CIFF2025 - THE IRISH QUESTION

THE IRISH QUESTION ciff image

THE IRISH QUESTION

Saturday, March 1 • 2:00 PM • T2

Q&A with director Alan Gilsenan and writer John Walsh, moderated by Dr. Darragh Gannon, Assistant Teaching Professor and Associate Director of Global Irish Studies, Georgetown University

Documentary Feature | North American Premiere 

Screening generously sponsored by Coilín Parsons & Ryan Dolan

This provocative, poetic and cinematic meditation from acclaimed filmmaker Alan Gilsenan ponders the prospect of a united Ireland. With the likelihood of a border poll becoming an increasing possibility, is there full understanding what that could mean for all those living on the island of Ireland? Or could Ireland stumble into some possible future as Britain once sleep-walked into Brexit? With unique contributions from the likes of Leo Varadkar, Bill Clinton, Mary-Lou McDonald, Mike Nesbitt, Monica McWilliams, John Major, Susan McKay, Bertie Ahern, Fintan O’Toole, Gerry Adams, Linda Ervine and Peter Mandelson, amongst many others, THE IRISH QUESTION takes a fresh and sometimes surprising look at the dark trauma of the past and the unique possibilities of the future. 

DIR Alan Gilsenan; SCR John Walsh; PROD Martin Mahon. Ireland, 2024, color, 93 min. NOT RATED

🎟 For further information regarding bookings: 
Please call 301-495-6720 between M-F, 9 AM - 5:30 PM or email silverinfo@AFI.com

SPECIAL GUESTS
Alan Gilsenan headshot

Alan Gilsenan is an award-winning Irish writer, film-maker and theatre director. His diverse body of film work extends across documentary, feature films and experimental work. His latest film The Days of Trees - a reflection on trauma and memory - premiered at the 2023 International Film Festival last autumn. He is a former Chairperson of the Irish Film Institute, as well as a member of the boards of both Screen Ireland and Ireland’s national broadcaster RTÉ. He has also recently been appointed Chairperson Fighting Words, a national organisation that facilitates creative writing for children & young people.

 


John Walsh headshot

John Walsh is the writer and co-producer of The Irish Question. He is a Dublin-based journalist and author. As a columnist, his work has appeared in The Guardian, The Irish Times, The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph and The Business Post. He is the Managing Editor of Quartet Publishing, a Dublin/London headquartered company specialising in non-fiction books. Walsh is also a part-time lecturer in the School of Journalism at Dublin City University. Previous roles include Deputy Ireland Editor for The Times, Business Editor of The Irish Examiner, Markets Correspondent at Reuters and Researcher at the BBC. His biography of Peter Sutherland, ‘The Globalist’ was published by Harper Collins. Walsh has an MA in International Political Economy from University College Cork and a Postgraduate Diploma in print journalism.


ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Darragh Gannon

Dr. Darragh Gannon serves as Assistant Teaching Professor and Associate Director of Global Irish Studies at Georgetown University. He also served as Fulbright Irish Scholar in the Department of History at Georgetown University beginning in 2022. Dr. Gannon has published widely on the history of the Irish diaspora and the Irish Revolution, including Proclaiming a Republic: Ireland, 1916 and the National Collection (Irish Academic Press, 2016), Ireland 1922: independence, partition, civil war, with Fearghal McGarry (Royal Irish Academy, 2021), and Conflict, Diaspora, and Empire: Irish nationalism in Britain, 1912-1922 (Cambridge University Press, 2023). He is currently completing a fourth book, with Cambridge University Press: Worlds of Revolution: Ireland’s ‘global moment’, 1919-1923


The Capital Irish Film Festival is supported by the Government of Ireland Emigrant Support Programme, Culture Ireland, Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, Embassy of Ireland, Northern Ireland Bureau, Northern Ireland Screen, and the Irish Film Institute’s IFI International Programme supported by Culture Ireland. Solas Nua is supported by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities.


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