The Yellow Bittern
Director: Alan Gilsenan
Producer: John Murray, Anna Rodgers
Running Time: 110mins
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.
“I remember being over-whelmed...the songs that the Clancy Brothers sang came out ordinary life. The heartbreak, the fun, the foolishness, the tragedy, all tangled up together.” – Pete Seeger
They have garnered worldwide success and huge popular acclaim, but opinions are still divided about them. To many, they are the true embodiment of the Irish popular folksong tradition, while to others, they represent the worst excesses of stage-Irishness. Yet despite this, their songs remain our songs, the songs of a people, the inner soundtrack of a nation.
Film Website: http://www.liamclancyfilm.com/
DVD is now available to pre order at www.ctlfilms.com
Screens Saturday, March 13th, 6:30pm at the Seattle Art Museum.
Purchase tickets online for The Yellow Bittern
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The relationship is exposed as a complex and tragic sequence of events culminating in the bloodiest riot in American history. This transatlantic story covers the race issue and is as relevant today as it was when Douglass escaped to Ireland - “I can truly say, I have spent some of the happiest moments of my life since landing in this country. I seem to have undergone a transformation. I live a new life...I am met by no upturned nose and scornful lip telling me ‘We don’t allow niggers in here!’”
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This 50 minute film with the Hon. Desmond Guinness was filmed on location at his home Leixlip Castle and in Dublin at the Tailor's Hall, 13 Henrietta Street, Mountjoy Square, 20 Dominick Street and around the country at Castletown, Co. Kildare, Doneraile Court, Co. Cork, Damer House, Roscrea, Co. Tipperary, Roundwood, Co. Laois and Riverstown, Co. Cork, all saved by the Irish Georgian Society. Today the Society continues this work with the support and generosity of its members in Ireland, England and America and this year celebrates its 50th anniversary.
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. Today he is almost forgotten. This film shows Morrison talking frankly about his life, loves, work and passions, interwoven with unseen stills and films from his extensive private collection and new footage of Morrison at work on his current production Dublin Day - his first film in 30 years.
