Comes the 11th edition IRISH FILM FESTIVAL, the festival entirely dedicated to the Irish film 21 al 25 March 2018, as usual at the Casa del Cinema in Rome.
“While the Irish film continues to grow and surprise, our festival welcomes an increasing number of films and filmmakers who come also from Northern Ireland. The rest, IRISH FILM FESTIVAL has always looked to Ireland as an island artistically united, we were a manifestation 'All Ireland’ since the first edition”, says the artistic director Susanna Pellis.
IRISH FILM FESTIVAL dedicated, as always, ample space for short films: the competition section was born in 2010 and this year includes sixteen works, si affianca Making Shorts, a study panel on the short film industry in the Irish and Northern Irish film will be attended by directors, distributors and industry professionals. Out of competition it will also be presented The poor mouth (The Poor Mouth) the renowned director Tom Collins, first animated adaptation of the only novel in Gaelic Irish journalist and writer Flann O'Brien, premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh 2017.
Among the feature films in the 11th edition of the program IRISH FILM FESTIVAL, we'll see Song of Granite at Pat Collins: highly original retelling of the biopic genre applied to the life and art of the Irish singer Joe Heaney (1919 – 1984). Described by Variety as "a solemn, moving and surprisingly radical ", Song of Granite He won the award for Best Cinematography (in Richard Kendrick) al Galway Film Fleadh 2017, and he received three nominations for the Irish Film - Irish Film & Television Awards, including Best Picture.
Inspired by real events it is also Maze di Stephen Burke, evasion of 38 detainees 
Republicans from prison of Long Kesh in 1983. They will be at the festival director, producer Jane Doolan and starring Barry Ward (remember in Jimmy’s Hall in Ken Loach, Pursuit Paul Mercier IFF saw two years ago, The Accabadora The Enrico Pau). Maze He has achieved a great success in Ireland (It is currently the Irish film to have earned more in the first weekend in room, record previously held by Room di Lenny Abrahamson) and he was nominated for four awards IFTA.
No Party for Billy Burns, written and directed by newcomer Padraig Conaty, It is a contemporary western set in Cavan town, the border with Northern Ireland. Conaty will attend the festival also You’re not a Man at All, one of the short films in competition.
Italian premiere we'll see Kissing Candice, film debut of music video director
Musical Aoife McArdle just past the Toronto Film Festival and the Berlinale. Kissing Candice It merges with reality effectiveness, in dreams and imagination to play out fantasies of an adolescent. In the role of the father of the protagonist, Northern Irish actor John Lynch.
The documentary Rocky Ros Muc Michael Fanning tells the life and sporting career of Sean Mannion, Irish boxer from Connemara who emigrated to Boston in years 70. Rocky Ros Muc It was presented in Boston Irish Film Festival and won the prize for best documentary at the Galway Film Fleadh 2017.
Handsome Devil is the new film written and directed by John Butler, IRISH FILM FESTIVAL of which had already submitted The Stag (The Stag - If I survive I'm getting married, 2014); Handsome Devil is a gentle tale set in training college, one study, rugby and important realizations. Alongside the two young protagonists Fionn O'Shea and Nicholas Galitzine, Andrew Scott Moe Dunford and stand in the role of teachers.
Does not it break the link between IRISH FILM FESTIVAL and Cartoon Saloon, I study 
Animation based in Kilkenny increasingly appreciated internationally: after The Secret of Kells (2009) e Song of the Sea (The song of the sea, 2014), the festival will screen The Breadwinner di Nora Twomey. Greeted with enthusiasm on the festival circuit and was nominated for an Oscar 2018, The Breadwinner It is based on the novel of the Canadian Deborah Ellis (published in Italy by BUR with the title The Breadwinner) and starring Parvana, an Afghan girl who lives under the Taliban. The films of Nora Twomey, which involved in the production also Angelina Jolie, is an ode to the power of stories and imagination, brought to the screen through a thorough research on the visual culture of Afghanistan and fables.
