From 25 to 28 May, with free admission, the Irish Film Festa is back at the Casa del Cinema in Rome, a festival dedicated to Irish cinema, never on the shields like this year. Also among the guests was the director of the Oscar-nominated film Colm Bairéad.
We can only be pleased to return, from 25 to 28 May, at the Casa del Cinema in Rome at Villa Borghese, of the IRISH FILM FESTIVAL, a festival dedicated to the best of Irish cinematography, in constant growth and exploded with its films, directors and actors just this year at the Academy Awards. All showings will be with free admission and many guests who will come to present their films, including the director of The Quiet Girlsurprising debut film nominated for an Oscar for best international film, Colm Barrett. The complete program can be found at https://www.irishfilmfesta.org/programma-2023/ but in the meantime we give you some previews.
IRISH FILM PARTY: films and guests
Irish Film Festa is back, the festival dedicated to Irish cinema and culture, hosted at the Casa del Cinema in Rome from 25 to 28 May. Born in 2007, the festival offers a wide selection of feature and short films and meetings with filmmakers, all with free admission. “2023 proved to be the year of international recognition of Irish and Irish-language cinema, with the epochal Oscar nomination of The Quiet Girl. The short film An Irish Goodbye, already winner of IRISH FILM FESTA in 2022, was also recently awarded with the BAFTA and the Oscar. And 2023 is also the year that Irish actors have hoarded nominations without being defined as British anymore” he points out Susanna Pellisdirector of the IFF, who continues: “Many are finally becoming aware of this small cinematography and its many, great talents: we at IRISH FILM FESTA are approaching the fourteenth edition satisfied, but not at all surprised”.
As part of the focus on Irish-language cinema the festival will pay homage to the extraordinary international success of The Quiet Girl (An Cailín Ciúin), the first film in Irish (ossia in lingua Irish) to receive an Oscar nomination. Saranno presenti in sala il regista Colm Bairéad and the producer Cleona Ní Chrualaoí. In Irish it is also recited Tractor Of Declan Recksa story of family reconciliation and sporting revenge set in the world of rowing on the Naomhóg, a typical boat of the Kerry region. Director Recks and screenwriter Eugene O’Brien, actors Lorcan Cranitch expected at the festival (The Dig, Róise and Frank) e Cillian O’Garby (Foscadh). In the cast we also recognize Kelly Gough (The Fall) e Kate Niccononagh (The Quiet Girl). Among the feature films stands out Aishathe most recent work of Frank Berry. Berry is one of the authors most loved by IRISH FILM FESTA, where he has already presented his I Used to Live Here (IFF 2016) e Michael Inside (IFF 2019). Always attentive to issues of strong social relevance, in Aisha he recounts the difficulties of a young Nigerian woman who, having arrived in Dublin as an asylum seeker, collides with the bureaucracy of the immigration management system. next to the protagonist Letitia Wright (Black Panther, Small Axe) troviamo Josh O’Connor (The Crown, God’s Own Country) and the Irish Stuart Graham, Denis Conway, Ruth McCabeLorcan Cranitch e Tarah Flynn. Aisha recently won two IFTA (Irish Film & Television Academy) awards for Best Director and Best Screenplay.
Italian premiere the dramatic film will then be presented – in collaboration with DNC Entertainment Factory and RaiPlay The Sparrowdirectorial debut of Michael Kinirons, former screenwriter of Strangerland. The film stars a teenager (played by newcomer Ollie West) with a dysfunctional family, in which he lives a strong sense of guilt linked to a loss. The film is set in and around the fishing village of Baltimore, West Cork. David O’Hara (Some Mother’s Son), Eanna Hardwicke (Vivarium), Isabelle Connolly (Creatures of God), Aisling O’Sullivan (The Secret), Dara Devaney (Arracht) and Mark O’Halloran (Adam & Paul) join on Ollie West screen. The Sparrow won Best Debut Film at the Galway Film Fleadh 2022. IRISH FILM FESTIVAL celebrates a classic every year (Irish Classic) and in this edition, twenty years after its release, it will be about Veronica Guerinwith protagonist Cate Blanchett, winner of two Academy Awards and nominated eight times. Direct from the US Joel Schumacher, Veronica Guerin tells the true story of the Dublin journalist murdered in 1996 following her investigations into drug trafficking. In the cast we also find Gerard McSorley, Ciaran Hinds, Brenda Fricker and a young man Colin Farrell.
In this way, the festival also wants to pay homage to the co-producer James Flynn, a leading figure in the Irish film industry, who passed away last February at the age of 57. He has produced films such as Angela’s Ashes, The Count of Monte Cristo, Ondine, up to The Spirits of the Island (among the most critically acclaimed in 2022 and nominated for nine Academy Awards), as well as the TV series The Tudors and Vikings . He had been a guest of the first editions of IRISH FILM FESTIVAL. The 2023 edition of IRISH FILM FESTA testifies to the liveliness of contemporary Irish cinema also for the variety of genres: some examples are the horror comedy Let the Wrong One In by Conor McMahon, set in a Dublin under vampire attack, or the bromance Sunlight, which first-time director Claire Dix calls “a film about male friendship made by women.” The protagonist Barry Wardseveral times guest of the festival (Maze, Extra Ordinary), will return to the Casa del Cinema for a meeting with the public. From i documentaries on the program, in a festival that has always paid special attention to the profession of the actor, there will be The Ghost of Richard Harrisscreened at the last Venice International Film Festival and dedicated to the life and career of the great interpreter originally from Limerick, who died in 2002. The director Adrian Sibley he chose to tell it through the words of his children and with archival footage. Harriswho was called a hellraiser for his unruly lifestyle, has worked for over fifty years, starring in films such as Red Desert by Michelangelo Antonioni (Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, Best Actor at Cannes), the first two films in the saga Harry Potter and being nominated for an Oscar twice (with I am a champion by Lindsay Anderson in 1963 and with The field by Jim Sheridan in 1990). The documentary that commemorates him also uses the contributions of Vanessa Redgrave, Jim Sheridan e Russell Crowe. To introduce the projection will be Barry Monahanprofessor of Film Studies at the University of Cork, who recently received the artist’s large archive containing photographs, letters, objects and personal writings as a gift from the Harris family.
There are still many feature films, short films, appointments and guests waiting for you at the Irish Film Festa from 25 to 28 May, but for the complete list, please refer to the official website where you will also find the days and times of programming.
