Nelly Shylova sways onto the folk scene with her review of Celtic Utopia.
“Music to scare priests and politicians” is the phrase used in Celtic Utopia (Útóipe Cheilteach) to describe a new generation of Irish folk and alternative folk musicians who see their art as a form of cultural and political resistance. This is a particularly apt description given the context in which co-directors Dennis Harvey and Lars Lovén collaborate. Over 90 minutes, the documentary moves through contemporary folk scene, where music, language, politics, and history are difficult to separate from one another.
The film was one of the few I managed to catch at this year’s DOCUDAYS festival in Kyiv. It is easy to understand why it travelled well in Ukraine. Celtic Utopia is full of beautiful people making powerful music, an approach which has bold ambitions that go far beyond documenting this collection of performers. Rather, Celtic Utopia builds a portrait of contemporary Ireland through these artists, posing stark questions about colonial history, Catholicism, political identity, and the Irish language in the process.
The film’s visuals are bold, elevated by cinematographers Tuva Björk and Jamie Goldrick, and archival footage is dotted throughout with precision. The structure moves between these contemporary creatives and memories of an older Ireland, without being overpowered by the historical. Editor Dominika Daubenbüchel assists in ensuring past and present combine to inhabit one specific chronotope.
For those instinctively suspicious of talking heads and much happier with poetic or fly-on-the-wall documentaries, this will come as a pleasant surprise. Harvey and Lovén don’t film their contributors against anonymous backgrounds. The rooms, landscapes, and locations become part of the portrait, often reflecting the personality of the speaker, sometimes quietly adding context to their contributions. The Irish language is woven throughout the film, which is one of its finest attributes. Yet, somewhat ironically, many conversations about learning Irish as an act of resistance take place in English.
After four years of living in Ireland, much of this material felt too familiar. The audience at DOCUDAYS were enthusiastic in the aftermath, lamenting how much they had learned about the country. Seen from Kyiv, Celtic Utopia functions as an introduction to a political and cultural ideology that’s mostly hidden from tourists. This gives the film a curious quality, and allows it to work well as an export. This is not a failure. Harvey and Lovén have curated a distinct and complicated mixture of music, politics, and postcolonial history accessible to a broad audience.
Celtic Utopia uses this broad scope to capture a creative moment and a music scene with enough breadth, humour, and political energy to give foreigners an idea of a living Irish culture. Filmed over four years, Celtic Utopia features conversations with The Deadlians, Jinx Lennon, Branwen, RÓIS, Young Spencer, Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, Post Punk Podge, Rising Damp, and MÚLÚ. Squeezed into the tight runtime, the film succeeds in producing something that feels coherent rather than encyclopaedic. By the end, a new generation’s cultural movement comes into focus, one that doesn’t treat tradition as something still and preserved.
With powerful music filling the cinema and complex, passionate creatives appearing both on screen and behind the camera, the priests and politicians probably still have reason to worry.
Celtic Utopia (Útóipe Cheilteach) is in Irish cinemas 4th September 2026.