As part of the new section #IFFbooks, dedicated to Irish literature, IRISH FILM FEAST finally present My Astonishing Self: Gabriel Byrne on George Bernard Shaw, a documentary made by Gerry Hoban for RTÉ (the Irish public television) and BBC in which the famous actor Gabriel Byrne guide viewers to discover the life and works of Shaw. A Gabriel Byrne, which this year received the IFTA Lifetime Achievement Award, also binds the choice Irish Classic, Into the West (Tir-na-nOg - It is forbidden to bring horses into town, 1992): written by Jim Sheridan and directed by Mike Newell, the film is a modern fairy tale set in the world of Traveller, Irish nomadic ethnic group. Nel cast, in addition to Byrne, Ellen Barkin, Colm Meaney e Brendan Gleeson.
#IFFbooks then plans a meeting with the award-winning Irish writer Paul Lynch, author of three novels: Red Sky in Morning (Red sky in the morning, 2013), already published in Italian by the publisher 66thand2nd, The Black Snow (2014) e Grace (2017). The Lynch-style, compared to that of Seamus Heaney and Cormac McCarthy, He has received praise from renowned Irish writers such as Sebastian Barry and Colm Tóibín.
IRISH FILM FEAST is produced by the cultural Archimedia and implemented in collaboration with Irish Film Institute; with the support of Culture Ireland, Irish Film Board, Tourism Ireland; and sponsored by the Irish Embassy in Italy and Rome Libraries.
In detail the program:
WEDNESDAY 21 MARCH
20:00 - Greeting the Ambassador of Ireland, S.E. Colm Flynn
following, Movie Opening: Handsome Devil (2016, J. Butler) 90’
[the film will be preceded by a short The Date, 16’]
THURSDAY 22 MARCH
15:00 — Panel: MAKING SHORTS - The sector in the Irish film shorts
19:00 — #IFFbooks: IrishFilmFesta meets Paul Lynch (writer)
21:00 — Rocky Ros Muc (2017, M. Fanning) 92’
[the film will be preceded by a short Guard, 14’]
FRIDAY 23 MARCH
16:30 — Short Films in Competition: Live Action
Listen – Gustav – Lava Lisa – Marky’s Bad Week – QED – The Jar – A Break in the Clouds
19:00 — Short Films in Competition: Animation
The poor mouth / The Poor Mouth (out of competition, introduced by John McCourt, University of Macerata)
Departure – RECs – Late Afternoon – The Line
21:00 — Kissing Candice (2017, A. McArdle) 103’
[the film will be preceded by a short The Captors, 16’]
SATURDAY 24 MARCH
15:30 — Irish Classic: Into the West (1992, M. Newell) 97‘
[the film will be preceded by a short You’re Not a Man at All, 10’]
18:00 — Maze (2017, S. Burke) 92’
Following, Q&A with director Stephen Burke, producer Jane Doolan and starring Barry Ward
21:00 — Omaggio a Cartoon Saloon:
The Breadwinner (2017, N. Twomey) 88’
Speaker Louise Bagnall, Creative Director di Cartoon Saloon
[the film will be preceded by a short Late Afternoon, 10’]
SUNDAY 25 MARCH
16:00 — Song of Granite (2017, P. Collins) 100’ – introduce Kay McCarthy
[the film will be preceded by a short Native, 14’]
18:30 — My Astonishing Self: Gabriel Byrne on George Bernard Shaw
(2017, G. Hoban ) 54’ – Interviene Joanna Fallon, Roma Tre University
following: Q&A with director Gerry Hoban
20:30 - IFF Shorts Awards - Award Winners of Short Films
following, closure film: No Party for Billy Burns (2016, P. Conaty) 86’
Speaker director Padraig Conaty
ACCESS PROCEDURES FOR THE PUBLIC
The screenings and meetings are all free entry until seats.
For more screenings of visitors, especially on weekends, you can pick up directly at the House of Cinema free tickets for entry 45 minutes Before the beginning.
Viewers who choose to support the festival with a minimum donation of 50 euro will have a reserved seat for the entire event. A minimum donation of 30 euro instead it will entitle the place reserved for the screenings and meetings on Saturday 24 is Sunday 25 March. Payment must be made within Monday 19 March and it must be given communication address irishfilmfesta@gmail.com
visitors 2018
Louise Bagnall, director
Stephen Burke, director
Siobhan Cassidy, producer
Ed Cleary, director
Eibh Collins, Galway Film Fleadh
Padraig Conaty, director
Jane Doolan, producer
Gerry Hoban, director
Paul Lynch, writer
Christine Morrow, Northern Ireland Screen
Derry O’Brien, Network Ireland Television
Gar O'Brien, Galway Film Fleadh
Barry Ward, actor