Irish Film Series An engrossing trip through the music, customs, culture, politics, religion and history of Ireland as told in a series of films made about, Ireland and her people. The featured films span 200 years of the Irish experience. Series host: Frank Howe, Professor Emeritus, Longwood University
WHEN IRELAND STARVED (1992) Saturday, February 28 2:00 – 4:00 PM "The ruin is great and complete. They are prostrate and helpless. The once frolicsome people, the saucy beggars...have disappeared and given place to wan and haggard objects who are so resigned to their doom that they no longer expect relief. One beholds only shrunken frames, scarcely covered with flesh, crawling skeletons, who appear to have risen from their graves." These are the words of a doctor writing at the height of the Great Irish Famine—undoubtedly an event with the most far-flung effects in Irish history. This film traces the causes of An Gorta Mór (The Great Hunger),
follows its unfolding, and examines its results. It lays the groundwork for
contextualizing the remainder of the film series.
Director/Screenplay: Joseph Dunn
THE BLODDY IRISH (2016) Saturday, March 7 2:00 – 4:00 PM A unique musical based on the events of the 1916 Easter Rising. The production combines traditional Irish music and song with a compelling script that examines the causes and results of the failed rebellion that ultimately led to Irish independence. Director: Michael Barker-Cavan Composer/Musical Director: David Downes Screenplay: Barry Devlin
THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY (2007) Saturday, March 14 2:00 – 4:00 PM Set during the Irish War of Independence in the early 1920s. Damien, an Irish medical student, is about to leave Ireland to complete his training in London, but before doing so, he witnesses atrocious brutalities carried out by the Black and Tans, which leads him to join his brother Teddy in the Irish Republican Army. Soon however, the peace treaty is signed, and the brothers are pitted against each other. This is the first such film made in Ireland to address the terrible consequences of the Irish civil war (1922– 1923) Director: Ken Loach Screenplay: Paul Laverty
THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH (1995) Saturday, March 31 2:00 – 4:00 PM Fiona (Jeni Courtney) is a young Irish girl with an unusual family history, including a missing baby brother. With her family reeling from the effects of post war economic woes and the more personal tragedy of the loss of her mother and brother, she goes to live with her grandparents on the west coast of Ireland, Fiona hears stories about her ancestors, tales that involve mythical creatures called selkies, who can shift from seal to human form. After Fiona ends up on the small island of Roan Inish, her family's ancestral home, she believes she may have found her, long missed, little brother living by the sea.
Director: John Sayles Screenplay: John Sayles (adapted from Rosalie K. Fry’s: The Secret of Ron Mor Skerry)
EVELYN (2002) Saturday, March 28 2:00 – 4:00 PM Set in Dublin, 1953, when the mother of young Evelyn Doyle abandons her family, her devastated father, Desmond, is left to care for Evelyn and her brothers on his own. The children are soon taken into custody by the Irish child welfare authorities and sent to two separate orphanages. To recover his children Desmond must not only demonstrate financial solvency and social responsibility, he must have the written consent of his wife who has abandoned the family and is nowhere to be found. This true story tells how a desperate working class father challenges Irish law in its Cúirt Uachtarach na hÉirea (Supreme Court) to reunite his family. Director / Screenplay: Bruce Beresford
IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER (1993) Saturday, April 4 2:00 – 4:00 PM Unemployed young Irishman Gerry Conlon (Daniel Day-Lewis) gets by as a petty thief in 1970s Belfast. When local IRA leaders get fed up with him, he flees to England and meets up with his friend Paul Hill (John Lynch). On the same night that the IRA bombs a nearby pub, the friends get kicked out of their communal digs and are forced to sleep in a park. Conlon returns to Belfast, but is arrested as the prime suspect in the bombing and is wrongfully imprisoned, where he spends 15 years trying to clear his name. Director: Jim Sheridan The film is based on Conlon's autobiography.
IN AMERICA (2003)
Saturday, April 11 2:00 – 4:00 PM
This is the moving and hopeful story of the Sullivan family who, emigrate from Ireland to New York City, via Canada, as father Johnny (Paddy Considine) chases his dream of being an actor. Living in a small Hell's Kitchen apartment, the family settles into American life despite their deplorable living conditions. Wife Sarah (Samantha Morton) works at an ice cream parlor while Johnny looks for work as an actor. Both are haunted by memories of their dead son, Frankie. Daughter Christie (Sarah Bolger) documents the family's American journey with a video camera. It's not the typical story of turn-of-the-century immigrants facing prejudice and struggle, but a modern story, set in the 1980s and involving new sets of problems, such as racism and the drug addiction in the building and the neighborhood. It is also about the way poverty humiliates those who have always prided themselves on being able to cope. Director : Jim Sheridan Screenplay : Jim Sheridan and his daughters Naomi and Kirsten THE GUARD (2011) Saturday, April 18 2:00 – 4:00 PM A vulgar Irish cop (Brendan Gleeson) and a straight-laced American FBI agent (Don Cheadle) uncover police corruption among the former's superiors while probing a drug-trafficking ring. Brendan Gleeson as a tall, shaggy, somewhat corrupt, somewhat lazy Guard and Don Cheadle as a consulting F.B.I. agent, tell the tale of two very different men who end up reluctantly working together on a drug smuggling case set on the west coast of Ireland. The film is fierce, funny and fascinating. Director / Screenplay: John Michael McDonagh
WAKING NED DEVINE (1998) Saturday, April 25 2:00 – 4:00 PM When best friends Jackie O'Shea (Ian Bannen) and Michael O'Sullivan (David Kelly) discover someone in their small Irish village has won the lottery, they immediately set off to see if the winner is in a sharing mood. Deducing that Ned Devine is the lucky man, O'Shea and O'Sullivan pay him a visit, only to find him dead from the shock. Since Devine is the only one who can claim the prize, the townsfolk band together to convince the claim inspector that O'Sullivan is really Devine, and thereby split the cash. Hilarity ensues! Directo / Screenplay: Kirk Jones
THE QUIET MAN (1952) Saturday, May 2 2:00 – 4:00 PM After accidentally killing an opponent in the ring, boxer Sean Thornton (John Wayne) leaves America and returns to his native Ireland, hoping buy his family's homestead and live in peace. In doing so, he runs afoul of Will Danaher (Victor McLaglen), who long coveted the property. Spitefully, Will objects when his fiery sister, Mary Kate (Maureen O'Hara), begins a romance with Sean, and refuses to hand over her dowry. Mary Kate refuses to consummate the marriage until Sean retrieves the money. The basic plot is simply the vehicle director John Ford uses to compose his love letter to Ireland. The film is a classic and a delight. Director: John Ford Screenplay: Frank S. Nugent, Richard Llewellyn Adapted from Story by: Maurice Walsh