Currently in production with support from the Film Project Award from the Arts Council of Ireland 2026.
16mm and super8, colour and b&w tinted footage.
Laoi Shuibhne|Sweeney’s Lay reinterprets the myth, the literary legacy, and the enduring thematic resonances of the Buile Shuibhne—the early medieval Irish tale of king Sweeney, cursed into madness to wander the land as a bird, fleeing the company of humans and seeking refuge with the local fauna and flora.
In an experimental form combining staged scenes, landscape images, and photo-chemical techniques using plant derived film tints, the film integrates parts of the original text, translations, and adaptations and features collaborations with other artists, scholars, and musicians.
Ambiguously airborne, untrusting, and incurably stray, Sweeney leaps from forest to forest, unintentionally mapping an Irish territory in rapid transformation through landscape references and place names. He recites his lay to the surrounding woods, seeking shelter and feeding off the land.
Shooting will take place in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland in Summer 2026 with a residency at Sweeney’s Bothy, Isle of Eigg, Scotland in August 2026:
https://www.bothyproject.com/residencies/self-directed-creative-residencies/2026-27/helena-gouveia-monteiro
This project has been supported by the LUX Project Bootcamp at Berwick Film Festival, the Professional Development Residency at Leitrim Sculpture Centre, the Artists Bursary for the Development of New Work from Fingal County Council, and the Fire Station Artists’ Studios Digital Media Residency Award.