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CIFF FEATURE FILMS 2013

Posted on February 16, 2013 | Comments Off

KEYS TO THE CITY

KEYS TO THE CITY weaves together three separate stories : Eoin is a businessman with bills and a mortgage, Paul is a landlord with overdue bank payments and Monika’s minimum wage job is under threat by her boss. As all three struggle for survival they becoming increasingly desperate in their actions hoping to keep their lives and families together and survive in recession -era Dublin.MORE

KEYS TO THE CITY, was the first feature to be produced under the supervision of Filmbase in Dublin and Staffordshire University in the UK and was directed by Laura Way, Chris Brennan and Mel Cannon , and co-produced by Peter Bodie and Trisha Flood and is having its U.S. premier at the festival. The cast includes Rory Keenan (The Guard), Conor Mullen (Holby City); Una Kavanagh (Garage), Natalia Kostrzewa (The Looking Glass) and David Murray (King of the Travellers). KEYS TO THE CITY will screen Saturday, March 2.

DERELICT

Also having its U.S. debut at the festival is Frank Kelly´s DERELICT the story of a group of men, down on their luck, who decide to hold a bank manager’s family hostage while robbing his bank. A dark thriller filled with tension the film is set in a derelict building and focuses on the friction between the kidnappers and the family and between the kidnappers themselves; but things take a frightening turn when it appears that the kidnappers are not alone in the building. With an edgy soundtrack by Dermot O’Mahony what seemed like a simple kidnapping turns into a fight for survival for everyone involved. MORE

Writer/Director Frank Kelly ( Emily´s Song, 140) was so committed to the film that he also edited the film and was the lead fundraiser securing over €6,500 with donations from the Drogheda community, as well as online through Kickstarter. The cast included Michael Bates (The Escapist), Steve Gunn (Titanic: Blood and Steel), Gerry Shanahan (Shackled) , Patrick O’Donnell (The Looking Glass), Elaine Reddy (Slán agus Beannacht), Catherine Wrigglesworth (Railway Children), Rory Mullen (Portrait of a Zombie) and Brian Fortune (Game of Thrones). DERELICT will screen Tuesday, March 5th.

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EARTHBOUND

The sci-fi romantic comedy EARTHBOUND will screen Saturday, March 2nd in its first U.S. screening since picking up a Best of the Fest at the 2012 Seattle International Film Festival. MORE

A debut feature by Writer/Director Alan Brennan EARTHBOUND has terrific performances by Rafe Spall ( Prometheus) as a nerdy young man that’s convinced he is a space alien and Jenn Murray the geeky girl of his dreams that walks into his comic book shop one fateful day. Produced by Ripple World Pictures and Paper Dreams Limited. The Director will attend.

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IRISH FOLKLORE FURNITURE

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Tony Donoghue´s IRISH FOLK FURNITURE will screen opening night, March 1st at the 14th Chicago Irish Film Festival having just won the prize for Best Animation at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.MORE

The film uses stop-motion animation to breathe life into old pieces of furniture found rotting in Irish barns and sheds.

IRISH FOLK FURNITURE was produced by Cathal Black . This is the second short film directed by Donoghue to screen at the festival, the first was A FILM FROM MY PARISH : 6 FARMS that won a festival award in 2008.

SANCTUARY

SANCTUARY is the story Jan, a successful Polish surgeon and his encounter with an intriguing young woman at a conference in Ireland. The film stars Jan Frycz (80 Millions, Little Rose) and Anne-Marie Duff (Magdeline Sisters, Nowhere Boy) and made its international debut at the Galway Film Fleadh.MORE

SANCTUARY Is Norah McGettigan’s first feature film and was produced by Venom Film, Dublin, and Wajda Studio, Warsaw. SANCTUARY will opene the festvial March 1st.

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SPOTLIGHT ON SHORTS

Posted on February 16, 2013 | Comments Off

IRISH STORIES….

Award winning, entertaining, witty, animated, edgy, cultural, anticipated, this year’s short films are all this and more.

