Draw your own conclusions.
As founder of The Warren Report, Warren Etheredge hosts over 250 events every year,
a podcast and television series. The Warren Report promotes "slow culture" through commentary, outreach,
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You needn’t pan for silver to enjoy the luck of the Irish; you may strike gold simply by taking in Irish cinema. The Emerald Isle has given rise to some of the better filmmakers of our day: Jim Sheridan, Neil Jordan and Pat O’Connor. Thank your lucky stars Seattle is home (yet again) to the Irish Reels Film Festival, showcasing the most compelling contemporary works from the land of leprechauns and Bono. You, too, can enjoy this year’s festivities. Read on for details from my good friend, Fidelma McGinn…
Screening venues: Henry Art Gallery, Seattle Art Museum & Seattle Center House
Co-Presented with the Irish Heritage Club
The Irish Reels Film Festival, a forum for award-winning features, shorts, and documentaries by independent Irish filmmakers, is proud to present three days of film screenings in Seattle, March 12- 14, 2010.
Now in its 12th year, the festival kicks off on Friday night, March 12th, at 7:00 p.m. at the Henry Art Gallery with a special screening of Saving Our Heritage: The Irish Georgian Society, a film which presents the work of The Irish Georgian Society in preserving Ireland’s rich architectural heritage. The program includes a lecture & slideshow by the Hon. Desmond Guinness, acclaimed author and authority on Georgian art and architecture, and President of the Irish Georgian Society.
Mr. Guinness is the great, great, great, great grandson of Arthur Guinness who founded Guinness Brewery over 250 years ago. He will be honored as the Grand Marshal of Seattle’s 2010 St. Patrick’s Day Parade, presented by the Irish Heritage Club. www.irishweek.org
The film festival moves location to the Seattle Art Museum on Saturday & Sunday evenings.
Saturday ~ March 13th
At 6:30pm, Alan Gilsenan’s new feature documentary THE YELLOW BITTERN provides a revealing and surprising portrait of the last surviving member of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. This intimate, confessional and highly cinematic film charts the remarkable rise to fame of these devil-may-care Irish singers, from their small-town beginnings in County Tipperary in Ireland to the folk hey-day of Greenwich Village in the Sixties where they absorbed black musical influences, played for JFK and out-sold the Beatles. The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem would go on to influence a host of popular artists from Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger to The Pogues, and become a powerful iconic presence on the Irish cultural map.
The 9:00pm feature presentation is THE ECLIPSE, Conor McPherson’s latest feature film which explores the challenges of love, fear of the unknown and release from the burden of grief. Written and directed by Mr. McPherson, the film stars Ciarán Hinds, Aidan Quinn and Iben Hjejle.
Both films have been nominated for awards at the 2010 Irish Film & Television awards. Winners will be announced on Feb 20th. http://www.ifta.ie/
The short animated film Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty will precede the feature presentation. The film, directed by Nicky Phelan and produced by Darragh O’Connell, has been nominated for an Oscar® in the Best Animated Short Film category.
Sunday ~ March 14th
At 6:30pm, Lance Daly’s narrative film is the award winning feature, KISSES. The film takes us on a journey into the streets of inner city Dublin with two ten-year-old kids. Lance Daly’s vision of Dublin, as seen through the innocent eyes of the protagonists, is a kaleidoscope of magic, wonder and mystery. But as the night wears on, and Dublin takes on a darker character, the two kids have to rely on the kindness of strangers, the advice of Bob Dylan and their trust in each other to survive the night.
Introducing newcomers Kelly O’Neill and Shane Curry with a supporting role played by renowned Irish actor, Stephen Rea.
The closing night feature presentation at 9.00pm is WAVERIDERS, written and directed by Joel Conroy. Waveriders is a feature documentary tells the previously untold story of the unlikely Irish roots of the worldwide surfing phenomenon and today’s pioneers of Irish big wave surfing and the nascent world class surfing destinations available off the North West coast of Ireland. Waveriders won the prestigious Best Documentary Award at the 2009 Surfer Poll & Video awards. The awards, often coined the “Academy Awards of Surfing”, honors the pinnacle of surf culture.
Free screenings @ Seattle Center during Irish Week Celebrations.
The Irish Reels Film Festival is a featured part of the Irish week celebrations at the Seattle Center and all screenings at the Seattle Center are FREE. Starting after the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, at 12:00 noon the film festival presents two afternoons of engaging and provocative films on Saturday and Sunday, including:
The Liberties, a series of twelve beautifully crafted short films, each focusing on a different character in Dublin’s inner-city.
Dublin 26.06.08 an eclectic, multi-authored impression of Dublin (within the M50) as it lived, died, breathed, made love, filled up and emptied, consumed, wept, was rained or shone on, grew bright and then darkened again.
Butte, America, a documentary which recounts the sometimes glorious, often sorrowful, but always fascinating story of the most lucrative hard rock mining town in United States.
The Bass Player, which chronicles Irish writer and filmmaker Niall McKay’s journey with his father, Jim, a Jazz bass player, on his return home from Zurich to Dublin following the death of Jim’s second wife Anna in a story about one retired immigrants search for love, adventure and a place to call home.
Frederick Douglass and the White Negro, a documentary by John J. Doherty which examines the effect Ireland had on Frederick Douglass’ activism & the role of the Irish in America after Douglass’ return. The film sheds light on the turbulent relationship between African Americans and Irish Americans, and the race riot that rocked NYC during the Civil War.
Waiting for The Light, directed by Ciarín Scott, a compelling biography of George Morrison, the towering pioneer and innovator of Irish cinema. Of his 42 films, Mise Éire and Saorise are internationally acclaimed and seminal masterpieces, defining Ireland’s modern history.
Dambé – The Mali Project, a musical journey to the heart of Africa with acclaimed Irish musicians Liam O’Maonlaí (The Hothouse Flowers) and Paddy Keenan (The Bothy Band) as they travel thousands of miles to the remote music festival – Festival au Desert.
For more information including complete film descriptions, photos, video trailers and advance ticket sales visit the Irish Reels Film Festival website at www.irishreels.org.
The Irish Reels Film Festival showcases contemporary Irish films with a focus is on independently produced work and those that have yet to receive international distribution. The aim is to inspire audiences with thought provoking and powerful stories, stories that are universal yet told from an Irish viewpoint by talented Irish filmmakers.
The Irish Heritage Club is a non-profit, non-political, non-religious organization that promotes Irish cultural activities in the greater Seattle and Puget Sound areas, especially activities that promote the Irish language, Irish music, Irish dancing, Irish history, Gaelic games, and cultural exchanges between the Puget Sound area and Ireland.