something Pellis was keen to emphasise when asked about her inspiration for the festival.
“Irish Film Festa started in 2007, originating from my desire to present Irish films (and actors!) to Italy, where nobody knew anything about Irish cinema. The festival has grown year after year since then, and so has Irish cinema, which is now very creative, inspiring, and full of surprises: I am very pleased because I knew this was coming. I am very happy also with the festival's selection this year, the quality of the features and particularly of the shorts is very high. Moreover, a large part of selection comes from Northern Ireland, confirming and reinforcing the 'All Ireland' spirit of our festival."
The ‘creative, inspiring and surprising’ output of Irish Cinema over the last number of years was on full display at the festival which opened on wednesday 21st March with John Butler’s sublime Handsome Devil. This was preceded by a welcome address by the Irish Ambassador to Italy, S.E. Colm Ó Floinn to an audience which was made up more by interested Italian cinephiles, film students, and the general public than the usually high numbers of the Irish diaspora which often attend this sort of event. Over the course of the week it became more and more fascinating hearing the perspective of a wide cross-section of Italians of all ages on the current crop of Irish Cinema.
Thursday kicked off with a unique insight into The Short FIlm Sector of the Irish Film Industry with the Panel Making Shorts. Despite a city-wide transport strike the event was full of aspiring Italian filmmakers eager to glean all theinsight they could from the panelists Derry O'Brien, Short Film Distributor and Managing director of Network Ireland Television, and Eibh Collins, Ireland’s unofficial Short-film ambassador, Shorts programmer at the Galway Film Fleadh, manager of IndieCork, Irish Screen New York and LA, and has programmer of Irish shorts in places ranging from Malta to Luxembourg to everywhere in between.* O’Brien displayed all of his near three decades of experience in the sector with an engaging and informative overview of the do’s and don’ts of short film distribution. With countless Oscar winners on his slate, few are better placed to do so. Collins, who has seen virtually every Irish Short film over the last five years, gave her own advise on the avoidable pitfalls that she sees on an almost daily basis. (Pro tip: Stop opening with drone shots, we get it, Ireland has trees.) That this wide-ranging and detailed discussion was translated on the fly to the audience and panelists via headsets and a translator seemingly well versed in Irish idioms and swearing was doubly impressive. The discussion continued long after the panel with eager young italian filmmakers chatting in the cinema bar with the panelists for an hour after the screening.
Up next the festival launched its new #IFFbooks section, dedicated to Irish literature, with a conversation with award-winning Irish writer Paul Lynch, author of three novels: Red Sky in the Morning ( 2013) The Black Snow (2014, winner in France of the Prix Libr'à Nous for the best foreign novel and the Prix des Lecteurs Privat) and Grace (2017, candidate for Walter Scott Prize). Lynch's style, has been compared to that of Seamus Heaney and Cormac McCarthy and received praise from established Irish writers such as Sebastian Barry and Colm Tóibín. At another festival such a literary event may have stood out like a sore thumb but it fit perfectly with the tone of the festival and bodes well for the future of the festival and potentially incorporating a wider array of Irish culture.
This was followed by a screening of Michael Fanning’s Rocky Ros Muc. The doc, which one Best Irish Documentary at the Galway Film Fleadh in 2017 is for the most part told in the Irish Language and follows Sean Mannion, an Irish boxer who emigrated from Connemara to Boston in the 70s. The film was preceded by the short Guard by Jonathan Harden, the story of a young woman who learns to box from her ex-convict father. (Both films no doubt a personal delight for our pugilist-turned-programmer, Pellis). Once again it was an energising experience to see a largely indigenous audience experiencing an incredibly personal Irish story (Both in terms of emigration and the Irish Language) and hear their perspective on the fascinating story.
On Friday short films took over for most of the day with both a live action and animation Short Film competition taking centre stage. The former showcased films such as A Break in the Clouds from Tristan Heanue, Captors by Chris Baugh, director of last year’s fantastic Bad Day for the Cut, The Date by Selina Cartmell, the afore-mentioned Guard, Gustav by Denis Fitzpatrick and Ken Williams, The Jar by Carleton Rodgers, Listen by David Moody, Lava Lisa by Edward Cleary, Marky’s Bad Week by Daniel Holmwood and Padraig Conaty’s You’re Not a Man at All. Galway was well represented with work from two female directors, Amy Joyce-Hastings QED and Linda Breathnach’s Patrick Bergin-lead Native.
Following this Ireland’s continued excellence in animation was celebrated with a fine selection of short pieces. Opening proceedings was an out-of-competition screening of Tom Collins’ adaption of Flann O’Brien’s An Béal Bocht / The Poor Mouth. This was preceded by a fascinating and in-depth introduction by John McCourt, professor of English Literature at the University of Macerata, who alternated between English, Italian and Irish throughout. An impressive feat, especially as his obvious passion for the topic, and the warmth and humour with which he delivered it, translating effortlessly across all three languages. The festival’s continued juxtaposition of contemporary film with literary interrogation continued to reap dividends and inform a unique aspect of Film Festa Roma. The rest of the programme enchanted the assembled audience with Steve Woods’ Coranna, Dillon Brannick’s The Line, Departure by Aoife Doyle and Cartoon Saloon’s Late Afternoon by Louise Bagnall, which had pretty much the whole
Rocky Ros Muc
Rocky Ros Muc
20 CinÉireann / April 2018