Weekend of Irish Cinema to mark 30 years of Arts Council support for Irish film-makers

The Centre Culturel Irlandais is pleased to present a special programme of selected Irish works of the moving image in collaboration with the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon and the Film Institute of Ireland. The screenings include short and feature films, fiction and documentaries.

SATURDAY

14h00 - 15.30 :
Waterbag (1984, 9 mins) directed by Joe Comerford
A man, a woman, a trawler: a short experimental pre-cursor to the feature film ?Reefer and the Model? (May 1996).

Traveller (1981, 80 mins) directed by Joe Comerford
Two young travellers are paired off in an arranged marriage and then promptly sent across the border into Northern Ireland on a smuggling trip by the girl?s father to buy televisions and other commodities for roadside trading. Along the way they meet an older, enigmatic character and are assailed with increasing misfortune.

15h45 - 17.45 :
Cloch (1975, 30 mins) written and directed by Bob Quinn
Initiated by Cliodhna Cussen, Cloch is an evocation of the art of stone-carving, looking at work being produced by James McKenna and in the Kilkenny sculpture workshop of 1975.

The Bishop's Story (1994, 80 mins) directed by Bob Quinn
An adaptation of Budawanny, a film made in 1987 based on Pádraic Standúin?s novel ?Súil le Breith?. A priest serving a remote island community rescues a lost young woman who first becomes his housekeeper and then his lover.

18.00 :
Cocktail

19.30 :
All Souls Day (1997, 78 mins) directed by Alan Gilsenan
On November 2nd, All Souls Day, a young woman?s body is found on the beach. Seven years later her mother resolves to find out what really happened that day and visits her daughter's former boyfriend Jim in prison.

SUNDAY

14.00 - 16.30 :
Between Heaven and Woolworths (1993, 52 mins) directed by Alan Gilsenan
This is one of three Art on Film documentaries commissioned by the Arts Council in 1993. It explores the source of artists? ideas and inspiration for their work and features artists including John B. Keane, John Banville, Shane MacGowan, Tom Murphy, Neil Jordan and Nuala Ní Dhómhnaill.

Wheels (1976, 25 mins) directed by Cathal Black
An adaptation of John McGahern?s short story about a young man?s return to his family home in the country. The difficult relationship between father and son is revealed as well as the way in which the young man?s step-mother has to cope.

Clash of the Ash (1987, 52 mins) written and directed by Fergus Tighe
In his last year at secondary school, a young man is being stifled by the expectations of family, friends and community in his small home town with regard to his future.

Shorts programme
16.45 - 18.05 :
The Visit (1992, 22 mins) directed by Orla Walsh
A day in 1987 when a woman goes to visit her husband, a long-term Republican prisoner in Long Kesh. During the journey she reflects on the last seven years of being a prisoner's wife - the expectations, attitudes and pressures of both family and community. Based on a story by Laurence McKeown.

Thirty Five Aside (1995, 26 mins) directed by Damien O'Donnell
A comedy / drama detailing the trials of a young boy at his new school. He is the only one left out of the football team, and is being picked on. His father is in prison so his mother has to sort out the bullies.

Forty Below (1999, 5 mins) directed by Clare Langan
Forty Below is a non-narrative film shot on location in Ireland and Iceland. Its themes are time and an exploration of the frailty of human existence in the face of formidable nature.

Seven Days 'til Sunday (1997, 10 mins) directed by Paddy Jolley, Reynold Reynolds
Dummies repeatedly attempt self-destruction against a grim urban backdrop in this darkly comic series of vignettes that recall the fragility of human life.

C oblique O (1999, 16m 47sec) directed by Blue Funk
This was the last project completed by the collaborative group of artists, Blue Funk. C oblique O was made in memory of Evelyn Byrne - friend, colleague and member of the group - after her death from cystic fibrosis.