9 March 2023
Irish-Australian Arts Roundup
09/03/2023
This month’s roundup features our fabulous Free Outdoor Irish Film Festival over Paddy’s Weekend at the Rocks and a national diary of St Patrick’s Day events near you in this vast lucky country of Australia. Our Irish Movie Nights ‘under the stars’ feature a bar, a food truck and popcorn- and its FREE! There’s a Commitments singalong with a live band and performances by Dublin drag queen Peaches Queen.
And we can’t forget March is Oscars month so we’ll catch up with our trail-blazing Irish nominees as they sweep the boards at the IFTA’s (Irish Film and TV awards) and BAFTAs and look forward to good news on March 13th.
Lá Féile Pádraig faoi shona díobh! (Happy Paddy’s Day!)
Enda Murray, Director Irish Film Festival
Free Outdoor Irish Film Festival
The Irish Outdoor Film Festival will showcase a total of 8 films over 3 days at Cadmans Cottage (next to the MCA) in The Rocks from Thursday the 16th of March to Saturday the 18th of March.
The nights are FREE and the area opens at 4.30pm with the movies starting each night at 5pm. The bar will be open and there’s a food truck with Guinness Pies bringing you a taste of home while enjoying the show.
We have the Dublin City Cowboys (“The best fake Dublin soul band in the Southern Hemisphere”) playing live at our Commitments singalong on Thursday night and Dublin drag queen Peaches Queen performing on Paddy’s Night.
There are family films each day at 5pm (Song of the Sea, The Quiet Man, Brooklyn) followed by Irish favourites each night (The Commitments, Phil Lynott, Crock of Gold, The Guard, In Bruges).
The Outdoor Irish Film Festival is part of the Sydney St. Patrick’s Day Parade & Festival which also sees the Sydney Opera House go green on March 17th as well as a parade through The Rocks on Sunday 19th followed by a family-friendly, free festival in First Fleet Park, Customs House Square, MCA Lawn and Cadman’s Cottage.
Ireland wins at the Awards
At the BAFTA Awards there were a few Irish wins. ‘An Irish Goodbye’ won Best British Short Film, while ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ won Outstanding British Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress (Kerry Condon) and Best Supporting Actor (Barry Keoghan).
With the large amount of Irish talent in attendance there were snippets of the Irish language heard on the red carpet.
The Oscars are on Monday the 13th of March, where ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’, ‘An Cailín Ciúin’, and ‘An Irish Goodbye’ are all nominated, alongside other Irish talent.
Round up of Irish nominations.
St Patrick’s Day Events Diary
Saturday 11th March: St Patrick’s Day Festival & Lawn Party, Eagle Farm Race Course, Brisbane
Friday 17th – Sunday 19th March: Sydney St Patrick’s Day Parade and Festival, The Rocks, Sydney
Friday 17th – Sunday 19th March: Kidogo Irish Aboriginal Festival 2023 at Kidogo Arthouse, Freemantle, WA
Celebrating ancient & contemporary Irish culture & Aboriginal culture, Hand in Hand
Friday 17th & Sunday 19th March: Traditional Music at the Gaelic Club, The Gaelic Club, Sydney
Friday 17th March: St Patrick’s Day Concert, Wollongong, NSW
Friday 17th March: Melbourne Celtic Festival, The Mission to Seafarers, Melbourne
Friday 17th March: St Patrick’s Day Celebrations at Canberra Irish Club, Canberra
Friday 17th March: Kelly’s Wake – Big Irish Festival, The Gov, Adelaide
Friday 17th – Sunday 19th March: St Patrick’s Day and Recovery Weekend, Irish Murphy’s, Hobart
Saturday 18th March: St Kilda, St Patrick’s Festival, O’Donnell Gardens, Melbourne
Saturday 18th March: St Patrick’s Day Festival WA, Leederville, WA
Sunday 26th March: St Patrick’s Family Fun Day, Edinburgh Gardens, North Fitzroy, VIC
2023 Irish Film & Television Academy Nominees
The 2023 Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) Nominees were announced overnight with current awards favourite ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ receiving 11 nominations. Other current awards favourites ‘An Irish Goodbye’ and ‘Aftersun’ (Paul Mescal) were nominated for Live-Action Short Film and Lead Actor – Film respectively.
