Solas Nua presents the 14th Annual Capital Irish Film Festival
FEB 27TH - MARCH 1ST, 2020
A full festival pass will take you to the best of contemporary Irish Film from Feb. 27 through March 1, 2020, at the beautiful American Film Institute Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, MD. Hear from the filmmakers at post-screening discussions and meet them at receptions throughout the weekend.
MISSING THE MOVIE THEATER?
Watch John Collins' video of CIFF 2020, it will make you nostalgic for the recent past.
Over four days, audience members reviewed and rated 18 films, 7 of them shorts. Here, we are announcing for the first time the winners of the Audience Favorite Awards:
FEATURE LENGTH:
Seamus Heaney and the music of what happens
Director/screenwriter Adam Low; Producers Dermot Lavery and Martin Rosenbaum
SHORT FILM
Boardwalk
Director Finian Robbins; Assistant Director Aoife Robbins; Starring Finian and Oisin Robbins
We are grateful to all the filmmakers who agreed to let us share their amazing films. We are particularly grateful to those who came to CIFF to present their films:
Aodh Ó Coileáin, director of “Cumar: A Galway Rhapsody”
Finian, Aoife and Oisin Robbins, producers of “Boardwalk”
Liam Flynn, director of “Face It Again”
Several special guests generously joined us to lead fascinating audience discussions that enriched the film experience. Solas Nua is very grateful for your expertise.
After Audience Favorite “Seamus Heaney and the music of what happens” Andrew Elliott, director, Northern Ireland Bureau, Washington, D.C., and Christopher Griffin, Smithsonian expert in Irish literature, joined our own Solas Nua Board Co-Chair Paddy Meskell to discuss the life and work of the late Nobel Prize winner Seamus Heaney.
“A Girl From Mogadishu” was followed by a discussion of gender violence and traditional practices led by Dr. Shirley Graham, associate professor of practice in the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University and director of the Gender Equality Initiative in International Affairs. She was joined by Djessou Kouyate, co-founder of the Inter- African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Rights and Health of Women and Children, USA, and Dr. Natacha Stevanovic-Fenn, senior research officer at Georgetown University Medical Center’s Institute for Reproductive Health. The popular film “Shooting the Darkness” was accompanied by a lobby exhibit “Northern Ireland Stories”, personal stories and photos of living through the time known as “The Troubles”, curated by Katie O’Neill. Thanks, Katie, for adding to the film’s insights. (photo of Katie with boards)
We thank Caddy Tours director Niall Leogue for sponsoring our gorgeous closing film, “Cumar: A Galway Rhapsody”. Niall stands ready to help you plan that dream trip to Ireland as soon as things start moving again.
We thank our lobby buskers, Mike Winch and Sarah Collins, for making the closing reception, sponsored by The Embassy of Ireland, especially Irish.
Solas Nua volunteers make the annual film festival work the warm and welcoming way it does. This year, we are grateful for the assistance of:
- Martin Burns
- Ed Choy
- Annie Jernigan Goldberg
- Greg Hindsley
- Jim Kane
- Linda Keenan
- Catherine Lundy
- Mike Sutterlin
- Stephanie Klodzen
- Colleen Kane
- Matthew Kane
- Joe Dempsey
- Kate Meenan-Waugh
- John & Lori Collins
- Darlene & Paddy Meskell
- Brendan & Norah Quinn McCormack
THANKS TO BRUCE GUTHRIE
See more of Bruce’s photography here ->
While we practice social distancing, we must come together online to support artists of every talent. Our CIFF partners at the American Film Institute Silver Theatre and Cultural Center are sharing their special talent for finding great films, new and old, in a Virtual Screening Room:
Until next time...
Co-Directors Mike Kerlin and Pat Reilly
A BUMP ALONG THE WAY - Opening Night & Reception
— Thursday, February 27, 2020 • 7:15 PM
Fun-loving, single mom Pamela (Bronagh Gallagher, THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD) knows how to have a good time — and she's not about to let a little thing like middle age stop her. Her teenage daughter Allegra (Lola Petticrew, winner of the New Talent Award at the 2019 Galway Film Fleadh) is the sensible one, focused on schoolwork, veganism and keeping up appearances among the small community in Derry. When Pamela has a fling with a stranger 20 years her junior and accidentally gets pregnant, Allegra is scandalized.
But once the shock wears off, the imminent arrival of the family's third member prompts a curious reversal: while Pamela becomes a health-conscious homebody, Allegra makes new friends, jazzes up her wardrobe and takes a shot at being a party girl. Mother and daughter swing to opposite extremes; if they can meet in the middle, they might just discover reserves of love and resourcefulness neither knew they had. (Note adapted from the Toronto International Film Festival.) Winner, Best Debut Irish Feature, 2019 Galway Film Fleadh. DIR Shelly Love; SCR Tess McGowan; PROD Louise Gallagher. UK, 2019, color, 95 min.
