by Sacha Wood
This post was originally published on Substack.
This weekend is a particularly exciting one, as not only does it mark the beginning of Seachtain na Gaeilge, but it also marks the last of the #GLAD25, that is, the Global Coalition for Language Rights (GCLR)’s Global Language Advocacy Days 2025.
The theme for this year’s #GLAD is Building Spaces that Honour Language Rights, ‘focusing on the diverse spaces both physical & digital, formal & informal, where language rights are upheld or violated.’
An Tonn Uaine is founded on the belief that cinema, as both an art form & an industry, is one such key space. To celebrate #GLAD25, this post, therefore, aims to show just a few ways in which cinema can honour & negotiate linguistic rights & identities, using examples from Irish-language films.
1. CREATING SITES OF LANGUAGE USE
In an interview with RTÉ’s Upfront podcast last year, comedian Michael Fry said:
‘When I left school, there were very few places you would encounter Irish, other than on road signs & occasional announcements on the Luas. There’s very few opportunities for adults, unless you properly seek them out, to learn Irish.’
Cinema can create more spaces for speakers & learners to use their language, in multiple different ways.
On a physical level, cinemagoers are given a place to experience stories in Irish outside of their schools & local communities, providing key learning opportunities for both native & beginner speakers. What’s more, an Irish-language film can encourage Irish-language fan activity, with fluent & learner Gaeilgeoirí being inspired to use the language when discussing the film with friends & on social media. From an industry perspective, it also creates more jobs in which Irish is desirable & usable - just look at actors like Michael Fassbender, Colm Meaney & Cillian Murphy, who have been reviving their Irish on screen & on the red carpet as it becomes a more valued skill in the film world!
So too, cinema can provide imaginative spaces for language use. Films can allow language/s to appear in unexpected places & be used in unexpected ways - sometimes in ways that do already exist, but that have never before been represented.
2. AMPLIFYING MARGINALISED COMMUNITIES
All minority-language cinema works to amplify marginalised speech communities. In Ireland, films such as Poitín or Tarrac give overdue representation to contemporary Gaeltacht populations, while Famine films such as Arracht or An Ranger can effectively resurrect the silenced Gael voices of the past.1
However, cinema can also be used to empower the voices of speakers who are further marginalised within these communities. The Irish language has a strong literary tradition behind it & comes with many stereotypes about old men, rural land & half-empty pubs - but films like KNEECAP prove that young people do speak Gaeilge, & that it can be used in contexts that are urban, unruly & disruptive to traditional conceptions of the language.2
Films such as Croíthe Radacacha & Homofónia also provide representation of queer Gaeilgeoirí past & present, while documentaries such as Ó Bhéal, Iarsmaí, & Idir Dhá Bhaile reflect the diverse & ever-changing realities of Irish & Irish-speaking identity in a globalised world.3
Sacha · Feb 14
Cinema can therefore challenge preconceptions about languages & speech communities, & can empower those who feel excluded to see those languages & communities as their own:
‘We want people to come away knowing that there’s this new world [...] of young people who are proud of their language & speak it.’ Móglaí Bap, KNEECAP
3. PLATFORMING DIFFERENT LANGUAGE IDEOLOGIES
These linguistic preconceptions have been called ‘language ideologies’ by linguists such as Paul V. Kroskrity. As well as amplifying underrepresented speakers, then, cinema can also represent alternative language ideologies - i.e., not only are KNEECAP proving that urban, northern Gaeilgeoirí exist, they are also disproving the ideology that the Irish language is old-fashioned, rural & boring.
Films are not only artistic, but also technological & often commercial - therefore, purely by making films in Irish, filmmakers from George Morrison to Colm Bairéad have challenged ideologies that say Irish is ugly, unmodern, insular, &/or economically useless.4
What’s more, films can actually stage dialogues between language ideologies, something which Kroskrity calls ‘language ideological clarification’. Films such as Caoineadh Áirt Uí Laoire & KNEECAP show clashes & debates between characters with different views about Irish, allowing crucial conversations & negotiations to happen in the fictional space & offering actionable ideas for the future.5 A key example is how KNEECAP contrasts the old-fashioned & ineffective methods of the school system with the power of youth culture & a more relaxed, inclusive classroom environment.
