On Friday, March 22, we hosted the New England premieres of FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY, our 2019 Director’s Choice Feature and LATE AFTERNOON, our Director’s Choice Short Film! This stellar Friday night program featured two of Ireland's most talked about films of the year; FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY won the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Prize for the Discovery Program at the 2018 Toronto Film Festival and LATE AFTERNOON was nominated for Best Animated Short at this year's Oscars.
FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY
Director’s Choice Feature Film 2019
FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY
2018/Ireland (101 minutes)
Director: Carmel Winters
SPECIAL GUESTS
Lead actors Hazel Doupe and Dara Devaney, Director Carmel Winters and Production Designer Toma McCullim.
Q&A to follow the screening.
From the producers of ONCE and SING STREET, FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY is a powerful and timely story of a girl's fight for freedom and belonging.
Teenage Irish Traveller Frances (Hazel Doupe) lost her mother in a fight. The same fight which led to her father (Dara Devaney) being locked up in jail for the last ten years. Frances has never forgiven the police sergeant who she feels is responsible for this. She’s got fighting in her blood, just like her idol Muhammad Ali inspiring her to be the Greatest.
When her father gets out of jail, Frances is starry-eyed. Together they can take on the world. But her father doesn’t turn out to be the hero she remembers. Required to keep the peace due to the conditions of his parole, he’s forced to endure humiliation from the police sergeant (Aidan O’Hare), much to Frances’ horror. And to make up for lost time, he is determined to make a man of his son and an obedient wife of his daughter.
Frances never wanted to clash with her beloved father, but when he forces her to give up her dream of boxing and behave like a “lady”, she is left with no choice. Cast out by the world and her family alike, Frances must fight even for the right to fight. Some people say it doesn’t matter whether you win or lose. But Frances knows that losing is not an option? This is a fight she has been training for all her life. And she knows, the only way she can end this war is to win it.
played with
LATE AFTERNOON
Director’s Choice Short Film
LATE AFTERNOON
2017/Ireland (10 minutes)
Director: Louise Bagnall
Emily is an elderly woman who lives between two states, the past and the present. She journeys into an inner world, reliving moments from her life and searching for a connection within her fragmented memories.
MAZE
Saturday, March 23, 2019
MAZE, our 2018 Director's Choice Feature, opened in Boston this March for a limited run at the Somerville Theatre. On Saturday, March 23, we hosted a special screening at the Somerville Theatre to launch the film's New England release.
Actor Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Director Stephen Burke and Producer Jane Doolan in person - Q&A
MAZE
2017/Ireland (92 min)
Director: Stephen Burke
Maze is based on the true story of the 1983 mass breakout of 38 IRA prisoners from the HMP Maze high-security prison. As Larry Marley, the chief architect of the escape, schemes his way towards this feat, he meets prison warden, Gordon Close.
Initially they are confirmed enemies, born of opposite sides of Northern Ireland's political divide, but when Larry realizes that Gordon may be useful for his escape, a slow seduction begins. What follows is an intense and intriguing drama during which an unlikely relationship is forged between two adversaries.
LOST AND FOUND
Sunday, March 24, 2019
LOST AND FOUND
2018/Ireland (96 minutes)
Director: Liam O Mochain
LOST AND FOUND is a feature film with 7 interconnecting stories set in and around a Lost and Found office of an Irish train station. All segments are inspired by true stories, share a theme of something lost or found and characters that come in and out of each other’s lives.