MAGNERS USA AND CANADA
Magners Irish Film Festival Celebrates 10th Anniversary
Tribute to Famed Director/Producer John Boorman, Excellence Award Honoree
Tickets & Schedule Available at www.irishfilmfestival.com
BOSTON, MA (October 9, 2008) Sláinte! Come join the festivities as the Magners Irish Film Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary, November 13-24. This year's festival will feature an expanded program of events, celebrity guests and choice samplings of the very best of Ireland and the Irish on screen with 40+ contemporary features, documentaries and shorts.
2008 Excellence Award Honoree
Among the featured activities is a week-long retrospective of the festival's 2008 Excellence Award honoree John Boorman, acclaimed director of "Point Blank" (1967), Deliverance (1972), Excalibur (1981) and Hope and Glory (1987). Organized in conjunction with the Harvard Film Archive and the Brattle Theatre, the retrospective is the first of its kind in the United States and will feature 12 of the director's best-known films.
On Friday, November 21 at 7:00 PM, will screen one of Boorman's most acclaimed films, "The General" starring (2006 Excellence Award honoree) Brendan Gleeson as real-life Dublin crime lord Martin Cahill. This will be followed by a special award ceremony in which Mr. Boorman will take to the stage to receive the Excellence Award and answer questions from the audience. A long-time resident of Ireland, Mr. Boorman has frequently turned the camera on his adopted homeland, most strikingly in "Excalibur" and the cult sci-fi drama "Zardoz" (1974).
2008 Screenings
"There is no better evidence of Ireland's culture becoming more contemporary, more international and more diverse than through the films being showed at this year's festival," said Peter Flynn, Festival Director.
Among the films scheduled to screen is the highly acclaimed new drama, "Eden", which won the festival's coveted Best Feature Film Award. Starring Eileen Walsh (winner of the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival's Best Actress Award) and Aidan Kelly and adapted from Eugene O'Brien award-winning play of the same name, "Eden" is an unflinching portrait of a 10-year-old marriage on the rocks. "Eden" will screen at the Brattle Theatre, Thursday, November 13 at 7:30 PM before its theatrical release at Kendall Square on November 21.
This year's Director's Choice Award goes to "Vox Humana (Notes for a Small Opera)", the touching new film from veteran Irish filmmaker Bob Quinn. Set to the heavenly music of the Galway Baroque Singers, "Vox Humana" tells the story of Luke, a homeless man seeking redemption after the accidental death of his daughter. This year's Best Short Fiction award winner is "The Basket Case," a touching drama about a husband who refused to be parted from his wife . . . even after her death from cancer. Both screenings will take place on Friday, November 14, beginning at 7:00 PM.
Other festival award winners include Best Documentary "At Home with the Clearys" a feature-length examination of Ireland's first major clerical scandal when the nation's beloved celebrity priest Father Michael Cleary was revealed to have fathered a child with his live-in housemaid. This will screen on Saturday, November 15 at 5:00 PM.
Other films scheduled to screen include the taut political drama "Anton," about an IRA suspect on the run from British authorities, "Rua," a delightful documentary about Ireland's famous redheads and the drama "The Busker" which was shot and produced in Boston. Written and directed by New Hampshire native Stephen Croke, the film tells the moving story of a young Irish-American musician who strikes up a relationship with a spirited African-American girl.
"We received over 150 submissions this year, demonstrating not only the enormous talent on display in Irish cinema, but also the importance of independent festivals like our own to showcase this work," added Dawn Morrissey, Festival Executive Producer.
Tickets
Tickets, ranging from $8 to $10, are available at www.irishfilmfestival.com and on-site at the Harvard Film Archive (24 Quincy Street) and Brattle Theatre (40 Brattle Street) box offices, both located in Cambridge. In addition to screenings, there will be receptions at event sponsors, Jurys Hotel Boston and Grafton Street Bar & Grill.
Check www.irishfilmfestival.com regularly for event details and updates.
