The ninth Capital Irish Film Festival (5 – 8 February 2015) brought some of the best of contemporary Irish film to Washington D.C. This year’s highlights included a screening of Frank, Niall Heery’s Gold, Sinéad O’Brien’s fascinating documentary Blood Fruit and Keith Farrell‘s A Terrible Beauty.
Adam McPartlan talks to producer Dave Farrell and actor Colin Farrell, who plays Frank Shouldice, about the film.
Listen now on SoundCloud, Apple, Spotify, Acast and Amazon, or subscribe to Film Ireland wherever you get your podcasts.
A Terrible Beauty/Áille an Uafáis screened as part of the festival. The 93-minute feature docudrama set during the Irish Rebellion of 1916 tells the largely untold story of displaced young men, women and children caught up in a chain of events which would have tragic consequences leaving many innocent people dead.
Dave Farrell
Tile Media is a dynamic new departure for 'old hand' Dave Farrell, who, working alongside Stephen Rooke, built Tile Films into a leading international producer of factual TV programming.
Dave has been involved in multiple roles as producer/executive producer/writer and researcher in a wide variety of projects. IFTA nominations including; Ireland’s Nazis (RTÉ/History Channel), The Ghosts of Duffy’s Cut (RTÉ/Smithsonian Networks) and Death or Canada/Fleeing the Famine (RTÉ/History Channel), which was also nominated for four Gemini Awards in Canada.A Terrible Beauty/Áille an Ufáis (TG4), which Dave produced, won the 2015 IFTA Award for best Camerawork in a TV production. He was also an executive producer on Saving the Titanic (RTÉ/ZDF/PBS), which won multiple awards, including best feature length drama at the Celtic Media Festival in 2013 and Best Docudrama at the New York Festival the same year.
His recent work includes producing the docudramas Fingal’s Finest, which was made with the support of Fingal County Council, The Mystery of the Lost Ship (TG4/FIVE) and Death on the Railroad (RTÉ/PBS), which he co-wrote, produced and co-directed. His short film credits as producer/Executive Producer include; Coming Home, Jubilee Nurse, Girl Alone, Rabbit Punch and Another Happy Ever After. and the soon to be released feature film Moment of Grace.
Capital Irish Film Festival
Solas Nua’s annual Capital Irish Film Festival in Washington, D.C., presents one of the largest programmes of Irish cinema in North America, showcasing the latest Irish dramatic and documentary features, shorts, art films and animation releases by Irish and Ireland-based filmmakers.
The festival provides a US platform that amplifies the work of independent filmmakers working in Ireland and beyond, and celebrates the strength of Ireland’s contemporary cinematic culture. The programme highlights the country’s rich cultural heritage while fostering an inclusive and diverse community of Irish filmmakers. Capital Irish Film Festival champions emerging voices on Irish screens, showcases the exceptional talent and craft within Irish filmmaking, and reflects the robust and vibrant screen industry that has grown in Ireland in recent years.
The festival also presents the annual Norman Houston Short Film Award, dedicated to the memory of Norman Houston, the former Director of the Northern Ireland Bureau (NIB) in the United States. The award honours the best new short film created by a filmmaker based in or from Northern Ireland, made within the previous two years. The 2026 Norman Houston Short Film Award goes to writer-director Oliver McGoldrick for his film Three Keenings.
Read more on SolasNua.org, follow Capital Irish Film Festival on FilmFreeway.
