Welcome to the Seattle Irish Reels Film Festival 2008. Now in our eleventh year we are delighted to bring to you a wonderful collection of refreshing and exciting new works in Irish cinema. These screenings are a featured part of the Irish Week celebrations, presented by the Irish Heritage Club. The Irish Reels Film Festival is delighted to join with our colleagues on the West coast in creating a new organization called Irish Film America. Founded in 2007 by members of the San Francisco Irish Film Festival (Niall McKay, Conor Howard and Bill Roarty ), Seattle Irish Reels Film Festival (Caroline Cumming and Fidelma McGinn) and currently forming Los Angeles Irish Film Festival (Marcus Fox & Lisa McLaughlin-Strassman) Irish Film America (IFA) is dedicated to bringing the best of contemporary Irish film to US audiences, providing a platform for Irish filmmakers to showcase their independently-produced feature films, documentaries, short films and animation. We are grateful to the Irish Film Board, Culture Ireland and the Irish Film Institute in supporting this endeavor. FREE Screenings at the Seattle Center on Saturday, March 15th & Sunday, March 16th TIME: 12.00pm-5.30pm Venue: Center House, Balcony Level, Room A No tickets required. Come one, come all! Download Saturday Schedule Download Sunday Schedule Saturday, March 15th 12.00: A Bloody Canvas (57min) Andrew Gallimore Three unrelated events - a civil war, a black heavyweight champion without a challenger and a journeyman Irish fighter down on his luck - conspire to produce the most bizarre world championship fight in boxing history, on St. Patrick's Day 1923, in Dublin City. While offering the definitive version of events that took place before, during and after the fight, this documentary also examines the life and times of a near forgotten Irish sporting hero, "Bold" Michael Francis McTigue. 1.00: Shorts Program Basket Case (14mins) Owen O Neill Ambrose is walking calmly through a Biblical storm, to buy among other things, a dead pig for his dying wife. But what is he building for her? The Basket case is a dark, twisted, comic tale of love, devotion, death and debt, set in small town Ireland. Treeclimber (4mins) Michael Kinirons One boy's search for a new perspective Bua (14mins) Sonya Gildea The story of a young girl’s fierce will to survive, and above all esle, to be free. She drives herself on, her horse beneath her, until she must set him free and in so doing, free herself. Deep Breaths (15mins) PJ Dillon When Danny sees Bridget, the woman he loves, getting on a train with another man he decides to follow them. What he discovers reveals a shocking truth 2.00: Documentary Program Inis Airc - Bás an Oileáin (Inishark - Death of an Island) (50mins) Kieran Concannon Inis Airc is an island located in the Atlantic ocean off the Galway coast, three miles west of Inishbofin. On October 20th, 1960 the last twenty four islanders left in a flotilla of boats bound for the Connemara mainland. They carried with them pots, pans, pets, bedsteads and furniture, all their worldly belongings. After centuries of resilient survival in the face of an unmerciful Atlantic and unsympathetic authorities, the community of Shark was no more.. Sea Fever (63mins) Ken O'Sullivan Filmed over the course of two years Sea Fever provides an insight into the surf culture that has developed in Ireland over the last forty years. With dramatic footage from Ireland's giant wave 'Aileens' (Aill na Searrach) at the 700 feet Cliffs of Moher and close-up interviews with the troubadour surfers that brave these 40 - 50 foot waves to Kevin Cavey and the early pioneers of the 1960s & 70s with their rudimentary equipment and spirit of adventure, Sea Fever sets out to capture the character and craic of Irish surfing. 4.00: Cré na Cille (94 mins) Robert Quinn A full length feature film adaptation of the celebrated Irish language novel Cré na Cille. Directed by Robert Quinn, Cré na Cille is set in a Connemara cemetery and is a darkly-humorous tale of an intense jealousy and hatred between two sisters which worsens with age and continues into the afterlife. The film was shot on a variety of locations in Conamara. Gaelic with subtitles. Sunday, March 16th 12.00: Short Film Program followed by New Irish Animation 100 Paces (20mins) Sean Taylor Sean Taylor's 100 Paces, a public art project at Collins Barracks for the National Museum of Ireland incorporates combinations of regular drill movements that are common to soldiers of the Defence Forces, with non-military based movements he designed to compliment the vocal elements of the work. The lyrics used in the piece are derived from research into the use of Irish Folk melodies and ballads from the musical repertoire of the Defence Forces Band. New Boy (11mins) Steph Green Based on a short story by Roddy Doyle this poignant and comedic short film deftly captures the experience of being the new boy in school through the eyes of Joseph, a nine-year-old African boy. Winner Best Short Film Dingle Film Festival 2007 Best International Short Film Audience Award Cork Film Festival 2007 Official Selection Berlinale Film Festival 2008 Frankie (12mins) Darren Thornton Frankie is fifteen and preparing for fatherhood. He's determined he's going to be the best dad ever, but as his day goes on, he starts to realise how impossible this will be for him. Best First Irish Short Galway Film Fleadh 2007 Best Irish Short Film Cork Film Festival 2007 Official Selection Berlinale Film Festival 2008 Rolla Saor (25mins) Cathal Watters A chance photograph Marc takes of Ruth on the beach sparks off a new found interest in photographing each other. Their mundane relationship takes a turn until the local pharmacist calls..... he needs to see them regarding their photographs. Best Irish Language Short Film Cork Film Festival 2007 Revolution 365.1 (3 mins) Sean Roxenham A sock, desperate to escape the monotony of sock life undertakes a dangerous adventure. Ding Dong Denny's History of Ireland (5 mins) Cathal Gaffney A tourist walks into a Dublin pub looking for directions and encounters Ding Dong Denny O'Reilly who tells him the "real" history of Ireland. A Film From my Parish - Six Farms (7mins) Tony Donoghue An animated-photographic study of one parish in County Tipperary. The Red Ball (3mins) Alan Holly A story about a purple boy, a green ball, a red ball, a green girl, a red girl and a purple boy. Best Irish Short Animation Galway Film Fleadh 2007 2.00: John McGahern: A Private World (54mins) Pat Collins On March 30th 2006, after a life-time of dedication to his art, John McGahern, one of Ireland's most distinguished writers, sadly passed away after a long illness. Since the publication of his first book in 1963, he has been at the cultural heart of Irish life. He was in the happy position of being both universally praised by the critics and widely loved by the reading public. The film uses McGahern’s published memoirs as a backbone of the story. Through intimate interviews, a strong and compelling sense of the man behind the work emerges, offering a rare insight into the creative process. The documentary will be followed by two short films produced by Mohill filmmaker Ronan Gallagher. Tall Tales and Pony Tales (17mins) and Spirit (13mins) provide a glimpse of the local Mohill community and Co. Leitrim landscape where John McGahern called home. 4:00 Speed Dating (85mins) Tony Herbert A romantic comedy Speed Dating is the story of James Van Der Bexton as he approaches his 30th birthday. After a break–up with the love of his life two years previously, he has taken up Speed Dating without much success. Despondent he turns his attention towards a mysterious young woman who frequents his local pub. In trying to discover more about this woman, he plays at being a private detective with disastrous results, leading to him being hospitalized and amnesiac.

Last Updated | Mar. 12th, 2008 | CC