THE DIG
— Friday, February 28, 2020 • 5:00 PM
— Saturday, February 29, 2020 • 9:20 PM
Winner of Best Irish Feature at the 2018 Galway Film Fleadh, Andy and Ryan Tohill's feature debut is a gripping thriller in which a terrible crime committed long ago takes a painfully circuitous route to resolution. Finely scripted by Stuart Drennan, THE DIG surveys lives stalled by grief and trauma — and dark secrets hidden where almost no one can find them. After serving 15 years in prison for murder, Ronan Callahan (Moe Dunford, BLACK 47, DARK LIES THE ISLAND, ROSIE) returns to his rural Northern Ireland home to find his property dotted with flags and pockmarked with excavations. Sean (Lorcan Cranitch), the father of Ronan's victim, has spent the years since his daughter's disappearance digging relentlessly in search of her remains.
Ronan's reappearance reopens wounds for his victim's family, but there is the hope he might at least bring them some peace by revealing where the body was buried. The problem is that Ronan was drunk on the night of the crime and remembers nothing about it. Has he repressed those memories? Or is there a more troubling reason for his lack of recollection? (Note adapted from the Toronto International Film Festival.) DIR Andy Tohill, Ryan Tohill; SCR Stuart Drennan; PROD Brian J. Falconer. UK/Ireland, 2018, color, 97 min.
EXTRA ORDINARY
— Friday, February 28, 2020 • 7:05 PM
— Sunday, March 1, 2020 • 9:20 PM
In this charming supernatural comedy, Rose (newcomer Maeve Higgins), a sweet, lonely driving instructor living in rural Ireland, is gifted with extraordinary abilities. But Rose has a love/hate relationship with her "talents" and tries to ignore the constant spirit-related requests she receives from her neighbors — to exorcise possessed rubbish bins or haunted gravel. That is, until washed-up rock star Christian Winter (Will Forte, BOOKSMART, A FUTILE AND STUPID GESTURE, GOOD BOYS) makes a pact with the devil for a return to greatness and ends up casting a spell on a local teen. The young girl's terrified father, Martin (Barry Ward, MAZE), asks Rose to help save his daughter — but can she overcome the fear of her supernatural gift and work with Martin to save the day? (Note adapted from the SXSW Film Festival.) Winner, Best Irish Feature Film, 2019 Galway Film Fleadh. DIR/SCR Mike Ahern, Enda Loughman; SCR Demian Fox; PROD Ailish Bracken, Yvonne Donohoe, Katie Holly, Mary McCarthy. Ireland/Belgium, 2019, color, 94 min.
SEA FEVER
— Friday, February 28, 2020 • 9:30 PM
A bizarre creature hitches a ride on a departing trawler in this masterful genre film from Irish filmmaker Neasa Hardiman that leverages the mysteries of the sea to amplify the potential horrors of the unknown. Siobhán (Hermione Corfield) is a brilliant young marine biology student, more at home amidst laboratory equipment than people. As a component of her studies, she boards a trawler overseen by a couple (Dougray Scott and Connie Nielsen) whose amiable demeanor shields both financial worries and profound grief. Siobhán is not exactly welcomed aboard — her cool, scientific perspective is at odds with that of the salty, superstitious crew of "fishmen" and her red hair is considered bad luck. Not long after setting sail, the old ship's hull is glommed onto by a bizarre, bioluminescent creature of unknown genus. Recalling such genre hybrid classics as ALIEN and THE THING, SEA FEVER draws us in with richly constructed characters before rattling our senses with all manner of eerie sights and sounds. (Note adapted from the Toronto International Film Festival.) DIR/SCR Neasa Hardiman; PROD Brendan McCarthy, John McDonnell. Ireland/U.S./UK/Sweden/Belgium, 2019, color, 89 min.
CIFF 2020 SHORTS PROGRAM
— Saturday, February 29, 2020 • 12:00 PM
FIRST DISCO
It's 1983. Culture Club are number one, everyone's watching KNIGHT RIDER and Kelly Harrison is not only experiencing her first crush, she's also going to her first disco. The only problem? She's getting braces on her teeth right before the big night. DIR/SCR/PROD Helen O'Reilly; PROD David Christopher Lynch. Ireland, 2019, color, 19 min.
BOARDWALK (2019)
A young man seeking his father's approval finally confronts him about their relationship on a boardwalk across a bog in the Irish Midlands. DIR/SCR/PROD Finian Robbins; PROD Aoife Robbins. Ireland, 2019, color, 10 min.
