Monday 27 April 2015

Announcement and Invitation: Scannáin Gaeilge / Irish Films


This is an open invitation to students, staff and members of the public who would like to view a few Irish language (subtitled) / bilingual films during Easter Term.  The films will be shown in the English Faculty, Sidgwick Site, 9 West Road, Room G-R 05.  All are welcome.

Fear na nOileán        

30 April, 4 pm

English Faculty, Room G-R 05                      
Duration: 55 minutes

Following upon the engaging lecture and memorable performance of  'Songs from Donegal' (and Tory Island) by Dr. Lillis Ó Laoire, Senior Lecturer in the School of Languages and Cultures at University College Galway, there will be a viewing of the Irish documentary Fear na nOileán (Man of the Islands) on 30 April in the English Faculty, Room G-R 05 at 4pm.  The award winning film, directed by Loic Jourdain and filmed on location in Tory Island in 2006, charts the efforts of the islanders and a Jesuit priest (during the 1980’s) to improve water and electricity supplies and educational opportunities for the inhabitants of Tory Island. The islanders took their cause to the European Parliament and the United States Congress and petitioned for houses, jobs, a secondary school and a harbor. Parallels to the struggle of other island communities in Europe are considered, including the evacuation of Scotland’s St Kilda. Fear na nOileán won the Celtic Media Festival Award in 2007.  The film is in Irish (with subtitles) and English.


Toraigh

Kings 

14 May  5pm 

English Faculty, G-R 05 
Duration:  88 minutes  

Kings is a 2007 award-winning Irish film (bilingual) based on the play The Kings of the Kilburn High Road.  A group of young Irish men who leave the Connemara Gaeltacht and emigrate to England meet  thirty years later for the funeral of their youngest friend.  Flashbacks to Connemara and their youthful hopes for a better life are set against the harsh realities of their lives in England in the 1970s: sporadic work on building sites, unemployment, alcohol addiction, fragile relationships, loneliness. The film won numerous awards, including Best Irish Language Film. Irish actor Colm Meaney was nominated for Best Actor and Tom Collins won the Director's Guild of America / Ireland New Finders Award.  

Colm Meaney in Kings
Conamara, Co. na Gaillimhe


Máirtín Ó Cadhain sa gCnocán Glas  /  + Gearrscannáin (short films)
18 May,  5pm

English Faculty, Room G-R 05

Duration: 30 minutes  (+ 30 minutes for optional Irish 'short-films')

This black-and-white film was produced by RTÉ in 1967 and was restored by the RTÉ Libraries and Archives in 2007.  The script is by Máirtín Ó Cadhain (1906-1970), one of Ireland's most prolific and accomplished writers in Irish, perhaps best known for his novel, Cre na Cille, published in 1949. The film presents a personal portrait of Ó Cadhain, who is filmed in his native village, An Cnocán Glas, in Connemara.  Ó Cadhain introduces the viewer to the places of his youth and the ruins of the house where he was born.  He recalls the native the Irish tales and European literature which influenced his life and work. Ó Cadhain was a political activist, writer, lecturer and Professor of Modern Irish at Trinity College Dublin. The film is in Irish with English subtitles.  A selection of short Irish language films will follow.
 
Máirtín Ó Cadhain, scríbhneoir