News

Ian Power’s The Guarantee shooting in Dublin

Redazione IFF News ,

theGuaranteeNew feature film The Guarantee is currently shooting in Dublin.

Based on Colin Murphy‘s stage play and directed by Ian Power (The Runway), The Guarantee recreates the drama surrounding the most significant political decision in modern Irish history when the Irish government decided to guarantee the entire domestic banking system.

The film stars Peter Coonan (as David Drumm), David Murray (Brian Lenihan), Orla Fitzgerald (Kate Walsh), Gary Lydon (Brian Cowen), and Morgan Jones (Sean Fitzpatrick).

«It is a story which covers the entire gamut of the human experience  — Ian Power said — There is a hunger in Irish people to see a clear, unbiased version of this story. In the past months I’ve watched every member of our wonderful cast and crew come on board with a sense that this job is different, that we are doing something important and special.»

«This is the story that we’ve all been talking about for the past six years, it’s the story we all have opinions on — it is, in short, our story», Colin Murphy adds.

The Guarantee is being produced by John Kelleher Media in association with the BAI, the Irish Film Board and TV3 (which will broadcast the film after the theatrical release). This is the first cinematic feature film to be shot in TV3’s Sony HD Studio.

Wildcard Distribution has worldwide distribution rights to the film.

Galway Film Fleadh, a panel on promoting Irish Cinema world-wide

Redazione IFF News

The 26th Galway Film Fleadh (8th – 13th July) will host an Irish Film Institute panel discussion on promoting Irish cinema world-wide.

The session, chaired by Sunniva O’Flynn (IFI Head of Irish Film Programming), will include presentations from Irish Film Festa director Susanna Pellis, along with Caitriona Ryan (Culture Ireland), Niall McKay (Irish Film New York Director), Gerry Shirren (Cartoon Saloon Managing Director) and Soracha Pelan Ó Treasaigh (IFI International Co-ordinator).

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Irish Film Institute International – Promoting Irish Cinema World-Wide
Friday 11th July at 4.15pm
Joyce Suite, Radisson Blu Hotel
Galway

Volkswagen Joe and Fear of Flying, the winning shorts of the 7th Irish Film Festa

Redazione IFF News

Volkswagen JoeThe 7th edition of Irish Film Festa closed yesterday night with the screening of Good Vibrations.

The winning short films of the competition have also been announced:

Best short film of the live action category is Volkswagen Joe directed by Brian Deane; the award was accepted by lead actor Stuart Graham.

The jury, composed by Mauro Gervasini (Film Tv editor in chief), Anna Maria Pasetti (journalist and film critic) e Max Giovagnoli (Cinema & New Media – IED Roma) praised the short «for the construction of the characters and the performances, for the coherence of the settings and the effectiveness of the cinematography, and for its skillful narrative construction, which surpasses in breadth and ambition the constraints of the short form».

Best short film in the animation category is Fear of Flying directed by Connor Finnegan, awarded by a jury composed by students and teachers from IED Roma, one of the partner of the festival.

The guests of the 7th edition

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Amy-Joyce Hastings
Amy-Joyce Hastings

The 7th edition of IRISH FILM FESTA will remember Peter O’Toole, one of the most popular and loved Irish actors who died last December at the age of 81, through a public interview with his daughter, actress Kate O’Toole, guest of honour of the festival.

Graham Cantwell and Amy-Joyce Hastings, director and lead actress of The Callback Queen, will give a film-acting workshop for students and actors in training (more info coming soon).
Hastings is also the author of Nocturne Passage, one of the short films in competition at the festival.

The other guests of IRISH FILM FESTA will be Stuart Graham, in the cast of Made in Belfast and lead actor of two shorts in competition, Brian Deane’s Volkswagen Joe and John Hayes’ The Girl; Ciarán McMenamin, lead actor of Made in Belfast; Lelia Doolan, author of the documentary Bernadette – Notes on a Political Journey; author of this year Irish Classic Atlantean, Bob Quinn; and Black Ice‘s director Johnny Gogan, who will also take part in a workshop dedicated to the Irish film and TV industry, Meet Ireland on Screen.

The 7th edition of IRISH FILM FESTA will take place from March 27th to 30th, at the Casa del Cinema in Rome.

Irish Film Festa to honor Peter O’Toole with Kate O’Toole as special guest

Redazione IFF News ,

Kate O'TooleThe 7th edition of IRISH FILM FESTA will honor Peter O’Toole, one of the most popular and loved Irish actors who died last December at the age of 81.

O’Toole was born in Connemara, on August 2nd, 1932. He was never awarded an Oscar but received eight nominations as best actor in a leading role (Lawrence of Arabia, Becket, The Lion in Winter, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, The Ruling Class, The Stuntman, My Favourite Years, and Venus) and a Honorary Award in 2003.

Our special guest for this occasion will be Peter’s daughter, actress Kate O’Toole.

IRISH FILM FESTA will take place from March 27th to 30th at the Casa del Cinema in Rome.

John Butler’s The Stag to open the 7th edition of the festival

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John Butler‘s The Stag will open the 7th edition of Irish Film Festa: The Stag was screened at the last Torino Film Festival in the Festa Mobile/Europop section and will open in Irish cinemas on March 7th.

The film stars Andrew Scott, Hugh O’Conor, Peter McDonald, Brian Gleeson, Andrew Bennett, Michael Legge and Amy Huberman.

The Stag poster

Fionnan is busy organizing his own wedding, but he would rather do without the usual stag party. However, his fiancée Ruth insists and so Fionnan and his long-time friends get ready to spend a relaxing weekend in the Irish countryside. Or at least that is the plan, which does not include the presence of Ruth’s brother, known by all as “the Machine.” His dominating personality and his talent for seeking out danger to prove his masculinity transform the weekend into a decidedly unforgettable adventure.

