First look at the programme for the 12th IRISH FILM FESTA, the only Italian film festival completely dedicated to Irish cinema and culture, which is taking place from March 27th to 31st, 2019, at the Casa del Cinema in Rome.
Italian Premiere of Black ’47
IFF will host the Italian premiere of Lance Daly‘s Black ’47, the historical drama set during the year of the Great Famine which was a big hit at the Irish box office last year. The cast features Hugo Weaving, James Frecheville, Jim Broadbent, Stephen Rea, Freddie Fox, Barry Keoghan, Moe Dunford and Sarah Greene. The screenplay of Black ’47 — written by Daly with PJ Dillon, Pierce Ryan and Eugene O’Brien — is partly inspired by the Irish-language short film An Ranger, directed by Dillon and also screened at the IFF in 2010.
IFFbooks: Conversation with Karl Geary
Irish-born writer Karl Geary will be at the festival as a special guest of IFFbooks, the section dedicated to literature and authors from Ireland. Geary is also an actor (he was in Jimmy’s Hall by Ken Loach) and he published his first novel, Montpelier Parade, in 2017.
Photography exhibition by Hugh O’Conor
A photography exhibition will also be held at the Casa del Cinema during the festival: 25 portraits of Irish directors and actors shot by Hugh O’Conor. Hugh started is acting career when he was just ten years old in Lamb (1985), alongside Liam Neeson. As a photographer, he regularly participates in exhibitions at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin and at the Royal Ulster Academy in Belfast.
IRISH FILM FESTA 2019 full line-up will be announced shortly. This year, the short film competition gives more space to documentaries, including Bog Graffiti, the latest experimental work by veteran author Bob Quinn.
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BLACK ‘47 (Ireland, Luxembourg 2018) — Italian Premiere
Director: Lance Daly; script: Lance Daly, PJ Dillon, Pierce Ryan, Eugene O’Brien; cinematography: Declan Quinn; editing: Julian Ulrichs, John Walters; music: Brian Byrne; production design: Waldermar Kalinowsi; casting: Daniel Hubbard; producers: Macdara Kelleher, Jonathan Loughran, Tim O’Hair, Arcadiy Golubovich; production companies: Fastnet Films, Primeridian Productions. Irish locations: Galway, Wicklow, Kildare; running time: 100’
Cast: Hugo Weaving, James Frecheville, Stephen Rea, Freddie Fox, Barry Keoghan, Moe Dunford, Sarah Greene, Jim Broadbent
Connemara, 1847: Feeney, a Connaught Ranger who has been fighting for the British Army abroad, returns from war to discover that his mother has died in the Famine and that his brother has been hanged by the British. With nothing left to lose, he embarks on a campaign of retribution against the authorities and the ascendancy. Hannah, an equally determined, ageing British soldier, is dispatched to track Feeney down. Hovewer, personal bonds forged by the soldiers’ time fighting together cause both men to question their motives.
Lance Daly is a filmmaker from Dublin. He was an actor, musician, photographer before turning into film direction. Black ‘47 is his sixth feature film. Lance’s breakthrough film Kisses (2008, presented at the 3rd IFF) was nominated for seven Irish Film & Television Awards, where it won Best Director and an Independent Spirit Award when released in the US. Daly was also a founding member of film production company Fastnet Films, distribution company Wildcard, Dublin’s Bow Street Academy for Screen Acting and the Screen Directors Guild of Ireland.