There has never been a shortage of prestigious gigs for Condon down the years, but it hasn't always been smooth sailing. She has missed out on the odd role (including, according to some reports, the lead in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. That eventually went to Rooney Mara). 'Oh my god, I boycott the movie,' she says of the roles she doesn't get, laughing. 'I'm like, 'Go off, fine, that's your choice.' You have to think you're good or you're not going to get anywhere, but if I'm not even considered for it and someone else gets it and I would have liked it… ah, there are times when it goes to the right person for the right reasons, and I would like to think that I can give credit where it's due. There are great actresses and sometimes they just suit that role at the time more than I would have, and that's OK. 'I mean, not to be doomsday, but we're all going to die. I mean, that's the great equaliser, so it's not the be all and end all. But if I'm down to the last two and I don't get it… yeah, I don't even want to hear about [the film].' Around the time Condon was in the RSC as a teenager, she met Martin McDonagh and the actor David Wilmot, who became two of her closest friends. Her collaborations with McDonagh have been especially fruitful, and he is said to have written the role of Siobhán in The Banshees of Inisherin with Condon in mind. Condon notes that Wilmot, who has appeared in The Guard, Intermission and Calvary, made her 'a better actress'. 'That's not even just being nice to David, that's the truth,' she says. 'David gave me so many tips to this day that I still call him up for advice on certain things that I'm having trouble navigating.' What's the best advice anyone has ever given her? 'I don't know if it's acting advice, but I was told, as a woman, to always have your own money,' she says. 'I do think that was really good advice, because you can be really independent when you have your own money. You can get out of any situation. If you have your own money, you can get a cab and get the hell out of there. I hate to give money that power, but I do think, as a woman, it's very important. To this day, I'm very adamant that I have my own money.' Is there a type of different acting role she might like to take up in the future? 'I don't know, but I did like being violent,' she says, referring to her role in In the Land of Saints and Sinners, which she filmed in Donegal and starred opposite Liam Neeson. 'That was really relaxing for me, bizarrely,' she says. 'I did go, 'Huh, that's interesting.' There was something about a character who didn't give a f**k that was really freeing. It made you kind of go, 'Jeez, why do I analyse everything in my life?' Like playing someone who doesn't care what anyone thinks of them, it was very empowering and fun. You'd think it would make you angry, but it was the opposite. I was sitting in Donegal, looking out at the baby lambs, thinking life was great.' After one of the most gratifying streaks in her professional life, a long overdue break is still very much on the cards this year. 'I've always wanted to be an actress my whole life and I still have that, I just love it, but there are other things in life,' Condon reflects. 'There's my horses — I want to be a better rider, and I want to learn so much about the ocean. I have my horses, and think that when my horses are older and they're gone, what other thing would I like to explore? 'Scuba diving and marine life and freediving, all that ocean stuff really appeals to me. And I think that might be the next phase of my life. Horses are such a commitment, and such a lifestyle, so when that's wrapped up for me, I think I'll have to pivot to some other kind of all-consuming thing. It seems like a big second, hard mountain to climb, but that I could do something good in that way. 'I love taking care of things, I love being a mammy,' she adds. 'I love minding animals and making them feel good. I love knowing that my money is being used for something greater than me.' Condon describes her farm, just outside Seattle and home to her horses, dogs and cat, with huge affection. Her father bred horses when she was growing up in Tipperary, and her cousin, Richard, is a jockey. 'I mean, I basically bought my horses a house,' she says. 'That brings me a lot of joy, because sometimes I do feel that I don't understand my drive as an actor. I don't know where it came from. I don't know why I have this obsession. So it eases me a little to know, 'Well, I'm going to do this on the farm with the money I make from this movie,' as opposed to, 'Me, me, me, I'm going to buy a Prada handbag and I'm going to be famous.' That does nothing for me.' 'F1 'will show in Irish cinemas from Friday, June 27
Irish Daily Mirror
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
'A commentary on the last four years of my life': BABA on debut record, Truth
BABA's debut album, Truth, is a 'commentary on the last four years' of the artist's life. The 12-track, featuring production crafted by Enda Gallery who co-wrote the record, is a compelling autobiographical album that explores core themes of female empowerment, love, loss and hope. 'Basically, the album is really just a commentary, kind of on the last four years of my life,' Siobhán Lynch, aka BABA, told the Irish Mirror. 'We had a lot of miscarriages the last few years. I had the process of IVF. 'So there's two songs. There's one for my little boy that I lost in the second trimester of pregnancy. That's Apollo. 'And then very luckily, I had a little girl, so that's Love Like This. That's about her and then there's two songs in the middle which are Lost in Lisbon and Spicy Summer. 'Because the album was starting to sound a little sad, I really wanted to make sure that I kept elements of me in there. 'Spicy Summer is about my favorite thing, which is kissing and the summer time. So I wanted to make sure I kept that in there. And Lost in Lisbon is kind of a reflection on lost loves and things'. The record is loosely divided into four stages, each reflecting points in Siobhán's journey, with these parts connected by unique interludes. 'Sometimes I think when albums come out, although the songs are personal to the artist, you don't really see all of the background work or the personal touches. So that's why I wanted to put those little bits in. 'Two of them were voice notes. One of them, the one for Apollo, was one that I found on what should have been his second birthday, that I'd recorded. 'And I actually forgot about it, and Enda was like, 'Just go through them', and we nearly didn't put it on, because I just thought, 'Oh, is it too much?' 'It's important. It's very important. For me, talking about pregnancy loss, it's just a really important thing, because when I first started having miscarriages, there was no one to talk to about it. 'So I actually started my own podcast, just to chat through it. So some women had somewhere to go, or people had somewhere to go. Because no one was really talking about it, and it's really lonely.' While some tracks on the album took just 10 minutes to pen, Apollo took Siobhán nine months to write. 'Apollo took me nine months to write. Some of the songs took 10 minutes,' Siobhán shared. 'We actually started the song, writing the melody of the song before I lost him. 'And then I lost him in the January, and we went back through some of the melodies we'd been writing. I was like, 'Oh, this really sounds like something I could work with'. But just to get the words down on paper, it's very difficult.' BABA's debut album, Truth, is out now on all streaming platforms.
