New Irish Cinema Screening in LA
The reknowned Egyptian Theatre run by the American Cinematheque, has selected a season of new Irish cinema which will run in the days around St. Patrick’s Day in March. The organisers have planned an exciting array of Irish shorts, documentaries and feature films including Sundance hit, Song for a Raggy Boy and The Mystics starring the legendary Milo O’Shea and David Kelly.The films chosen for this series represent the scope and depth of Irish film-making and offer the American film community an opportunity to become more familiar with some of the most exciting new cinematic voices in Ireland.
The schedule of screenings will be as follows:
Irish Film Series at Egyptian Theatre
Friday, March 14
7:00 PM SONG FOR A RAGGY BOY
A searing, highly personal drama of a group of young boys trapped inside a hellish Irish reformatory school in the late 1930's, and the dedicated teacher (Aidan Quinn) who tries to help them. A selection of the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. (93 min Dir. Aisling Walsh)
9:30 PM THE MAPMAKER
Bryan F. O'Byrne is Richie Markey, a computer-savvy mapmaker hired to use his 3-D imaging system to make a map of the area surrounding Roseveigh, his grandfather's hometown on the North/South Irish border. He doesn't realize that he's about to both figuratively and literally unearth skeletons from still percolating local hostilities, leading to a violent string of paybacks. (100 min Dir. Johnny Gogan)
Saturday, March 15
5:00 PM THE GHOST OF ROGER CASEMENT
Casement was an unlikely rebel hero, an Irishman who served in the British Foreign Office, was knighted for uncovering colonial abuses in the Congo, and later negotiated with the German government during World War I. Following his arrest on charges of treason, the British government produced the notorious (and possibly forged) "Black Diaries," detailing Casement's homosexual love affairs. (90 min Dir. Alan Gilsenan)
7:15 PM GOLDFISH MEMORY
A breezy, sexy look at the perils of dating, straight and gay, in modern Dublin. Clara is a 22-year old college student with bee-stung lips, who finds her lothario professor boyfriend smooching with another undergrad - so Clara hops into bed with a lonely female television reporter. Meanwhile, bike messenger Red has the hots for bartender David, who can't decide whether he's straight or gay. The perfect date night movie, Irish style. (85 min Dir. Liz Gill)
Sunday, March 16
4:00 PM IRISH SHORTS PROGRAME
Glenn Marshall’s Mannequin
Conor Horgan’s The Last Time
Andrew Kavanagh’s When Bridie Called Gerry
Andrew Baird’s Up The Country
David Glesson’s Hunted
Tom Cosgrove’s All God’s Children
Eamon Little’s Nobody Home
Colm McCarthy’s The Making of a Prodigy
Tom Collin’s The Phantom Cnut
Anthony Byrne’s Meeting Che Guevara and the Man From Maybury Hill
6:30 PM CHAVEZ: THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED
While shooting a documentary on Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, in Irish film crew found themselves caught in the middle of an attempted coup by opposition leaders and members of the military (who claimed they were staging a "peaceful, democratic takeover"). While the new, pro-Bush leaders quickly whisked Chavez away to an undisclosed location, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans poured into the streets, demanding his return - leading to one of the most gripping and suspenseful reversals of fortune ever captured on film. (72 min. Dirs. Kim Bartley and Donnacha O'Briain).
7:15 PM MYSTICS
Dave and Locky are two old-timers who once earned their living as part of a theatrical company. Nowadays, by holding "seances" at their self-styled Temple of Truth (a room above a Dublin pub), they earn money by pretending to communicate with the dead. It's a harmless scam, but one that gets increasingly complicated when a local gangster dies and his family attempts to communicate with him. For "increasingly complicated" read "downright dangerous" when the dead gangster actually makes contact. (100 min Dir:David Blair)