The festival will open with Tony Donoghue’s 2013 Sundance award winner, IRISH FOLK FURNITURE, an animated testament to what a new coat of paint can do. IRISH FOLK FURNITURE is part of the Spotlight on Shorts Program, a selected group of shorts that will screen with feature films and documentaries throughout the festival. This selection of shorts also includes… Lorcan Finnigan’s FOXES, an eerie portrait of nighttime happenings in one of Ireland’s “ghost estates”; C.J. Scuffin’s THE BLOW-INS, which finds a very determined young woman attempting to redeem her family’s name—even if she has to join the sea rescue service to do it; Eoghan Kidney’s animated film, WE, THE MASSES, is based on the art work of Robyn O’Neil, as beautiful as it is unsettling; HOME TURF, the award winning film by Ross Whitaker, beautifully captures the joys of comraderie and the ancient art of turf cutting; Shaun O’Connor’s UISCE BRETHA won the 2012 Best of Cork Award, a fateful story of a young man with a ticket to America on the Titanic; Irish architect Orla Murphy’s animated film, TOWN, highlights the “suburbanization” of rural villages into indistinguishable centers of garages and big box outlets; Lanka Perren’s tribute to Dingle’s FOXY JOHN’S , a pub and a hardware store both day and night!; and NO JUSTICE, Alan Walsh’s gritty drama about drugs, death and revenge.

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SHORTS PROGRAM I

Posted on February 16, 2013 | Comments Off

Shorts Program I is filled with smiles and triumphs as lives are sorted out and obstacles are overcome through small stories with big hearts. Mark Coogan’s PARTLY CLOUDY is a lovely and honest portrait of sisterly love and patience… RINT by Shaun O’Connor highlights just how important pronunciation can be: DAITHI AGUS GOLIATH, by Gerald O’Brien, is a brilliantly animated up date of the biblical story of David and Goliath; Will Maloney’s 2P is a delightful story of passions and love; MACROPOLIS is the heartwarming story of two imperfect toys thrust into the real world by award winning animator Joel Simon; Mairtin de Barra’s ATROPHY explores the balance between social exclusion and social responsibility tinged with humor and empathy; Claire Dix’s ALIA puts the issue of cultural heritage front and center in a story about family versus young love; artist Paul Hughes is the subject of James Cooper’s AMOUNGST INSPIRATION exhibiting paintings and a smile that light up the screen; and Shimmy Marcus’ RHINOS is proof that language barriers can’t spoil an afternoon of music, laughter and new found friendship.

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SHORTS PROGRAM II

Posted on February 16, 2013 | Comments Off

Shorts Program II has everything from science fiction fantasy to documentary, hard choices to cheeky Irish humor. Two films by Andrew Legge will open and close the program: THE GIRL WITH THE MECHANICAL MAIDEN takes a most fantastical approach to childcare while A KINGDOM ONCE AGAIN presents a most radical idea to solve Ireland’s current financial situation. The star of Connor Finnigan’s FEAR OF FLYING is a bird that doesn’t fly!; fear drives young traveller Francie Flanagan as he searches for a solution to his troubles in Colm Higgen’s VANNER; Shaun O’Connor’s third film in the festival, MUTT, is a gentle tale of a family pet’s passing and an interrupted trip to the vet; in Will Maloney’s COWBOYS AND DISSIDENTS a young man looks revenge in the face and makes a choice that will change his life; life changing are the final moments in BARRY’S BESPOKE BAKERY by Denis McArdle in a world of sumptuous cakes for special occasions; creme chantilly and gateau ‘a choclat is an elegant women’s only desire in Connor Ferguson’s UN PEU PLUS; and Hanna Bowen’s MHOIR THAN A TEAM a striking documentary about life on a small island off the Northwest tip of Ireland that reflects on economics, emigration and soccer.

All shorts are in competition for the annual FESTIVAL AWARD, the AUDIENCE AWARD and the CONSULATE of IRELAND AWARD. The festival awards and the Consulate of Ireland will be presented closing night with the Audience Award posted online on March 7^th if we can tally them that quickly.

