Irish-Australian Arts News
Roll on Paddy’s Day and win 2 free tickets to Misneach!

Fáilte (welcome) to the March edition of our Irish Australian Arts Newsletter.

In this edition celebrate all things St Patrick, with a list of events around the country and we have a double pass to giveaway to Dermot Kennedy’s Misneach Festival.

We’ll take a look at awards season, seeing how Irish actors have done in Hollywood and notable wins at the IFTA Awards. We also look at new shows, movies and upcoming events. Our events diary has a rundown of Irish events around Oz in the upcoming months.

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St Patrick’s Day Events

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Misneach Ticket Giveaway

Critically acclaimed, multi-platinum singer-songwriter Dermot Kennedy announces MISNEACH (pron. mish-nyach, meaning ‘Courage’ in Gaelic), a brand-new annual global music festival and celebration of Ireland’s rich musical heritage to coincide with the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in March 2025. Dermot will be joined by The Frames (only Australian show), Matt Corby, Kneecap, Meg Mac, Amble, Sorcha Richardson, The Scratch, Susan O’Neill, FYNCH and Cliffords.

Timed to coincide with St. Patrick’s Day eve, the festival promises an unforgettable cultural and musical experience with an exceptional lineup, Guinness on tap, and the lively spirit of Ireland.
New tickets for the Front General Admission section have just been released, with tickets across all categories on sale now… fans should not delay in grabbing tickets to this extraordinary event!
 www.frontiertouring.com/misneach

We have one Double Pass to give away to the show. 
To enter go to our Facebook Page HERE
And tag a friend who you would like to take along.

 

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Irish Awards Update

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More gossip, gigs and Irish tv shows in Oz

• IFTA Award Winners
  The IFTA Awards were held during February and Cillian Murphy won Best Lead Actor for a second year in a row, this time for Small Things Like These, and the movie won Best Film. Saoirse Ronan took home both the Best Lead Actress and Best Supporting Actress awards for The Outrun and Blitz. Kneecap also won a few awards including Best Director and Colin Farrell took home another award for his role in The Penguin. Anthony Boyle was named the Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland IFTA Rising Star for his work in Say Nothing and Masters of the Air.
  See the full recap at rte.ie/entertainment/2025/0214/1496903-saoirse-ronan-and-cillian-murphy-win-big-at-ifta-awards/
   
• Mrs Robinson Consulate & IFF Screening
  A new documentary about the life of Ireland’s first female president Mary Robinson has just been released in Irish cinemas to wide acclaim. The film is directed by Aoife Kelleher and explores the life and career of Mary Robinson, a pioneering constitutional lawyer and the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights. In recent years Mary Robinson has been the Chair of The Elders, an international group of senior statesmen, peace advocates and human rights activists founded by Nelson Mandela and Bishop Tutu.
  The Irish Consulate in Sydney and the Irish Film Festival co-presented a screening of the film at the Consulate on February 20th. The above graphic shows a photo of Lorraine Healy, Deputy Consul General and Enda Murray, director of the Irish Film Festival.
   
• Watch Playing Nice starring Niamh Algar on SBS OnDemand
  Set against a sweeping Cornish landscape, two couples discover their toddlers were switched at birth in a hospital mix-up, and face a horrifying dilemma: do they keep the sons they have raised and loved, or reclaim their biological children?
  Starring Niamh Algar (The Last Right) as Maddie Wilson. Enda had the chance to interview Niamh as part of IFF2020, check it out here.
  Watch Playing Nice: sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-series/playing-nice
   
• Barry Keoghan in Australian cinemas
  Keoghan’s recent film Bird is available to watch at select Australian cinemas. The film follows Bailey, 12 years old, who lives with her single father Bug and her brother Hunter in a squat in northern Kent. Bug doesn’t have much time to devote to his children and Bailey, who is approaching puberty, seeks attention and adventure elsewhere.
  Sydney Morning Herald had a review of the film on their front page, read the article here: smh.com.au/culture/movies/this-strange-little-movie-should-be-utterly-grim-but-it-s-a-total-joy-20250217-p5lcoi.html
   
• Ciaran Hinds stars in The Narrow Road to the Deep North
  The story of Dorrigo Evans, an army surgeon whose short but forbidden affair with his uncle’s wife sustains and haunts him through his darkest days in a Thai-Burmese prisoner of war camp in WWII.
  Hinds stars as an aged up Dorrigo Evans with Australian actor Jacob Elordi playing the younger Dorrigo Evans.
  The mini-series is expected to be released in April on Amazon Prime.
   
• The Problem with People available to rent
  The Colm Meaney comedy has become available to rent in Australia following a cinematic release in late 2024.
  Things don’t go as planned when two distant cousins — one from New York City, the other from Ireland — come together to finally put an end to a generations-long family feud.
  Rent with YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=_PxLik0u4qo
  Rent with Amazon Prime: primevideo.com/dp/amzn1.dv.gti.f1897441-cbc0-4bc0-9fad-40fe49270dd0?autoplay=0&ref_=atv_cf_strg_wb
   
• The Ireland Funds: Women In Leadership & Philanthropy Luncheon
  Wednesday 5 March, 11:30am
  special guests: Consul General Rosie Keane, president of Network 10 & head of Paramount ANZ streaming Beverley McGarvey, and editor-in-chief Forbes Australia Sarah O’Carroll
  Strangers’ Room – Parliament House, 6 Macquarie St, Sydney
  irelandfunds.org/event/women-in-leadership-philanthropy-luncheon/
   
• Clare Sands Australian Tour
  Friday 28 February – Saturday 29 March
  A sixth generation fiddler and bilingual singer, she weaves Traditional roots with Contemporary sounds and influences, embodying a fearless warrior-like spirit. 
  visiting WA, VIC, NSW and QLD
  claresands.com/
   
• Muireann Bradley Australian Tour
  Saturday 8 – Tuesday 18 March
  Bradley grew up overlooking the valley of the River Finn just outside the town of Ballybofey in County Donegal. At home her father constantly played blues music by the great from the 1920s and 1930s. After releasing her first album of live-in studio music Bradley has gone on tour. Her album is comprised of first or second takes of her performing in the recording booth backing herself up on guitar with added or taken away, no overdubs or modern recording tricks of any kind being used.
  visiting VIC, NSW, and QLD
  muireannbradley.ie/#
   
• Foil, Arms & Hog Australian Tour
  Monday 9 – Monday 16 June
  ean Finegan (Foil), Conor McKenna (Arms) and Sean Flanagan (Hog) are an Irish sketch group who perform on TV, radio, the stage and YouTube, and have been touring our live shows in Ireland, the UK, the US and Australia over the last eight years to audience and critical acclaim.
  check out their Youtube
  visiting Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne
  foilarmsandhog.ie/tour
   
• New edition of Tinteán
  Melbourne based Irish Online Magazine Tinteán dropped a new edition on the 10th of February and all the articles are now available to read on their website. 
  tintean.org.au/

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MARCH EVENTS DIARY!

Click on the link above to check out our events diary for March 2025 onwards which includes some exciting news on Irish music national tours and other riveting stuff.

Add your event to our Monthly Newsletter
We have had some enquiries from Irish organisations about publicising their events in our newsletter. If you have an event coming up then get the info to us by the 21^st of January and we will do our best to include it in our newsletter. It helps if you can provide the text ‘ready to go’ and remember – a picture tells 1000 words so send some pics too!

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Slán agus beannacht
Natalie O’Neill & Enda Murray (director)
Irish Film Festival