‘The Queen of Ireland’, a documentary which explores the life of Rory O'Neill, AKA Panti Bliss, is now available on DVD.
‘The Queen of Ireland’ opened in cinemas in October and secured the largest-ever opening for an Irish documentary, securing €47,906 across Ireland on its opening weekend. It is also the third-highest opening for any documentary at the Irish box office, behind only ‘Farenheit 9/11’ in 2004 and ‘Amy’ in 2015.
Created by Rory O'Neill, Panti is a drag queen, an accidental activist and in her own words ‘a court jester, whose role is to say the un- sayable'. Over the last few years Rory has become a figurehead for LGBT rights in Ireland and since the recent scandal around Pantigate, his fight for equality and against homophobia has become recognised across the world.
‘The Queen of Ireland’ is a documentary film that follows Rory's journey from the small Mayo town of Ballinrobe to striding the world stage. The film takes the audience behind the scenes with his alter ego Panti in the year she became the symbol of Ireland's march towards marriage equality. Directed by Conor Horgan (One Hundred Mornings, Deep End Dance) and produced by Katie Holly and Ailish Bracken for Blinder Films (Citadel, One Hundred Mornings) the film includes behind the scenes footage and interviews with friends, peers and protégés, including Bunny, Tonie Walsh, Shirley Temple Bar, Una Mullally, David Norris, the O'Neill family, the other half of Candi Panti, Angelo Pitillo, and long-time collaborators Niall Sweeney and Philip McMahon.
‘The Queen of Ireland’ has been met with acclaim from critics with The Irish Times awarding it five stars and writing: “Leaving aside its importance as a historical chronicle, ‘The Queen of Ireland’ is a super movie, replete with tragedy, comedy, a plucky, unlikely heroine, and a sweeping dramatic arc” and the Irish Independent (also awarding it five stars) commenting: “Expect this remarkable film to have legs, and deservedly so."
Check out our interview with Panti aka Rory O’Neill and director Conor Horgan here and editor Mick Mahon here.
