You won’t have to have a history of Punk music – or much knowledge of the genre that exploded into life in the late 70s with bands like Sex Pistols – to appreciate a ‘brilliant’ Irish documentary that arrives in Cork’s Arc Cinema this weekend.
Once We Were Were Punks tells the life-affirming story of four schoolmates from Baileboro in Co Cavan who grew up in the 1970s – and came together with a shared love of the most exciting music any of them had ever heard.
As the documentary, directed by award-winning film-maker Frank Shouldice, shows, they were never big. They were barely even known outside of their hometown. But the bonds the created and the music they made endured down the years as they grew up, grew older and moved away from their hometown and each other.
The film follows their story and an unlikely reunion that reaches a triumphant night in Dublin, when, after meeting up again at a funeral, schoolfriends Justin, David, Noel and Paddy come together again to give it one last go.
The feature length documentary movie has already been a major hit in Galway, Castlebar and in Dublin – it won the IFI Documentary Festival where it won the Audience Award for Best Film.
Once We Were Punks starts a limited run at the Arc Cinema in Cork this weekend – on Friday – and you can get all of the details and book a ticket here.