Thursday 29th October 2026
Location: Watergate Theatre, Parliament Street, Kilkenny. R95 D320
Internationally renowned composer Matthew Nolan, accompanied by musicians Seán Mac Erlaine, Lisa Dowdall and Kilkenny native Damien Lennon, present a specially-commissioned live score for Nietzchka Keene’s stark, stunning debut feature The Juniper Tree. Loosely based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the same name. The Juniper Tree stars Björk in her first feature-film performance and premiered to glowing reviews at the Sundance Film Festival in 1991. Set in medieval Iceland, it follows Margit, played by Björk in a riveting performance, and her older sister Katla as they flee for safety after their mother is burned to death for witchcraft. Finding shelter with Johan and his resentful young son, Jonas, the sisters form an improvised family unit soon strained by Katla’s burgeoning sorcery. Shot entirely on location in Iceland’s extraordinary landscapes in spectacular black and white by Randy Sellars, the film is richly atmospheric: evocative of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Day of Wrath and Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring, and filled with indelible, waking-dream sequences. A potent allegory for misogyny and its attendant tragedies, The Juniper Tree is a major rediscovery for art-house audiences. Nolan brings his acclaimed approach to live film scoring to this remarkable work, after previous commissions for Dublin City Council Bram Stoker Festival and Kilkenny Arts Festival.
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