Phil Lynott: Songs For While I’m Away, the hotly anticipated movie about Philip Lynott is set for release in Irish cinemas this Autumn.

Phil Lynott: Songs For While I’m Away is a feature documentary on the life and music of the great Philip Lynott, of Thin Lizzy fame. It tells the story of how a young black boy from working class 1950's Dublin, became Ireland's archetypal rock star. "As lead singer with Thin Lizzy, Philip Lynott was a songwriter, a poet, a dreamer, a wildman," a press release issued today says. "Told extensively through the words of Phil himself and focusing on some of his iconic songs, the film aims to get to the heart of Philip, the father, the husband, the friend, the son, the rock icon, the poet and the dreamer."

It has been a labour of love for director Emer Reynolds, who has been working on the project for the past three years. Emer is best known for her powerful documentary The Farthest, which took three awards when it was shown at the Dublin Film Festival and for Here Was Cuba – a documentary to mark the 50th Anniversary of hte Cuban missile crisis, which was nominated for a Grierson Award (the UK's top documentary prize).

“We are so delighted,” Emer Reynolds says, "that Phil Lynott: Songs For While I’m Away – our film about the legendary Phil Lynott – will soon be coming to the big screen! We can’t wait to share it with Irish audiences and to celebrate Philip and his extraordinary life and music.”

Phil’s daughters Sarah Lynott and Cathleen Howard-Lynott, who are interviewed in the film, have also expressed their joy at the news that the film is ready for screening. “As always, we are incredibly proud of our Dad,” they say, "and we loved having the opportunity to look at the man behind the music with this film.”

Phil Lynott: Songs For While I’m Away is a Globe Production in association with Fís Éireann/ Screen Ireland. Produced by Alan Maher and John Wallace for Cowtown Pictures and Peter Worsley for Eagle Rock Films, it includes a host of stars and cultural figures talking about the life and music of Philip Lynott, as well as featuring some unforgettable video clips of the man – and the band he fronted – in action.

The production company behind the Philip Lynott documentary, Cowtown Pictures, was formed in April 2018 by producers Alan Maher and John Wallace. Cowtown’s first feature film, Mark O’Halloran and Peter Mackie Burns’ Rialto, debuted at the Venice Biennale in 2019 to critical acclaim; and the second, feature documentary The 8th by Aideen Kane, Lucy Kennedy and Maeve O’Boyle, premiered at Hot Docs in May 2020.

Break Out Pictures is a new film and event cinema distribution company founded by Nell Roddy and Robert McCann Finn. They are dedicated to supporting "emerging and established creatives." Previous releases include Ian Fitzgibbon’s black comedy Dark Lies The Island, written by Kevin Barry and starring Pat Shortt and Tommy Tiernan; Seamus Murphy’s impressive A Dog Called Money – a creative collaboration between Murphy and musician PJ Harvey; and the Sundance Festival-selected Animals directed by Sophie Hyde.

The film will have the benefit of the global strength of Universal Music, which owns the UK-based Eagle Rock, which completes the production framework. The multi-award-winning company releases over 50 productions a year and "controls the distribution of over 2,000 hours of music programming." The Eagle Rock catalogue includes work by award-winning filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Brett Morgan, Stanley Nelson, Paul Dugdale, Bob Smeaton, Jeremy Marre, Mike Figgis, Leslie Woodhead and Michael Epstein. Eagle Rock works with a wide spectrum of artists including The Rolling Stones, Eminem, Madonna, Eric Clapton, Muse, Steven Wilson, Slash, Iggy Pop, Jeff Beck, Paul McCartney, Shania Twain and Van Morrison.