The
Magners Irish Film Festival, November 17-21, will
showcase the very best of contemporary Irish and
Irish-related film and video with a diverse array of
over 30 contemporary feature films, documentaries and
shorts. This year’s festival will also feature a
series of films celebrating the 100th anniversary of
the world-renowned Abbey Theatre in Dublin. This is
the third year Magners Irish Cider is sponsoring the
film festival, which was established in 1999 by Peter
Flynn, a professor of film at Emerson College.
“The
subjects of this year’s festival program provide a
good indication of where Ireland is today, culturally,
artistically and politically,” said Peter Flynn,
festival director, Magners Irish Film Festival. “Yet
despite the great diversity, regardless of its tone or
genre, all of the films point to a culture that is
proud and eager to make itself known, not for its past
and where it came from, but for its future and where
its going.”
Films
like MAN ABOUT DOG and THE HONEYMOONERS reflect to a
hip, modern culture moving forward into the 21st
century with all the energy and optimism of the
country's recent tiger economy. Other films, however,
are more cautionary and point to a culture not yet
freed from its turbulent, traumatizing past. MICKYBO
& ME (this year’s Best Feature winner of the
Film Festival) examines the impact of Ireland’s
violent political past on the nation’s innocent
children. SONG FOR A RAGGY BOY vents continued anger
over past clerical abuses, while RED ROSES AND PETROL
looks at a contemporary Irish family nursing wounds
inflicted by the preceding generation.
This
is the seventh year for the Irish Film Festival, which
will include a special series of programs celebrating
100 years of the Abbey Theatre.
The series will include UNDER A COLOURED CAP, a
documentary on Sean O'Casey, directed by the
playwright's daughter Shivaun O'Casey. THE ABBEY
THEATRE: THE FIRST 100 YEARS, a documentary by
award-winning stage and screen director John Lynch
will also be featured. Lynch, whose varied career
includes writing two plays for the Abbey, presents the
definite history of the theatre with contributions
from Stephen Rea, Colm Meaney and many others.
Throughout
the five-day festival, which is open to the public,
awards are presented honoring outstanding achievement
in three categories: Best Feature, Documentary, Short
Fiction/Animation as well as a Director’s Choice
award.
One
of the festival’s highlights will be the 2005
Excellence Award, which will be bestowed upon
acclaimed Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan, a veteran
of more than five decades in film, television and
theatre. Fionnula
Flanagan is known for her stage and screen production
of James Joyce’s Women and well as her more recent
roles in films like WAKING NED DEVINE, THE OTHERS, and
DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD!!! Ms. Flanagan
will receive the award November 20 at a special
ceremony at the Brattle Theatre, which will offer a
retrospective look at her work on stage, screen and
television.
“The
festival grows bigger and more exciting every year,
and we are pleased to help provide an opportunity for
film lovers to be exposed to films they would
otherwise not have an opportunity to see,” said Mark
Woodard, National Sales Manager of Magners Irish
Cider, the festival sponsor. “Cider is embedded in
Irish society and this sponsorship helps to link the
brand’s unique Irish heritage and authentic Irish
flavor with films that promote Irish culture.”
Screenings
will take place November 17-21, at the Brattle Theatre
and the Harvard Film Archive in Cambridge.
In addition to screenings, there will be
receptions at Boston area pubs and hotels.
For tickets, a schedule of events and
screenings, go to www.irishfilmfestival.com