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Festival’s Closing Night 2013

Posted on March 9, 2013 | Comments Off

DAY 6 – MARCH 6TH @ AMC THEATER

NO SHORTAGE OF SHORTS!

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Do you like films that make you laugh out loud? How about films that capture small moments ? Mini history lessons? New economic recovery schemes? How about a bird that can’t fly? These and other topics great and small are part of the festival’s closing night SHORTS PROGRAM II. You will laugh, cry, gasp and smile when the films by 9 Irish filmmakers and 1 Irish American filmmaker light up the screen.

The festival welcomes Maeve McGrath the producer of the short film VANNER who also starred in the role of Marion. Turns out Maeve loves snow and Chicago so do say hello. Maeve is currently working on an Irish language documentary An Teach Mor In Eireann about castles and big houses in Ireland. BUY TICKETS

The evening begins with the announcement of two of the festival’s awards:

Mary Francis Bragiel, WLS News 890 AM, will announce the 2013 CIFF Festival Award winners, and Katie Hamilton, Public Affaires Officer at the Irish Consulate of Chicago, will announce the 2013 Consulate of Ireland Award to the film that best represented Irish culture In this year’s festival. Following the screening everyone is asked to vote for their favorite short and the 2013 CIFF Audience Award winners will be announced on line. The evening ends with the closing night reception at Lizzie McNeill’s. BUY TICKETS

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Thank you to everyone who attended screenings at this year’s festival, we hope you had a wonderful time and look forward to sharing the best in Irish cinema with you at the 15th Chicago Irish Film Festival, March 2014.

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GOING SHORT!

Posted on March 5, 2013 | Comments Off

Wednesday night marks the close of the 14th Chicago Irish Film Festival, but its not too late to grab some tickets, watch some films … all shorts, all night!….get into an intense debate over which one deserves to win the Audience Award …vote, vote vote and then head on over to Lizzie McNeill’s to down a pint. Don’t let the festival pass you by or you’ll be kicking your shillelagh until next year when we will be celebrating 15 years of brilliant Irish cinema.

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DOCUMENTING IRELAND

Posted on February 19, 2013 | Comments Off

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What do mid century Irish architects, “The Troubles”, the Congo: 1961, an iconic American photo from 1932 and Mohammed Ail have in common, they are all the subjects of documentaries in the 14th Chicago Irish Film Festival, made by some of Ireland’s finest award-winning documentary filmmakers.Still Films’ Nicky Gogan and Paul Rowley bring architectural precision to their film BUILD SOMETHING MODERN that tells the story of a group of young Irish architects who embark on a remarkable journey, both personally and architecturally, when they decide to design and build schools, hospitals and churches across Africa in the 1950’s and 60’s commissioned by Catholic missionaries. Religion, which has played a major role throughout “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland, but it takes a back seat in Margo Harkin’s THE FAR SIDE OF REVENGE as six women weave their stories of pain, lose, regret, and remorse into a mantle of forgiveness and support as they move towards peace and understanding in post-conflict Belfast. Peace was the objective when the United Nations stepped in to protect the newly established Democratic Republic of Congo in 1960 after it gained independence from Belgium. Directed by Brendan Culleton and Irina Maldea the documentary, CONGO: AN IRISH AFFAIR, focuses on the Irish Army’s 35th Battalion as it struggled to preserve democracy while being attacked by both native and international forces. Immigration, skyscrapers, jobs and New York City were all caught in one iconic photograph taken in 1932 of a group men perched on a steel beam 69 stories high taking a break during the construction of the GE Building, known as Lunch Atop A Skyscraper. Directed by Seán Ò Cualáin of Sonta Films, MEN AT LUNCH tells the marvelous and previously untold story of the men and the photograph with narration by Fionnula Flanagan. Although it’s not an untold story the fight between Muhammad Ali and Al “Blue” Lewis at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland in 1972 was not well known outside of Ireland. WHEN ALI CAME TO IRELAND, directed by Ross Whitaker, is a ringside seat to one of the most colorful and amazing sports stories ever told with a cast of characters that includes Yul Brynner’s son Rock, John Houston and Ronald Reagan….truly a great story about “The Greatest.”