IFTUK has unveiled the programme for the upcoming The St Brigid & St Patrick’s Celebration of Irish Film Festival, running 21 to 28 March. Four documentaries will screen across London cinemas, theatres and exhibition spaces following Ireland’s national Saints’ Days festivities. The event will focus on “celebrating the strength and diversity of Irish cinema,” festival organisers write.
IFTUK will also launch a free-to-screen Programme of Irish films from the IFTUK App in preparation for the festival commencing.
Doc selections are as follows (with IFTUK annotations):
- Sunday 24 March 6pm ICA: A Focus on Flora Kerrigan, plus extended intro from Kasandra O’Connell, Head of the IFI Irish Film Archive. Amateur filmmaker Flora Kerrigan was an active member of the Cork Cine Club during the late 1950s and 1960s, producing numerous Super8 short films ranging from animation to documentary. Kerrigan’s films were recognised internationally and she won awards at numerous prestigious amateur film competitions.
- Sunday 24 March 6.20pm Curzon Soho: North Circular, Luke McManus. “This profoundly moving documentary, filmed in black and white, is beautiful and quietly reflective, assembling landmarks, people, stories and music around Dublin’s North Circular Road. It evokes the troubled past, the protest and struggles of those communities through the voices of a host of colourful characters. Warmed by the vibrant music of new wave Irish folk singers, the film is joyous in victories such as saving the landmark Cobblestone pub from demolition. Throwing light on people’s struggles everywhere, defending community against developers, the scenes of celebration inspire a spirit of optimism.”
- Monday 25 March 6.20pm Curzon Soho: One Night in Millstreet, Andrew Gallimore plus Q&A with the director: On St Patrick’s Day, 1995, Chris Eubank, then world super middleweight champion undefeated in 18 title defences, was in Cork to take on his latest challenger, the Irishman Steve Collins, who was dismissed as a chancer and palooka by many. The winner of the Best Documentary Award at the Irish Film Festival London last year, Andrew Gallimore’s wildly entertaining film revisits the circus that developed around the fight and uncovers a saga involving mind games, blarney, hypnotism and the Eurovision Song Contest. It’s a compelling story, related here by those who witnessed events first hand. One Night in Millstreet is knockout filmmaking that will be appreciated far beyond boxing aficionados.
- Thursday 28 March 6.30pm ICA: Mná and Sons screens alongside A Boated Roof, both by Aoife Desmond. Mná and Sons is a site-specific film combining a critical essay response with inserted performative actions. The film is structured around seasonal changes, evolving plant, bird and insect life, built works in progress and transformation of a vacant city centre site to temporary inhabitation as part of TEST SITE collaborative project. The performance sequence ‘gold woman never said this would be easy’ presents a series of solo and collective improvisations which ritualise and acknowledge environmental loss and transition. Aoife Desmond is joined by Macha Shewolf (voice, drums and movement), Kanako Haru (movement) and Dan Walsh (drums). These contrasted visual elements are framed with layers of field recordings, vocal loops, acoustic interventions and VoiceOver.”
