2008 Woodie Awards
Film Festival Gives 'Reel' Glimpse Of Ireland
Ashley McGown
Issue date: 4/3/08 Section: Focus
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.
"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.
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