Film Festival Gives 'Reel' Glimpse Of Ireland

By: Ashley McGown

Posted: 4/3/08

The Irish Film Festival is set to invade UConn's Konover Auditorium this weekend.

"The films we are showing are a collection of recent productions out of Ireland, many of which are unavailable in the Atates," said Nicole McClure, a Ph.D. candidate in comparative literary & cultural studies here at UConn.

One of the films is the feature "Once," which won the Music (Song) Oscar this year. "Once" is a musical set in Dublin about a couple who fall in love over the course of one eventful week.

The films will be shown in the Konover Auditorium throughout the weekend. A schedule with specific times is available on UConn's Modern and Classical Languages Web site.

The Reel Ireland program, which is funded by Culture Ireland, is curated by the Irish Film Archive of the Irish Film Institute, and it brings the best of Irish cinema directly to audiences all over the world.

"I became aware of the Reel Ireland program about two years ago while doing some research at the Irish Film Institute and immediately contacted them to try to bring the program here to UConn," said McClure.

"Both the Irish Studies program and Film Studies programs are growing rapidly here at UConn and I felt a festival of this magnitude would bring students, faculty and community members an opportunity to explore a blossoming film industry."

McClure said that as a group, she, Associate Professor of English Mary Burke and the Irish Studies Alliance have spent the past year working diligently to make sure this event would take place.

"Our intent is to promote exposure to Irish culture as well as to international cinema within the UConn community and the broader Connecticut region," McClure said.

The Irish film industry has been around since the beginning of filmmaking, with several different surges throughout various decades, but has never become as recognizable as Hollywood.

The latest resurgence was in the 1990s, during the Celtic Tiger boom, according to McClure.

"Since then, Ireland has experienced an artistic revolution of sorts that has contributed to the creation of a massive national film industry that continues to grow," she said. "I am absolutely thrilled to see this event finally arrive here at UConn and look forward to making this an annual event."

Although it is a film festival, there will also be a focus upon some Irish literature as well.

Today at 7 p.m. there will a reading by Irish author James Ryan. He will be reading an excerpt from his new novel, "South of the Border," at the Alumni Center.

Feature films, documentaries and short films will be shown throughout the long weekend, with lectures and other readings scattered in between.

On Saturday at 3 p.m. there will be a roundtable discussion regarding transnational film featuring Irish Times literary journalist Caroline Walsh, among others. The film festival runs through Sunday, April 6.

Contact Ashley McGown at Ashley.McGown@UConn.edu.