Following on from St. Brigid’s and St. Patrick’s Day festivities, Irish Film and TV UK will present a programme of films celebrating the strength and diversity of Irish cinema.
After they exhibit in Trafalgar Square on 17 March, IFTUK will be launching a free to screen programme of Irish films from the IFTUK app, which will be led by Chiara Viale’s The New Music and Sam Ulemann’s The Edge of Chaos, as well as a varied programme of Irish shorts.
There will also be preview screenings of two eagerly anticipated films at Curzon Soho.
One Night in Millstreet returns after taking the award for best documentary at the Irish Film Festival London in November.
The film takes viewers back to St Patrick’s Day in 1995, when Steve ‘The Celtic Warrior’ Collins took on Chris Eubank in a world championship fight.
Chris Eubank, then world super middleweight champion and undefeated in 18 title defences, was in Cork to take on his latest challenger, the Irishman Steve Collins, whose chances were dismissed by many.
It was a sporting event that would grip and shape Ireland.
There is also the opportunity to see the latest film by Pat Collins (Silence, Song of Granite). That They May Face the Rising Sun is adapted from John McGahern’s celebrated final novel, a rare and moving meditation on casual compassion and kindness as a way of life. The film will also screen at the Kiln in Kilburn.
Both directors Andrew Gallimore and Pat Collins will join for Q and As.
There will also be work presented at ICA which celebrates female voices. The programme includes a rare chance to see Maeve Murphy’s landmark Troubles drama Silent Grace, the rediscovery of delightful work by amateur filmmaker Flora Kerrigan, presented by Irish Film Institute in association with Maynooth University; and two films by Aoife Desmond, whose work deals with human relationship with nature and who is emerging as one of Ireland’s most distinctive and vital visual artists.
Maeve Murphy’s Silent Grace is inspired by the largely under reported stories of those who took part in Republican dirty protests and hunger strikes while imprisoned in The Armagh Women’s prison in the early 1980s. Orla Brady stars as the cynical leader of female prisoners demanding political status.
The film will be accompanied by St Pancras Sunrise, Maeve Murphy’s latest short film which depicts a young Irish musician arriving in Kings Cross in 1982 full of optimism, only to be confronted with unexpected horror. There will also be a Q and Q with director and cast.
There will be a celebration of amateur filmmaker Flora Kerrigan who was an active member of the Cork Cine Club during the late 1950s and 1960s, producing numerous Super8 short films ranging from animation to documentary. Her films are often darkly comedic and, using innovative amateur animation techniques and with a clear skill for the edit, Kerrigan’s haunting and eerie films tackle themes of death, destruction and desire.
There will also be a programme of the work of Aoife Desmond. This includes Mná and Sons which is a site-specific film combining a critical essay response with inserted performative actions. The film is structured around seasonal changes, evolving plant, bird and insect life, built works in progress and transformation of a vacant city centre site. There will also be the short film A Boated Roof Ireland. The screening will be followed by a Q and A with Aoife Desmond.
The festival runs 17- 28 March with screenings at Curzon Soho, ICA and The Kiln.
Full programme
Thursday 21 March
Maeve Murphy programme- Silent Grace/ St Pancras Sunrise- 6.30pm ICA.
Sunday 24 March
The North Circular- 3pm Curzon Soho
A Focus on Flora Kerrigan- 6pm ICA.
Monday 25 March
One Night in Millstreet- 6.20pm Curzon Soho.
Tuesday 26 March
That They May Face the Rising Sun- 6pm Curzon Soho
Wednesday 27 March
That They May Face the Rising Sun- 6pm The Kiln.
Thursday 28 March
Aoife Desmond programme, 6.30pm ICA.
For more information, click here.