STRAY (2019)
An elderly woman returns to her home after a violent break-in that has robbed her of her husband and her peace of mind. Now alone, only she can discover if she is ready, or able, to begin life again. DIR Sinéad O'Loughlin; SCR Gemma Doorly; PROD Kilian Waters. Ireland, 2019, color, 14 min.
LÚBTHA [QUEER]
Fintan is a young man coming to terms with his sexuality, dealing with domestic abuse and growing up in '90s Northern Ireland. Inspired by true events. DIR/SCR/PROD Ethan McDowell. UK, 2019, color, 14 min.
FACE IT AGAIN
Helen lives in fear of her cancer returning after the loss of her sister Emily to the disease. When Helen suspects she's found a new lump, past actions come sharply into focus, while her subconscious battles to help her make the right decisions. DIR/SCR Liam Flynn; PROD Leeona Duff. Ireland, 2019, color, 14 min.
THE ANDERSON CORPORATION WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE
Henry Martin has lived a pretty uneventful existence. He never lived up to his full potential, got his dream job or held onto his dream girl. But now he has a chance to fix all that: Henry has won a lottery where the prize is a trip back in time to change just one thing he did in his past. DIR/SCR/PROD Kealan Ryan; SCR/PROD Mark T. Ryan. Ireland, 2019, color, 13 min.
Total runtime approx. 84 min.
SEAMUS HEANEY AND THE MUSIC OF WHAT HAPPENS
Saturday, February 29, 2020 • 1:45 PM
Born into a farming family in rural Northern Ireland, Seamus Heaney became the finest poet of his generation and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995. His career coincided with one of the bloodiest political upheavals of the 20th century, the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Six years after Heaney's death in 2013, his wife Marie and his children talk about their family life and read some of the poems he wrote for them, and for the first time his four brothers remember their childhood and the shared experiences that inspired many of his finest works. (Note adapted from the BBC.) DIR/SCR Adam Low; PROD Dermot Lavery, Martin Rosenbaum. Ireland, 2019, color, 86 min.
(Photo by Antonio Olmos)
A GIRL FROM MOGADISHU
— Saturday, February 29, 2020 • 4:30 PM
Writer-director Mary McGuckian's powerful docudrama tells the inspiring true story of Irish-Somali activist Ifrah Ahmed. A refugee from war-torn Somalia in 2006, Ifrah is trafficked to Ireland, where a medical exam reveals the extent of her genital mutilation as a child. Tormented by the memory, she becomes a leading international activist against gender-based violence and female genital mutilation. Aja Naomi King (HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER) is striking as Ifrah. (Note adapted from the Edinburgh International Film Festival.) Winner, Audience Award, World Cinema Independent, 2019 Mill Valley Film Festival. DIR/SCR/PROD Mary McGuckian; PROD Adrian Politowski. Ireland/Belgium, 2019, color, 105 min.
DARK LIES THE ISLAND
— Saturday, February 29, 2020 • 7:15 PM
Sara (Charlie Murphy, HAPPY VALLEY, PEAKY BLINDERS) has married into the feuding Mannion family and is embroiled in a complex web of erotic dysfunction. Though her husband Daddy Mannion (Pat Shortt, THE GUARD), 20 years her senior, is a big cheese in a small town, she is wholly disengaged and filled with marital ennui. She is, however, smitten by his estranged son, criminal recluse Doggy Mannion (Peter Coonan, THE DRUMMER AND THE KEEPER), and is also involved with Daddy's younger son, failed chicken farmer Martin (Moe Dunford, BLACK 47, THE DIG, ROSIE). An uneasy truce prevails, but the family's long-simmering feud looks set to erupt as the sons try to overthrow their domineering father. Director Ian Fitzgibbon (DEATH OF A SUPERHERO) delivers a pitch-black comedic portrait of small-town Ireland wrought from the dark recesses of novelist Kevin Barry's mind, and filmed on the Leitrim-Sligo-Roscommon borderland. (Note adapted from the Irish Film Institute.) Winner, Audience Choice Award, 2019 Dublin International Film Festival. DIR Ian Fitzgibbon; SCR Kevin Barry, from his short story collection; PROD Michael Garland. Ireland, 2019, color, 87 min.
GAZA
— Sunday, March 1, 2020 • 1:00 PM
Special Features: 2019 Oscar® Selection, Ireland
Facing the serene Mediterranean Sea, 17-year-old Karma Khaial stands at the water's edge and senses freedom. But in Gaza, the sea is yet another wall restricting the lives and dreams of its inhabitants. This elegantly shot and masterfully crafted portrait of Palestinian life offers a rare chance to be immersed in the heart of Gaza, as we glimpse behind the walls of this misunderstood land to get to know the real people who inhabit it. Inside a Gaza City taxi, we meet a teacher, a student and a barber, who all share their dreams and daily predicaments with the driver, Ahmed, using surprising humor and candor.