‘How to Tell A Secret’ and ‘Let the Wrong One In’ which were part of the 2022 Irish Film Festival received nominations, while ‘Nothing Compares’, ‘Lakelands’, ‘Róise & Frank’ and ‘God’s Creatures’ were all also nominated.
Find the full breakdown of nominees here: https://www.ifta.ie/news/nominations-23.php
‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ on Disney+
For those of you who have a Disney+ subscription and are hoping to check out the award-winning and Oscar-nominated film ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’, the film is now available to stream.
Check out classic Irish short films and fabulous Irish archive films online
With all the Oscars and St Patrick’s Day buzz happening online the Irish Film Institute in Dublin has released some classic archive films which will be of interest to Irish people (and film buffs) in Australia.
The Oscars Archive: https://ifiarchiveplayer.ie/oscars/
The St Patrick’s Day Archive: https://ifiarchiveplayer.ie/st-patricks-day/
“The Oscars Archive” features Irish short films which have been nominated for Oscars in the past. My favourite is ‘Give Up Yer Aul Sins’ from Brown Bag films which is a hilarious animation created over an actual 1960s recording of Dublin children’s interpretation of bible stories.
My favourite film from “The St Patrick’s Day Archive” is a silent newsreel of officers of the London Irish Rifles being presented with shamrocks on St Patrick’s Day 1916 at their barracks in Chelsea. Within 5 weeks all had changed utterly with the events in Dublin at Easter 1916.
My other favourite from this collection is ‘Ireland’s Holy Mount’ which is a Pathé News clip from 1921 which features remarkable footage of pilgrims claiming the 764 meter high Croagh Patrick in County Mayo in their bare feet! I was lucky enough to climb Croagh Patrick last year on a beautiful sunny day and view the ‘basket of eggs’ islands in Clew Bay – but I was glad of a sturdy pair of boots!
Galway’s own Niamh Regan touring Australia in March
With the ending of the plague, it’s fabulous to see smaller Irish acts returning to Australia -especially voices that emerged in the last couple of years in lockdown – and the first cab off the rank is Galway’s own Niamh Regan. Niamh is a huge new talent on the Irish scene and this is her first time in Australia. Niamh will play at numerous festivals and venues across Australia in March from Scarborough in Perth, through Victoria, Canberra, Sydney and high up in the Blue Mountains in Katoomba!
Full details at: https://www.hotpress.com/culture/galways-niamh-regan-announces-debut-australia-tour-22952892
‘Mustard’ in Adelaide
Irish arts fans in Adelaide might be interested in checking out ‘Mustard‘, an Australian premiere of a darkly comic one woman show about heartbreak, madness, and how condiments are the ultimate coping mechanism. The play is written and performed by Irish playwright and performer Eva O’Connor. ‘Mustard’ is presented by Dublin theatre company Fishamble: The New Play Company in association with Joanne Hartstone and Sunday’s Child.
WINNER Scotsman Fringe First 2019 and Lustrum Award 2019.
Running until March 19th at Holden Street Theatres as part of Adelaide Fringe.
Book now: https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/mustard-af2023
Taste Ireland
St Patrick’s Day BBQ
Together with their friends at Irish Family Events Sydney, Taste Ireland are hosting a FREE BBQ at their warehouse in Botany. Everyone is welcome. They will have live music, face-painting for kids, FREE BBQ, a special guest appearance and the product launch of Keogh’s ‘Sour Cream and Shamrock Crisps”.
All are welcome to attend.
REGISTER NOW at the link below:
www.intix.com.au/events/stpatricksbbqparty
Enda Murray
Director Irish Film Festival