Magners Irish Cider
Magners Irish Cider is now in its seventh year as a sponsor of the film festival. It's a natural fit. As with cider, filmmaking is a skill that takes extraordinary time, dedication and love for the craft.
Magners has adhered to a time-honored tradition to cider making for seven decades, offering a refreshing and quality alternative to beer since 1936. Today Magners is recognized as the people's favorite bottled cider in Ireland, Scotland and the UK and is the #1 selling cider in the Northeast of the USA. Produced from natural ingredients in the apple orchards of Clonmel, Magners remains the only cider imported to the USA from Ireland. For additional information please visit www.magners.com.
9th ANNUAL MAGNERS IRISH FILM FESTIVAL, NOVEMBER 8-11 THE BEST OF IRISH CINEMA, DISCUSSIONS WITH GUEST FILMMAKERS
- Tickets Available Now at www.irishfilmfestival.com -
BOSTON, MA (October 10, 2007) The Magners Irish Film Festival, November 8-11, will showcase the very best of Ireland and the Irish on screen with an array of contemporary features, documentary and short films.
"Irish filmmakers from around the world are using visual media arts to dramatically and poignantly express themselves, their culture and a near-limitless array of experiences and aspirations," offers Peter Flynn, festival director, Magners Irish Film Festival and Emerson College professor. "Our festival is a celebration of the best and most recent work."
2007 Screenings
Now in its ninth year, the Festival will premier "The Front Line" (7:00pm, Nov. 8) an exhilarating thriller directed by David Gleeson and "On Broadway" (7:00pm, Nov. 9) a warm, moving film shot in Boston about a budding playwright determined to write and stage a play about this Boston Irish family.
On a lighter note, "Short Order" (3:00pm, Nov. 10) follows the comic antics of an oddball group of chefs, waiters, food critics and delivery people, all centered around the short order cook whose food can cause orgasms. The film features and eclectic cast that includes Vanessa Redgrave and John Hurt.
"The Tiger's Tail" (7:30pm, Nov. 11) is a black comedy of greed and corruption starring last year's Excellence Award Winner Brendan Gleeson in a dual role as a wealthy Dublin businessman and his sinister doppelganger who steals his identity. This film also features "Sex and the City's" Kim Cattrall and is directed by John Boorman ("Deliverance").
The festival also includes a number of documentaries, many of which focus on lives and events in Northern Ireland. "The Hunger Strike" (4:00pm, Nov. 10) revisits the dramatic story of the death of Bobby Sands and nine others and the impact it had on regional politics and world opinion.
Throughout the four-day festival, additional awards will be presented honoring outstanding achievement in three categories: Feature, Documentary, and Short Fiction/Animation.
Filmmakers will be present at many of the screenings and are eager to discuss their work and interact with audiences.
Screenings will take place at the Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Harvard Square, and the Harvard Film Archive, 24 Quincy Street, both in Cambridge. In addition to screenings, there will be receptions at event sponsors, Jurys Hotel Boston, Grafton Street Bar & Grill and Tommy Doyle's. Consumers can go to www.irishfilmfestival.com for additional information on purchasing tickets and a complete schedule of events.
"Last year, due to the overwhelming audience response, many screenings were sold out, and many extra screenings were added," said Dawn Morrissey, Producer, Magners Irish Film Festival. "With the lineup of films we've selected this year, we anticipate another successful year and continue to be grateful for the public's support."
The Magners Irish Film Festival is a BIFF production. BIFF (Boston Irish Film Festival) is an organization that was founded in 1999 to celebrate the very best of Ireland and the Irish on Screen. It continues to run the festival with Magners Irish Cider as title sponsor and organizes similar events and screenings throughout the year.
Magners Irish Cider
Crafted since 1935, Magners Irish Cider (www.magners.com) is Ireland's leading cider and the only cider imported from Ireland to the United States. Magners Pint Bottle poured over ice has been central to the product's overwhelming success in Ireland, Great Britain and other countries in Europe and around the world.