John Butler (Dublin), director and writer, directed commercials and documentaries before collaborating with Rory Bresnihan on the short George, which was nominated for the Irish Film and Television Awards in 2005. He won this award in 2011 for directing the TV series Your Bad Self. That same year the publishing house Picador published his debut novel The Tenderloin, nominated for the Irish Book Awards. The Stag is his first feature-length fiction.

Irish Film Festa will take splace from March 27th to 30th at the Casa del Cinema in Roma.

Short films selection 2014

Redazione IFF News

Fifteen short films have been selected for the 2014 Irish Film Festa competition.

Since the number and quality of entries exceeded our expectations we decided to accept five more shorts in addition to the expected ten.

Ten shorts will compete in the live action category and five shorts will compete in the animation one.

Here’s the list:

LIVE ACTION
• I Can’t See You Anymore Michael Kinirons
• Mechanic Tom Sullivan, Feidlim Cannon
• Morning Cathy Brady
• Nocturne Passage Amy-Joyce Hastings
• Off Your Trolley Terence White
• Stolen Yvonne Keane
• The Daisy Chain Denis Fitzpatrick, Ken Williams
• The Girl John Hayes
• Tidings Greg Colley
• Volkswagen Joe Brian Deane

ANIMATION
• After You Damien O’Connor
• Fear of Flying Conor Finnegan
• Irish Folk Furniture Tony Donogue
• Learning to Fish Teemu Auersalo
• Two Wheels Good Barry Gene Murphy

The 7th edition of Irish Film Festa will take place from March 27th to 30th at the Casa del Cinema in Rome. More details about the programme coming soon.

Follow us also on twitter @IrishFilmFesta

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Fiona Shaw and Patrick O’Kane in Rome for an event in honour of Séamus Heaney

Redazione IFF News

Fiona ShawIrish actors Fiona Shaw and Patrick O’Kane will be in Rome this evening for an event held by the Embassy of Ireland in honour of poet and playwright Séamus Heaney, recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. He died last summer at 74.

Heaney was born in Castledawson, Northern Ireland; he loved Italy and visited Rome many times, most recently a few months before his death.

Shaw and O’Kane will read a selection of Heaney’s poetry and other works he loved.

Irish Film Festa 2014, short films submissions now closed

Redazione IFF News

FaviconFFShort films submissions for the competitive section of the seventh Irish Film Festa closed yesterday. The festival will take place from March 27th to 30th, 2014, at the Casa del Cinema in Rome.

The number of submitted entries exceeded our expectations and we would like to thank all the Irish filmmakers for their participation.

We are now working on the final selection and the titles of the ten shorts chosen for the competition will be announced by mid January.

Follow us also on twitter @IrishFilmFesta.

Premio Letterature dal Fronte, “H3″ by Les Blair screened in Cassino

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Susanna Pellis (Irish Film Festa director), Laurence McKeown and Silvia Calamati
Susanna Pellis (direttore Irish Film Festa), Laurence McKeown e Silvia Calamati

Il diario di Bobby Sands. Storia di un ragazzo irlandese (Bobby Sand’s Diary. The Story of an Irish Boy) written by Silvia Calamati, Laurence McKeown and Denis O’Hearn, published by Castelvecchi, has been awarded with the Premio internazionale Città di Cassino 2013 assigned by Letterature dal fronte Association.

The award is held to «gather, examine, value and reward one or more authors telling stories, facts and testimonies from war zones».

The book by Calamati, McKeown and Denis O’Hearn is about Bobby Sands, the Irish republican prisoner who died on hunger strike in 1981, at the age of 27, in Long Kesh prison.

In occasion of the award ceremony, H3 by Les Blair was screened in Cassino with the collaboration of Irish Film Festa, which also provided the subtitles for it. Laurence McKeown himself, one of the Long Kesh hunger strikers, worked on the script of H3.

Bobby Sands’ life was recently brought on screen also by Steve McQueen’s Hunger (2008), in which Sands was played by Michael Fassbender.

Info letteraturedalfrontecassino.it

Paul Duane’s “Barbaric Genius” documentary now available worldwide on DVD and VoD

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barbaric-genius

Barbaric Genius is a documentary film directed by Paul Duane (The Making of Rocky Road to Dublin, Natan: The Untold Story of French Cinema’s Forgotten Genius) about the popular London-Irish author and chess champion John Healy.

The doc was critically acclaimed, got a Grierson Awards nomination and now, thanks to Wildcard Distribution and for the first time for an Irish feature, it is also available to buy on DVD and VoD worldwide through the official website.

Synopsis:

The son of Irish immigrants, John Healy lived rough on the violent streets of London for fifteen years drinking heavily and turning to crime to survive. On one stint in prison he was taught the basics of chess by his cellmate. This became his new addiction as alcohol was left behind. He became a rated player who had an incredible ability of taking on and defeating multiple opponents at the same time.

He wrote a memoir of his life which became the best selling book The Grass Arena and for a time he became the darling of the British media. Then he disappeared with stories emerging that he’d made threats of violence towards his publishers, that he was mentally ill and a psychopath.

Barbaric Genius meets John as he’s about to make a comeback to the literary scene after nearly 20 years with the likes of Irvine Welsh and Daniel Day-Lewis as his cheerleaders. Having been savaged once by the media and the literary world, how will he deal with success second time round and the inevitable digging-up of his violent past that comes with it?

The documentary was produced by Paul Duane and Mary Carson for Screenworks, with funding by Irish Film Board and RTÉ.