Ahmed could take them anywhere — except that a decade-old blockade makes it nearly impossible to leave the enclave. Like its people, Gaza's landscape feels kaleidoscopic: colorful yet pained, fragile yet resilient, ancient while looking to the future. Memory plays heavily on its consciousness. But life moves in cycles in Gaza, and, in spite of everything, joy and humanity can be found in every corner of this mosaic of life. (Note adapted from the Sundance Film Festival.) Winner, Dublin Film Critics Award, Best Documentary, 2019 Dublin International Film Festival. DIR/SCR/PROD Garry Keane, Andrew McConnell; PROD Brendan J. Byrne, Paul Cadieux. Ireland/Canada, 2019, color, 92 min. In Arabic with English subtitles.
KATIE
— Sunday, March 1, 2020 • 3:00 PM
Winner of the Best Irish Feature Documentary Award at the 2018 Galway Film Fleadh, KATIE follows champion boxer Katie Taylor as she attempts to rebuild her career after a year of turmoil threatened to derail it. Katie Taylor has won six amateur European championships, five world amateur championships and is an Olympic Gold Medal winner from the London 2012 Olympic Games. She turned professional after a disastrous campaign at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, which saw her crash out in the first round despite being the favorite to win.
This film unravels the deeply personal reasons behind the career low and shows the champion's grit and determination to start over as a professional. Within a year, Taylor won her first world title and became the first woman in history to headline her own Sky Sports show. She added the IBF title to her WBA crown and is now one of only seven professional women boxers to hold unified titles across the different weight divisions in the sport. (Note adapted from Galway Film Fleadh.) DIR/SCR/PROD Ross Whitaker; PROD Aideen O'Sullivan. Ireland, 2018, color, 89 min.
SHOOTING THE DARKNESS
— Sunday, March 1, 2020 • 5:00 PM
Documentarian Tom Burke (LOSING ALASKA) artfully tells the powerful stories of the Irish men who unwittingly became war photographers on the streets of their own towns during the Troubles. They did not leave home in search of war and adventure; the violence erupted around them. They expected careers of wedding photography and beauty pageants instead of the images they produced during the worst years of the conflict. As the complexity of those days fades from memory, we are left with the images. What did it cost them to take those pictures? What was the value of those images as the conflict raged on for 25 years? Did they help Northern Ireland move beyond the cycle of violence, or did they just sell more newspapers? The question of the value of their pictures is still unresolved for most of these men. As they age out of their roles in the press, this is a final opportunity to record the perspectives of these firsthand observers of history and to tell the stories behind the images. (Note courtesy of Broadstone Films.) DIR/SCR Tom Burke; PROD Thomas Kelly, Jessie Fisk, Alan Maher. Ireland, 2019, color/b&w, 60 min.
CUMAR: A GALWAY RHAPSODY
— Sunday, March 1, 2020 • 7:00 PM
Guest Q&A and Reception
The diverse glories of the city of Galway, celebrated in song, performance and image, make this lyrical, bilingual documentary a must for any lover of all things Irish. Set in a lush, green countryside at the edge of the sea, Galway has long attracted Ireland's most adventurous storytellers in every medium and genre. The confluence of cultural riches evokes the mystical and mythical elements that make Galway a legend in its own right, as director Aodh Ó Coileáin (THE LARK'S VIEW) explores the entrancing work of a host of varied artists. Included are musician/composer Máirtín O'Connor, novelist Mike McCormack, poet Rita Ann Higgins, singer/songwriter Róisín Seoighe, visual artist Pádraic Reaney and comedian Tommy Tiernan. (Note adapted from the Gene Siskel Film Center.) Winner, Best Documentary Award, 2019 Irish Film Festival London. DIR/SCR Aodh Ó Coileáin; PROD Aisling Ní Fhlaithearta, Paddy Hayes. Ireland, 2019, color, 72 min. In English and Irish with English subtitles.
The Capital Irish Film Festival (CIFF) celebrates annually the best of new Irish comedies, dramas, documentaries, shorts and animation, and particularly welcomes Irish language films. The four-day event, on the first weekend in March, is presented in partnership with the American Film Institute and with a heavy assist from the Irish Film Institute, Screen Ireland and the Irish Arts Council. Thanks to the support of Culture Ireland, CIFF hosts visiting directors, producers and actors and makes them available for talkbacks and conversation after screenings. In its 14th year, CIFF is again presented at the American Film Institute Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in downtown Silver Spring, MD.
CIFF also produces Irish Popcorn! an occasional free film series. For a heads up on that and the other contemporary arts presentations, get on our mailing list under “Get Involved” on the Home Page. For more on Irish film and filmmakers, go to Film News under the Film dropdown list.
