19–23 November sees the return of the Irish Film Festival London for its 4th year
Irish Film Festival London kicks off its 4th year with a wonderful line up of Irish film planned to show across London from 19–23 November 2014. With venues from the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn to Hackney and Clapham Picturehouses there is something for everyone. The full programme is being announced in the next few days but to make sure you are the first to hear and secure your tickets subscribe to the Irish Film Festival London alerts on the website or follow them on Facebook or twitter.
The festival will also feature a number of exclusive directors’ and cast Q&A sessions and a free public lecture.
Opening night takes place at The Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn on Wednesday 19 November with “An Brontannas / The Gift”, a contemporary Irish crime thriller set against the backdrop of the Conemara coastline on the West of Ireland and the dramatic lives of a local lifeboat crew – including murder, mystery, betrayal, corruption, guns, drugs, double–crosses. The story is told through Irish, Polish and English language and has been selected as Ireland’s entry to the Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Director Tom Collins, and cast members, hosted by Irish Film Scholar Dr. Keith Hopper of Oxford University.
Thursday 20 November lines up two treats for film lovers: A FREE Public Lecture by Professor Lance Pettitt, Director for the Centre for Irish Studies at St Mary’s University on ‘Irish Cinema: Memoir, Nation and Self–narration’. The lecture will explore how autobiographical writing by filmmakers can be used as a resource for re–thinking the contours of Irish cinema history focusing on Belfast film–maker Brian Desmond Hurst.
Thursday evening also sees the UK Premiere of ‘GOLD’ at Clapham Picturehouse – an offbeat comedy about an estranged father who returns to his hometown in Dublin after an absence of ten years to reconnect with his teenage daughter (Maisie Williams of Game of Thrones) and his ex–wife. But he finds they have built a new life with his former P.E. teacher (James Nesbitt). A Q&A with special guests will also take place as part of this evening.
The award–winning ‘Broken Song’ showcases at The Tricycle Theatre on Friday 21 November – a gritty documentary by Director Claire Dix about GI, Costello and Willa Lee street poets, hip–hop artists and songwriters from north Dublin. Filmed in Ballymun and Finglas, Broken Song takes us into the worlds of the three performers and explores how spoken word, hip–hop and music enables them to articulate the chaos that surrounds them and to fight it with their words and voices alone. A Q&A with the Director and cast will also take place this evening.
Saturday afternoon sees the 4th UK Premiere of the festival with Poison Pen showing at Clapham Picturehouse at 3pm – the perfect Saturday afternoon viewing for lovers of gossip mags and celebrity lifestyle. When high–brow author PC Molloy is forced to write for April Devereaux’s gossip magazine Poison Pen, he is not only caught up in a world of stars and their secrets he is also in danger of becoming a celebrity himself. Poison Pen was directed by Lorna Fitzsimons, Jennifer Shortall and Steven Benedict, and made as part of the Masters in Digital Feature Film Production at Filmbase, which places an emphasis on practical filmmaking to prepare students for a future in film production and the screening includes a Q&A with Directors and cast.
The festival moves over to the Institute of Contemporary Arts from 5.15pm with a gorgeous selection of four multi–award winning Irish shorts including:
• Breakfast Wine – based on the delightful premise of ‘They say it takes just three alcoholics to keep a small bar running in a country town, but what if you’ve only got two?;
• Deadly – a bittersweet animated short about ‘life, death and dancin’ with voices provided by Academy award winner Brenda Fricker and Love/Hate start Peter Coonan;
• Volkswagen Joe – a story about a hardworking mechanic who services cars for both sides of the political divide in Northern Ireland who finds himself drawn into a dilemma of whether to become collaborator or murder; and
• Jenny Keogh’s humourous ‘How’s About Ye?’ exploring the slang of the counties of Ireland.
Sunday’s line up closes the festival with a triple bill for film fans in London and two UK Premieres.
Blood Fruit, a feature documentary focusing on the Dunnes Stores strikers in 1980’s Dublin explores the untold story of one young Irish shop cashier who changed the face of the anti–apartheid movement around the world with her refusal to sell Outspan fruit to a customer and subsequent pickets. Showing at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (3pm).
Over at Hackney Picturehouse at 3pm ‘Absences and (Im)possibilities. Traces of an experimental cinema in Ireland’ features a selection of films from 1897 to 2013. Chosen for their relation to the possibility of an Irish experimental cinema the touring programme in partnership with LUX, presents a selection of films from filmmakers including the Lumiére Brother, Samuel Beckett, Vivienne Dick, Maximillian Le Cain, Dónal Ó Céilleachair and Jesse Jones.
The festival’s finale is the UK Premiere of ‘Standby’ at the Tricycle Theatre, Kilburn. A fun romantic comedy directed by brothers Ronan and Rob Burke. The film stars Brian Gleeson (The Stag) and Jessica Paré (Mad Men) former lovers who bump into each other in Dublin Airport eight years after their romance ended and who decide to spend one night getting to know each other again.
Festival Director Kelly O’Connor comments: “Irish film has been going from strength to strength in recent years and we are delighted to be able to host the 4th Irish Film Festival London in 2014. With 6 UK premieres lined up over the course of the festival, as well as a number of award winning shorts and animations, there is something for everyone – from the film buff to people looking for a great night out.