HomeThe 11th Chicago Irish Film Festival will be held March 5-10, 2010.
OPENING NIGHT SCREENING & RECEPTION- Friday, March 5, 7pm
$30 ($25 members)
FEATURE: The Liberties U.S. Premier
Director: Shane Hogan and Tom Burke
Runtime: 78 minutes
Print Source: Areaman Productions
“The Liberties is a social network in the old fashioned way. People know their butcher & can borrow a cup of sugar from a neighbor. Having said that, there are also many social concerns there, rising unemployment, drug dealing, poverty etc. The big stories and the little stories are all there: the film equivalent of a portrait gallery. We hope the good people of Chicago enjoy the screening.” Shane Hogan
SHORTS:
It’s All About George
Directors: Don Field and Roy Lecane
Runtime: 4 minutes
Print Source: Lamorna Films
Meet George & Irene. George is DIY expert; Irene just wants to take a bath!
A Film From My Parish – 6 Farms
Director: Tony Donoghue
Runtime: 7 minutes
A photographic –animated study of farm life in Ireland.
Special Mention, 2009 Corona Cork Film Festival, Best International Short.
CHILDREN"S FILM
- Saturday, March 6, 2pm - $10 ($8 members); $5 - Ages 6-12; Under 6, Free
The Race Chicago Premier
Director: Andre Nebe
Runtime: 85 minutes
Mary lives in rural Antrim where nothing much happens, so when the chance to race in a go-cart derby presents itself, Mary is determined to take part despite having no support, no go-cart and no money. Colm Meany.
DOCUMENTING IRELAND: SHORT FILMS
- Saturday, March 6, 3:30pm - $10 ($8 members)
Join us for several Shorts:
Forty Foot
Directors: Aoibhean O’Sullivan, Leticia Agudo, Paul McGrath
Runtime: 9 minutes
Print Souce: Whackala & Aoibhean Productions
Winner 2009 International Documentary Challenge
My Beamish Boy
Director: Mike Hannon
Runtime: 25 minutes
Print Source: director
The closing of the 200 year old Beamish & Crawford Brewery in Cork
Winner 2009 Made in Cork Award/Corona Cork Film Festival
Circus Man
Director: Keith Walsh, Jill Beardsworth
Runtime: 13 minutess
Print Source: Still Point Productions
Tom Duffy has traveled the roads of Ireland with his family circus since the day he was born. His ancestors have made the same journey since 1827.
The Lure of Tractors
Director: Mary Brophy
Runtime: 25 mins
Print Source: Hollybrook Films
Happiness is found in unusual places. For the men in this beguiling film, happiness is a rusted heap of metal…(and) a joyful voyage into the world of vintage tractors and the soft capped cowboys who restore them.
ROCK 'N REEL - SPECIAL EVENT - Saturday, March 6, 7:30pm - Both Films: $15 ($12 for BAC Members); One Film: $10 ($8 members)
7:30pm
Bitterness Debut Film / U.S. Premier
Director: Joseph Delond
Runtime: 78 minutes
This is a story about a man named Francis who has been jilted at the altar and has become a very bitter man. Now his life is filled with equality: he hates everybody.
9:00pm
Situations Vacant Chicago Premier
Director: Lisa Mulcahy
Runtime: 97 minutes
Print Source: Grand Picture
Girl or a job? What’s a boy to do? Situations Vacant is set in the world of Dave Bracken. Dave wants to get the right job, meet the right girl; he just needs to figure out the right lies…big lies, lies that somehow pay off!
9:00pm
Music by Upper Deckers
CLASSIC IRISH: "Irish Immigration: Reel vs Reality" - Sunday, March 7, 2010, 2:00pm - $10 ($8 for BAC Members)
Join us for two classics:
Goodbye to Glocamorra (1968)
Runtime: 27 minutes
Print Source: The Irish Film Institute
Inwood has been called the last of the Irish ghettos. Situated on the northwest tip of Manhattan…the Irish accents can be heard and advertisements for Irish games and newspapers are on display…but its days are numbered as new ethnic groups move in.
Gateway (1938)
Director: Alfred Werker
Runtime: 75 minutes
Print Source: Criterion Pictures
Originally titled “Ellis Island”, Gateway is the trials and tribulations of Dubliner Catherine O’Shea (Arleen Whelan) as she attempts to immigrate to the United States. Filled with a cast of characters that run the gamut between well meaning war correspondent (Don Ameche) to an opportunistic gangster (Gilbert Roland) Gateway has everything from shipboard romance to a deportee riot at the island’s detention center. Produced in 1938 by 20th Century Fox Gateway is an intriguing glimpse of the immigration process in the years before World War II.