4. REPRESENTING AN ALTERNATIVE ‘UNIVERSE’
Pioneering linguist Noam Chomsky once said:
‘A language is not just words. It’s a culture, a tradition, a unification of a community, a whole history that creates what a community is.’
He touches on the idea that every language contains & describes a sociocultural ‘universe’, reflecting the ideals, traditions, & histories of the community that speak it. Cinema can therefore represent not just minority languages & their speakers, but also the alternate universes that they hold & reflect.
Early Irish-language filmmakers seemed very aware of this cinematic power, using it to try & define Ireland’s national identity post-independence: Robert J. Flaherty’s Oidhche Sheanchais brought the ancient Gaelic tradition of seanchas (oral storytelling & folklore) to sound & screen for the first time, while George Morrison’s Mise Éire mixed the Irish language’s rich literary heritage with powerful footage of the turn-of-the-century fight for independence.6
Though becoming less nationalistic, a strong Gaelic ‘universe’ is still present in most Irish-language filmmaking, found in the emphasis on elements such as landscape, folklore, & community. Dr Jeannine Woods wrote a brilliant essay about how the films Foscadh & An Cailín Ciúin draw from & represent the notion of dúchas, the idea of homeland & heritage which is at the heart of the ‘symbolic universe’ of Gaeilge.7 So too, Irish-language films such as Poitín, BOG, Rún Cheanannais Mhóir, & the experimental music film feamainn emphasise strong relationships with the natural environment & the importance of Indigenous knowledge.8
One idea at the heart of An Tonn Uaine is the idea that Irish-language cinema could be seen to have its own themes, qualities & ‘universe’, marking it as its own ‘micro-cinema’ within the national cinema of Ireland.
What do you think?
& do you think that there are any other ways in which cinema can play a role in the ongoing fight for language rights?
Míle buíochas leis an Global Coalition for Language Rights for encouraging & promoting this post! Check out their insta page & other #GLAD25 initiatives here.
Poitín (Bob Quinn, 1978); Tarrac (Declan Recks, 2022); Arracht (Tom O’Sullivan, 2019); An Ranger (P. J. Dillon, 2008)
KNEECAP (Rich Peppiatt, 2024)
Croíthe Radacacha (Ciara Hyland, 2023); Homofónia (Luke K. Murphy, 2023); Ó Bhéal (Ciara Nic Chormaic, 2023); Iarsmaí (Damian McCann, 2024); Idir Dhá Bhaile - ó Chív go Corcaigh (Sinéad Ingoldsby, 2024)
Mise Éire (George Morrison, 1959); An Cailín Ciúin (Colm Bairéad, 2022)
Caoineadh Áirt Uí Laoire (Bob Quinn, 1975)
Oidhche Sheanchais (Robert J. Flaherty, 1935)
Foscadh (Seán Breathnach, 2021)
BOG (Éabha Bortolozzo & Jack Kirwan, 2023); Rún Cheanannais Mhóir (Nora Twomey & Tomm Moore, 2009); feamainn (Risteárd Ó hAodha, 2021)
Sacha Wood is the founder of An Tonn Uaine, a platform dedicated to raising awareness and fostering interest in Irish-language filmmaking. What began as a personal journey to connect with cultural heritage soon evolved into undergraduate research and a broader mission to make Irish-language cinema more accessible and visible. Recognizing a lack of readily available information on the topic, Sacha created An Tonn Uaine to collect headlines, promote filmmakers, and encourage discussions about the role of cinema in linguistic representation and advocacy. Through platforms like Instagram and Substack, An Tonn Uaine is building a community-driven space for Irish-language film appreciation and knowledge-sharing.
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