One of the most quietly spellbinding events at this year’s Docs Ireland doesn’t take place in a cinema, but under a full 360° dome, in the night sky simulator of Armagh Planetarium.
Premiering this Friday, June 20th, Music for Domes is a new immersive documentary experience that sees award-winning Irish artist and long-time TTA favourite RÓIS join forces with the always-visionary Hosta Projects for a journey unlike any other. Combining archival footage, sonic folklore and celestial cartography, the film draws uncanny parallels between two ancient cultures – Ireland and Cambodia – and how both map memory, myth and survival across the stars.
Shot in Cambodia and Ireland and performed in Irish, English, Khmer and French, the piece traces a luminous arc from Navan Fort to Angkor Wat and from the Moy to the Mekong via the Milky Way. Anchored by a breathtaking original soundtrack by RÓIS, whose MO LÉAN we named one of our top releases of 2024, Music for Domes is part documentary, part cosmic séance: a sensory ritual of shared trauma, devotion and song.
“Playing music with people gives you a way to connect, even if you don’t speak the same language,” says RÓIS. “Even in totally different musical traditions it’s amazing how quickly you can find common ground.”
With additional sonic work from Barry Cullen and imagery drawn from NI Screen and BBC Rewind archives, the film marks the final chapter in Hosta Projects’ All Flesh is Grass trilogy, following previous explorations of generational trauma and cultural recovery in Beirut and Belfast. As always, the work is defined by its boldness, its deep sense of place and its unflinching curiosity about how memory clings to land and voice.
“The film shows how two distant cultures think about spirit worlds, survive trauma and build strength through art,” said director Dawn Richardson.
“All our films have followed a fascination with how stories relate to specific places,” explained writer Paul Doran. “A planetarium dome is a perfect way to explore this by being able to show the viewer a location then overlay images and text that tease out the hidden stories.”
We’ve long championed RÓIS as one of the island’s most singular voices and Music for Domes might be one of her most striking contexts yet, doubling as a defining moment in her constant reinvention and a masterclass in cross-cultural collaboration from the soundest of heads at Hosta.
Music for Domes premieres at Docs Ireland this Friday, 20 June at 7:30pm, with additional screenings on 21st & 22nd June at 4pm and 27th June at 3pm at Armagh Observatory & Planetarium.
Tickets are £10 for a fully immersive 45-minute experience.
Photo by Chad Alexander
