In this Film Ireland podcast, recorded live on location at the Capital Irish Film Festival in Washington, D.C., Gemma Creagh talks film and politics with historical expert Dr Chanté Mouton-Kinyon, a Professor of English at the University of Notre Dame and PhD graduate of the University of Galway.
Chanté is a key contributor to the documentary Daniel O’Connell: The Emancipator and took part in the lively panel discussion following its screening at the festival. In her conversation with Gemma Creagh, she reflects on Daniel O’Connell’s legacy, gives historical context to shed light on today’s complex politics and explores the interwoven relationship between film, history, and identity.
We also catch up with Andrew Dolan, an artist, producer, and Executive Director of Solas Nua, the organisation behind the annual festival. Solas Nua is a leading multidisciplinary arts organisation that is dedicated exclusively to contemporary Irish arts. Finally, we spoke with some of the festival goers about their experience.
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You can watch the original recording of our chat with Andrew and the audience back here shortly.
Dr. Chanté Mouton Kinyon
Dr. Chanté Mouton Kinyon is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Notre Dame. A scholar of transatlanticism and race, Mouton Kinyon investigates African American, Irish, and Caribbean literature and culture from the end of the nineteenth century to the present. In addition to her scholarship on the long history of the Irish-Black cultural exchange, her research also considers the transnationality of writers and art that is often limited to discussions of its national impact and significance in contrast to the very international explorations of the artists themselves. In particular, her scholarship focuses on performative material that articulates race and identity; her goal is to illuminate a narrative of cultural exchange that is rooted at the intersection of literature and history.
Mouton Kinyon wrote the introduction to Black Matters: African American and African College Students and Graduates Tell Their Life Stories and her work has previously appeared in Modern Drama. Forthcoming, she will have an article on Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s engagement with the work of Dion Boucicault in Contemporary Theatre Review: Interventions on the afterlives of The Octoroon. In her 2025 book project, The Transatlantic Gesture: the Irish and African American Cultural Exchange, she studies the symbiotic relationship between Irish and African American authors; particularly the ways in which these authors signify and conceptualise race and marginality. This signaling, which she calls the transatlantic gesture, created intimate bonds between the work of Black and Irish artists and activists. The Transatlantic Gesture tracks the relationship between African Americans and the Irish throughout the twentieth century with a coda that examines the dynamic of the transatlantic gesture in the Lesser Antilles.
In this video from the University of Notre Dame, recorded at the Dublin Gala Premiere panel, Dr Chanté Mouton-Kinyon discusses the film's background in detail.
Daniel O’Connell: The Emancipator
In his time, O’Connell was renowned across the world as a visionary statesman, reformer, and champion of human rights. Known as The Liberator and The Emancipator, O’Connell dedicated his life to the struggle to achieve Catholic Emancipation, pioneered non-violent mass political mobilisation, and inspired democratic movements around the world.
“Upon the subject of slavery in general, and American slavery in particular, Mr. O’Connell said: ‘Wherever oppression shows itself, I am the foe of the oppressor; wherever slavery rears its head, I am the enemy of the system.’” — Frederick Douglass, on Daniel O’Connell, The Emancipator
Featuring newly uncovered archival material and a beautiful original score by Colm Mac Con Iomaire, the documentary reveals how O’Connell’s campaigns reshaped Ireland’s political and cultural landscape and established him as a model for later figures, including Frederick Douglass, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.
Narrated by Domhnall Gleeson and directed by Ruán Magan, Daniel O’Connell: The Emancipator offers a fresh exploration of the life and enduring impact of one of Ireland’s greatest figures.
The documentary is a Create One production in association with the University of Notre Dame, University College Cork, and RTÉ, and is available to watch on the player now.
About Capital Irish Film Festival
Solas Nua’s annual Capital Irish Film Festival in Washington, D.C., presents one of the largest programmes of Irish cinema in North America, showcasing the latest Irish dramatic and documentary features, shorts, art films and animation releases by Irish and Ireland-based filmmakers. The 20th edition of the four-day festival takes place 26 February – 1 March 2026 in partnership with the prestigious American Film Institute’s Silver Theatre & Cultural Center.
The festival provides a US platform that amplifies the work of independent filmmakers working in Ireland and beyond, and celebrates the strength of Ireland’s contemporary cinematic culture. The programme highlights the country’s rich cultural heritage while fostering an inclusive and diverse community of Irish filmmakers. Capital Irish Film Festival champions emerging voices on Irish screens, showcases the exceptional talent and craft within Irish filmmaking, and reflects the robust and vibrant screen industry that has grown in Ireland in recent years.
The festival also presents the annual Norman Houston Short Film Award, dedicated to the memory of Norman Houston, the former Director of the Northern Ireland Bureau (NIB) in the United States. The award honours the best new short film created by a filmmaker based in or from Northern Ireland, made within the previous two years. The 2026 Norman Houston Short Film Award goes to writer-director Oliver McGoldrick for his film Three Keenings.
Read more on SolasNua.org, follow Capital Irish Film Festival on FilmFreeway here.