Screenings followed by panel discussion with Tim Reilly, vice-consul Ireland and Mary Ann Ryan, Irish Studies Scholar, Chicago State University
After Screening Reception sponsored by Kerry Gold and the Irish Dairy Board.
DOCUMENTING IRELAND: Feature Documentary- Monday, March 8, 2010, 7:30pm -
$10 ($8 for BAC Members)
The Yellow Bittern: The Life and Times of Liam Clancy
Director:Alan Gilsenan
Runtime: 105 minutes
Print Source: Crossing The Line Films
The Yellow Bittern is a revealing and surprising portrait if the last surviving member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, and the man Bob Dylan called “Just the best ballad singer I’d ever heard in my whole life.”
Q & A following screening; Producer Anna Rodgers will attend.
IRISH SPORTS NIGHT - Tuesday, March 9, 2010, 7:30pm -
$10 ($8 for BAC Members)
Breaking Boundaries: 2007 World Cricket Cup Ireland vs Pakistan.
Director: Paul Davey
Runtime: 53 minutes
Print Source: Zanzibar Films
The words Ireland and Cricket have not normally been associated together. Six remarkable weeks at the world cup saw that change forever and Ireland took its place among the cricketing nations of the world.
CLOSING SCREENING & RECEPTION - Wednesday, March 10, 7:30pm - $20 ($15 for BAC Members)
A Selection of Award Winning and Us Premier Short Films
Out of the Blue (2008)
Director: Michael LaVelle
Runtime: 9 min
Georgie's love life is transformed when he discovers a TV floating in the sea.
Dental Breakdown (2009)
Director: Ian Powers
Runtime: 6 min
A musical comedy about five reluctant student dentists whose eyes are opened to the cruel consolations of their career by a sadistic tutor. Warning: this may hurt a little.
Jesus of Limerick (2009)
Director: Dermott Petty
Runtime: 3 min
The tale of “Jesus of Limerick” is as follows: Jesus and his Ma Mary are at a wedding, the liquid refreshments have all run out…Can Jesus (address Limerick) pull off his first miracle?
First Prize, 2009 Earwig Festival, Taum
Scenes from the Great Recession (2009)
Director: Dereck O’Connor & Ian Whelan
Runtime: 9 min
As the worst recession since the potato famine grips Ireland, one man searches the remnants of a new Irish cultural landscape in search of an identity.
Hatch (2009)
Director: Damien McCarthy
Runtime: 9 min
A man lays an egg and takes it to the local pub to watch it hatch.
Rearview (2009)
Director: Jake McKone
Runtime: 15 min
A taxi driver is presented with a dilemma -- to be an honest broker or to keep out of others' affairs.
Best of the Fest, 2010 Palm Springs International Film Festival
The Crush (2009)
Director: Michael Creagh
Runtime: 15 min
Ardal Travis is in love. There’s just one problem: He’s an eight-year-old schoolboy and the object of his affection is his teacher, Miss Purdy. Heartbreak awaits when Ardal bumps into Miss Purdy and her boyfriend emerging from a jeweler's shop. Devastated and spurned, Ardal hatches a plan to get her back.
Trolley Boy (2009) (Animated)
Director:Teemu Auersalo & Nicky Gogan
Runtime:: 4 min
Trolley Boy is fed up with his job. He tries to lift his spirits by inventing a little game of bowling with trolleys
The Office Environment
Director: Marke Mullery
Runtime: 4 minutes
When an apathetic office worker finds a plant growing under his desk, caring for it in secret becomes the only meaningful thing in his life.
1st Place Animation, Corona Cork Film Festival
Special Screening
The Covies (2010)
Episode 1
Director/writer: Len Collins
Runtime: 16 min
In the first episode of Ireland’s first online soap opera, a naked man is found on a beach in Westport, Co. Mayo, and a rumor starts that he is St. Patrick, returned to Ireland. Covies is a unique project, with a cast of 60 actors and episodes filmed (in HD) in over 40 locations. If episode 1 hooks you, continue watching at www.thecovies.com or www.youtube.com/user/TheCovies.
Closing reception follows screening at O’Rourke’s Office.
NOTE: All Screenings at the Beverly Arts Center
2407 W. 111th Street (at Western Ave.) - Chicago.
For more information call 773-445-3838, extension 200.