General

Sixth Annual Boston Irish Film Festival

Monday, 25 October 2004
All day

Organizer: FESTIVAL DIRECTOR: Peter Flynn

Magners Irish Cider presents the Sixth Annual Boston Irish Film Festival, scheduled for October 21-25, 2004. Screenings will take place at the Brattle Theatre and the Harvard Film Archive in Harvard Square, Cambridge. Receptions will be held at local bars and restaurants, including Grafton Street Bar & Grill, The Field, and The Phoenix Landing. A closing night reception, honoring special guest Gabriel Byrne, will be hosted by Jurys Hotel Boston.
Throughout the festival there are a bunch of heavy documentaries being screened with subjects ranging from radical Irish cinema to Irish POWs to the famous 1969 'Bogside' riots in Derry. Here's a short list of the documentaries that are playing with time/date/loc/summary taken from the BIFF site. For full list of films and details visit the festival site.


OCTOBER 23 (SATURDAY) | HARVARD FILM ARCHIVE

2:00PM (Theatre 2)

CELTIC WAVES: THE FLOW OF IRISH EMIGRATION

(2002) dir John J. Michalczyk w/ Brian O'Donovan [54 min]

Director John J. Michalczyk in Person
Acclaimed local filmmaker John J. Michalczyk explores the effects of 150 years of emigration on the culture of Ireland. Filmed in Ireland and Northern Ireland over the course of three years, Celtic Waves examines four time periods: the 1840s famine, the turn of the 20 th century, the desperate 1950s, and the 1980s and 1990s with the emergence of the "Celtic Tiger." Narrated by Brian O'Donovan, host of WGBH's A Celtic Sojourn .

4:30PM (Cinema 1)

CINEGAEL PARADISO: ONCE UPON A TIME IN CONNEMARA [BEST DOCUMENTARY WINNER]

(2004) dir Robert Quinn w/ Bob Quinn, Joe Comerford [53 min]

Special Introduction by Dr. Harvey O'Brien

Robert Quinn's loving document of Cinegael - the independent cinema and production house set up by his father, filmmaker Bob Quinn, in Connemara in the mid-1970s - is equal parts memoir and cultural history. Examining the contribution that Cinegael made to the life of the local Irish-speaking community, Quinn outlines the political and cultural imperative of local filmmaking. Ultimately, however, Cinegael Paradiso stands as a celebration of radical filmmaking . . . and an important chapter in the history of Irish cinema

OCTOBER 24 (SUNDAY) | HARVARD FILM ARCHIVE

5:00PM (Theatre 1)

BATTLE OF THE BOGSIDE

(2004) dir Vinny Cunningham w/ Nell McCafferty, Bernadette Devlin, Martin McGuinness [60 min]

On August 12 1969, the disaffected Catholic and Nationalist population in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland took to the streets to confront the Royal Ulster Constabulary. The riots that followed came to be known as the Battle of the Bogside and continued for 3 days with over a 1,000 people injured. Vinny Cunningham's powerful documentary recreates this seminal event in the history of the Northern conflict, exploring the reasons behind it and the decades of violence that have followed in its wake.

THE ROAD OF WOMEN: VOICES OF IRISH WOMEN POLITICAL PRISONERS

(2003) dir Melissa Thompson [60 min]

Director Melissa Thompson in Person

A powerful examination of the plight of women political prisoners in Northern Ireland, The Road of Women gives testimonial to those female Republican prisoners whose stories have never been told. Filmmaker Melissa Thompson never flinches in detailing the accounts of abuse that many of these women suffered, but ultimately her film celebrates the struggle for personal and political freedom and the bravery and commitment of those who have partaken in it.

8:00PM (Theatre 2)

IF YOU'RE NOT IN, YOU CAN'T WIN!

(2004) dir Liam Wylie [52 min]

Lasting from 1930 to 1987, the Irish Hospitals Sweepstakes was once the most famous, most lucrative and most controversial lottery in the world. Using a combination of archival footage and interviews, Liam Wylie's fascinating and compelling documentary tells the unknown story of the Sweepstakes, which at its peak sold tickets in more than 150 countries, generating millions of pounds in revenue. Produced by Donald Taylor Black.

TINTOWN

(2004) dir Irina Maldea [52 min]

In the summer of 1940, a hastily built internment camp on the Curragh of Kildare opened its gates to the first of over a thousand Irishmen. For the next six years, they were held there without trial, suppressed and completely isolated from Irish society. Filmmaker Irina Maldea documents the story of the last bizarre battle of the Civil War as the IRA were crushed by their former comrades and destroyed by internal conflict. It is a poignant and moving account of Ireland's forgotten gulag, told by its former inmates and their guards.

Location:
Harvard Film Archive and the Brattle Theatre; Harvard Square, Cambridge

Cost: General admission is $8

URL: http://www.irishfilmfestival.com/