A NEW documentary, The Queen of Ireland, will chart the rise of Dublin-based drag queen who was backed by Stephen Fry, Graham Norton and Madonna earlier this year after becoming an unlikely voice against social injustice.
Rory O’Neill, aka Panti Bliss, became a campaigner for equality and free speech after becoming embroiled in a media and legal storm last January involving RTÉ, a £400,000 settlement, journalist John Waters and the Iona Institute.
The scandal, dubbed ‘Pantigate’, saw O'Neill,who is originally from Ballinrobe, Co Mayo, become a global voice speaking out for LGBT rights following an appearance on RTÉ’s The Saturday Night Show, the row about homophobia and a well-received speech at Dublin's Abbey Theatre.
Panti’s Noble Call speech, given in the Abbey, went viral after it was posted on YouTube, started trending on Twitter, was picked up by news agencies all over the world and was even debated in the Dáil.
Directed by Conor Horgan (One Hundred Mornings, Deep End Dance, The Beholder) and produced by Blinder Films (The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology, Citadel, One Hundred Mornings), The Queen of Ireland has been in production for four years and is due for release in the run up to the proposed same-sex marriage referendum in Ireland in 2015.
Now the team behind the doc are calling for public support to help to pay for crews, equipment and post production work and get the project finished. Since the funding page went live on August 1, €27,677 of the €50,000 goal has been raised. This fundraising campaign will close on September 15.
