Writer/Director/Producer - Jon Hozier-Byrne
Writer/Director/Producer - Patrick Ryan
DoP/Producer - Tommy Fitzgerald

Back in late 2018, I was asked to come up with and produce a music video for the lead single for Hozier’s second album, with a deadline just seven days away. Understanding the scale of the task ahead, I sought the help of incredibly writer and director Patrick Ryan, as well as long-time collaborator Tommy Fitzgerald. I’m the type of person that largely hates any piece of work I finished more than three weeks ago, but this music video we pulled together is one of the few pieces of which I still feel very proud, largely as a result of the remarkable individuals whom we had the privilege to film.

The track itself is celebration of protest songs, about the act of rising in the face of injustice, and facing something larger than oneself. Conceptually, the intention was to film a host of Ireland’s most notable activists, all driven by different causes, and ask them to listen to the track for the first time. We were able to bring together some incredible individuals, including LGBTQIA+ advocates, feminist icons, Direct Provision and refugee-crisis activists, civil rights protestors, and even one remarkable woman who had personally saved thousands of Vietnamese children from sex slavery. As we projected images of their work over their faces, the activists listened to the track, and we tried to capture the moment they realised that, in essence, the song was about them.

After a surprisingly intricate edit we were left with a piece that, I feel, carries a real sense of pathos. The emotion you can see in Christina Noble’s eyes, the stories written across her expression, still gives me chills. The piece seemed to strike a chord with audiences too, racking up over 13 million views. The video was longlisted for an MTV video Award, and both Patrick and myself were nominated for an Emerging Director award. President Barack Obama listed it as one of his ‘Favourites of 2018.’