Los Angeles Irish Film Festival
Following on from last year’s success, the 2nd Los Angeles Irish Film Festival ran from September 23–27, with the opening ceremony taking place at the Linwood Dunn Theatre in Hollywood.
Celebrities including Aidan Quinn, Natascha McElhone, Orla Brady, Fionnula Flanagan, Embeth Davidtz, Roma Downey, Lara Flynn Boyle, Eddie Irvine came along in support, and supernatural drama The Eclipse starring Ciarán Hinds and Quinn was the opening-night film.
Irish Consul General Gerry Staunton, and Simon Perry and Jonathan Loughran from the Irish Film Board were there too, and music was provided by The Henry Girls from Donegal. Also screened for the first time in the US was the rare 1920s silent The Days of St. Patrick, which was accompanied by live orchestra playing an extended original score from composer Eimear Noone.
Irish films receiving their US premieres in the festival included Lisa Barros D’Sa’s/Glen Layburn’s Cherrybomb, Macdara Vallely’s Peacefire and Pat Collins’ Gabriel Byrne: Stories from Home, which drew large audiences for the Q & A with Byrne himself at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica. Moderated by Los Angeles film critic FX Feeney, Byrne spoke of his belief in telling the truth about himself, and about his childhood in Ireland.
Other films that were showcased include Vittoria Colonna di Stigliano’s transgender documentary Identities, Tomm Moore’s animation The Secret of Kells, IFTA winner Lance Daly’s Kisses, and Joel Conroy’s surf-fest Waveriders, while shorts screened included Nicky Phelan’s Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty, Louis McCullagh’s Call Me Son, Countdown by David Tynan and Atlantic by writer/director Conor Ferguson.
The festival closed with a tribute screening of Da, the 1988 film based on the award-winning semi-autobiographical story by Irish playwright Hugh Leonard, who died in Dublin earlier this year. Roll on 2010!
James Bartlett is a journalist living in Los Angeles, where he writes the Irish Movie News column for the Irish Herald.
Fri, Nov 20, 2009
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