11 November 2022
Monthly Round Up
11/11/2022
Welcome to the Irish Film Festival’s first monthly round up of film and culture news from Ireland and the Irish-Australian community. Catch up on Irish film on Australian free-to -air and watch out for film and music news and other titbits of Irish culture which catch our fancy!
North Sea Connection
Here at the Irish Film Festival, we love watching Irish drama on our local free-to-air channels. Right now, there is a great new drama on ‘SBS OnDemand’. ‘North Sea Connection’ is a contemporary crime drama set in a fishing community in County Galway. The beautiful scenery of Ireland’s west coast conceals a dark secret in which Ciara Kenny must confront the dramatic consequences of her brother Aidan’s decision to smuggle drugs via the Atlantic Ocean.
This Irish-Swedish co-production stars Lydia McGuinness (‘Sing St’, ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’), and a guest appearance by acting legend Sinéad Cusack. The hapless local garda in the series seems to be a cross between Sgt. PJ Collins in Graham Norton’s ‘Holding’ and Brendan Gleeson’s infamous Sgt. Gerry Boyle in ‘The Guard’! The ‘Wild Atlantic Way’ in more ways than one?
Watch the films here
‘Banshees of Inisherin’
Why is ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ a part of the British film festival and what makes an ‘Irish’ film?
We have had a few enquiries as to why the new Colin Farrell / Brendan Gleeson film directed by Martin McDonagh is classified as a ‘British’ film when all of the cast are Irish and it is set on an island off the west coast of Ireland? The answer is that the funding for the film was primarily from England and so the film is classified as an English film in official circles. The good news is that the film will be available at your local Palace cinema with a national release across Australia on St Stephen’s Day (that’s Boxing day to you Australians!). Initial reviews of the film have been good and I personally can’t wait to see Farrell and Gleeson renew their on-screen rivalry in a reprise of McDonagh’s ‘In Bruges’ (still one of my all-time favourite Irish films).
‘Young Plato’ Nominated For Award
The British Independent Films Awards announced the nominees recently and Irish Film Festival Feature ‘Young Plato’ goes up against the Sinéad OʼConnor documentary ‘Nothing Compares’ for Best Feature Documentary. A few other Irish films have also received nominations for a BIFA.
You can read about the nominated films here:
Music News
Gary Óg
Australian Tour – Nov 2022
Gary Og is bringing his folk rebel anthems back to Australia in November!
Currently celebrating 25 years of touring, and after numerous Australian tours and sold-out shows through the years, Gary is coming back for his biggest shows yet.
Hailing from the Gorbals area in Glasgow, Scotland; Og developed his craft growing up amongst an Irish community.
It was from these working-class streets in Glasgow that he developed his penchant for Bob Dylan, Christy Moore and ballads of Irish freedom.
Buy Tickets (https://troubadourpresents.com/events/gary-og/)
The Coronas
Australian Tour – Nov 2022
Irish band The Coronas return to Australian shores following on from their hugely successful 2018 tour, ready to thrill audiences once again!
Get your tickets for what’s sure to be a night to remember!
Buy Tickets (https://troubadourpresents.com/events/the-coronas/)
‘The Wonder’
Irish psychological thriller ‘The Wonder’ is in selected cinemas now and soon to be released on Netflix
The Irish Midlands, 1862 – a young girl stops eating but remains miraculously alive and well. English nurse Lib Wright (Academy Award nominee Florence Pugh) is brought to a tiny village to observe eleven-year old Anna O’Donnell.
Tourists and pilgrims mass to witness the girl who is said to have survived without food for months. Is the village harbouring a saint ‘surviving on manna from heaven’ or are there more ominous motives at work? A psychological thriller inspired by the 19th century phenomenon of the “fasting girls” and adapted from the acclaimed novel by Emma Donoghue (Room). Also features Niamh Algar (Calm with Horses), Ruth Bradley (Love / Hate) and the legendary Ciaran Hinds.
