Continuing our month-long Summer Music Festival, we shift our attention to Ireland and one of its most memorable, bold, and singularly talented musicians in recent decades.

In commemoration of the beloved singer-songwriter Sinéad O’Connor, who passed away one year ago today, we present Belfast-born documentarian Kathryn Ferguson’s sweeping and affectionate portrait of the iconic Irish musician. Bringing together archival footage from O’Connor’s rise to fame with a heartfelt voice-over by her, and some revealing anecdotes from her closest collaborators, Nothing Compares offers a detailed account of a singular voice in recent music history.

Ferguson — who grew up listening to O’Connor — zeroes in on the musician from 1987 to 1993, a five-year period during which she topped the global charts for her rendition of  “Nothing Compares 2 U” but was also subject to intense media backlash for her outspoken remarks against the Gulf War, racism in the United States, and the Catholic Church. 

“I grew up in Belfast during the 1980s and ‘90s. Women and their rights, particularly their reproductive rights, were very low down the pecking order. When Sinéad burst into my consciousness as a young teenager, it felt like a door had been kicked open. Here was a bold Irish woman who said things that others didn’t feel they could say, and she said them loudly.” KATHRYN FERGUSON

In much the same way O’Connor was capable of transforming a whisper into a scream in a matter of milliseconds, Nothing Compares finds a serene balance between the flurry of emotional peaks, historical interventions, and magical moments in the young artist’s life. Ferguson’s perfectly calibrated documentary feels in sync with its subject’s natural tempo, beautifully encapsulating her radical spirit and legacy as a trailblazing female musician. 

Kathryn Ferguson first worked with Sinéad O’Connor as a director on the music video for the song “4th and the Vine” (2012). She has also directed videos for Lady Gaga, Neneh Cherry, and Villagers. Her short films center around questions of identity, gender-politics, and community. Having made Nothing Compares in 2022 and received numerous festival awards, she and her producing partner Eleanor Emptage have just finished a documentary about Humphrey Bogart that will be out in cinemas in Autumn.

Text written by Nicolas Pedrero-Setzer. Special thanks to Showtime for making this screening possible.