Film Ireland Podcast

In this podcast, Gemma Creagh talks to Frank Berry about his film Aisha. Aisha (Letitia Wright), a young Nigerian woman seeking asylum in Ireland, is floundering in a maze of social services and bureaucracy. Alone and unwilling to sacrifice her dignity to satisfy the demands of the authorities, she finds an ally in Conor (Josh O’Connor), an employee at her residence home, a local young man with a troubled past of his own. Together they struggle to maintain their tender friendship in the face of Aisha’s increasingly dire predicament and her rapidly diminishing options. Aisha is available on Sky Cinema & Now TV. https://filmireland.net/ Garter Lane Arts Centre is hosting a special screening of Aisha on Feb 1st with Waterford Area Partnerships Mukisa group, members of the migrant community who locally worked closely with Director Frank Berry during the making of this award winning film. Frank will be present on the evening and will lead a Q&A with members of Mukisa members after the screening. Details and t

In this Film Ireland podcast, Gemma Creagh talks to Gerard Lough, the Writer and Director of 'Spears'. Packed with twists and turns, Spears kicks off when a Private Investigator is sent from Ireland to Florence, Italy to track down a woman who mysteriously vanished there. Meanwhile in London, a Dissident Republican does an arm’s deal with a new seller he does not trust. In Berlin, a scam artist spends a weekend with a married woman he tries to convince to leave with him. Each of the three men make a startling discovery which forces them to team up back in Ireland and take revenge on those who have wronged them. Fittingly, the film’s title is taken from the Emily Bronte quote; “Treachery and violence are spears pointed by both ends; they wound those who resort to them worse than their enemies.” Typical of the Neo Noir genre, the film is a stylish looking affair with tension and fear in abundance but trust in short supply. Over half of the film was shot in Donegal, Ireland with the rest of filming taking place

In this Film Ireland podcast, Gemma Creagh talks to Alan Gilsenan, Director of Ghosts of Baggotonia. Ghosts of Baggotonia is a haunting and visually captivating film-poem exploring the literary and other ghosts of the bohemian quarter bordering Dublin’s Baggot Street during the mid-20th century. “Baggotonia” as it has become known – was both a permeable geographic area and a cultural movement, populated by writers, artists and other intellectuals living an anarchic life at odds with the over-arching drabness and the conservative mores of the time. Inspired by a rare collection of photographs from artist Nevill Johnson, the film is shot in starkly beautiful Leica monotone and draws upon writings from the period, including Patrick Kavanagh, Elizabeth Bowen, Samuel Beckett, Blanaid Salkeld, John Montague, Eavan Boland, Paul Durcan, Ethna McCarthy, Thomas Kinsella amongst many others. This stunning film is also an act of psycho-geography as well as a personal meditation on Alan Gilsenan’s childhood, where he

In this Film Ireland podcast, Gemma Creagh talks to Luke McManus about his documentary musical North Circular. North Circular travels the length of Dublin’s fabled North Circular Road, from the Phoenix Park to Dublin Port, meeting characters and hearing their personal stories, often told in music and song. The film celebrates the vibrant cultural heritage of the various neighbourhoods the road connects, along with the addressing the challenges of living along the famed road. These character’s stories are both heartfelt and intimate. But they also evoke narratives from Irish history: imperialism, revolution, incarceration, institutionalisation, the housing crisis, and the struggle for gender equality. Told in black and white 4:3 Academy ratio, North Circular also engages with urgent contemporary issues, including the battle to save the legendary Cobblestone Pub, centre of Dublin’s new folk and trad scene, from destruction at the hands of property developers. The film includes searing musical performances

In this Film Ireland podcast, Gemma Creagh talks to Anna Rodgers and Shaun Dunne about their film How to Tell A Secret. A powerful examination of the experiences of people who are living with HIV in Ireland today, How to Tell A Secret is a hybrid documentary film that looks at social stigma and the art of telling your story. Robbie Lawlor was diagnosed with HIV at 21 and became one of the youngest people to come out on Irish television. Enda McGrattan, also known as Veda, promised to keep their HIV status a secret for a decade but eventually broke free by releasing a song. And a group of Irish and migrant women, who cannot show their faces, found creative ways to have their voices heard… In this compelling film, directors Anna Rodgers and Shaun Dunne use documentary, performance and genre-blurring storytelling techniques to communicate a powerful message. The stories in this film move between bodies of young men, migrant women, drag artists and activists. Featuring a cast of actors as well as ordinary peop

In this Film Ireland podcast, Gemma Creagh talks to Gavin Fitzgerald, Director of Million Dollar Pigeons. The Irish documentary is about the passionate and ferociously competitive international pigeon masters, known as fanciers, that will do whatever it takes to win. Big bucks, sweat, tears and sleepless nights are invested into these feathered athletes, yet on race day all they can do is wait, hope and pray. Fitzgerald’s guide into this competitive racing world is Ireland-based pigeon fancier John O’Brien. A father of two, he has 60 pigeons, including race winner “Big Balls”, that he routinely trains. Citing a vision that appeared to him while hallucinating at confirmation that he was meant to be in the sport, O’Brien has a big dream he wants to achieve. Flying under the radar are a group of pigeon masters from the US, Thailand, China and South Africa, competing in one of the most lucrative bird races on the planet. Each event is stranger and more exciting than the last. When scandal taints the crown-jewe

In this Film Ireland Podcast, Gemma Creagh talks to Ciara NicChormaic, Director of Aisling Trí Néallaibh: Clouded Reveries. Acclaimed poet and essayist Doireann Ní Ghríofa was catapulted into the international literary spotlight in 2020 with the publication of her debut novel A Ghost in the Throat. Lauded by the critics from the New York Times to the Guardian, it went on to win the Irish Book of the Year. Clouded Reveries is an intimate exploration of Ní Ghríofa’s world and creative process. It is a film about memories, motherhood and the mysterious nature of creativity. Captured through intimate performances of her own work and in-depth interviews, the film reveals Ní Ghríofa’s creative impulses and journeys with her to the heart of her inspiration, her home place in Co. Clare. Aisling Trí Néallaibh: Clouded Reveries is in cinemas from 11th November 2022.

Paul Farren talks to Wayne Byrne about his latest book Walter Hill: The Cinema of a Hollywood Maverick. Walter Hill: The Cinema of a Hollywood Maverick is a comprehensive journey through the long career of auteur Hollywood filmmaker Walter Hill, director of The Driver, The Warriors, Southern Comfort, 48 Hrs., Streets of Fire and many more. The book covers every motion picture that Hill directed, with historical detail and critical commentary on each, and discusses Hill’s overall cultural relevance and industrial impact. It includes candid conversations with Hill; producer Larry Gordon; actors Nicholas Guest, William Sadler and Michael Pare; cinematographers Lloyd Ahern and Matthew Leonetti; composers Van Dyke Parks and David Mansfield; screenwriter Larry Gross, and others who worked with Hill throughout his prolific career. Walter Hill: The Cinema of a Hollywood Maverick is out now. Wayne will be celebrating the release of Walter Hill: The Cinema of a Hollywood Maverick in Naas Library on November 18th fr

In this podcast, Gremma Creagh talks to Seamus Murphy, the director of The Peculiar Sensation of Being Pat Ingoldsby. The film examines Irish writer Pat Ingoldsby’s unique world. Ingoldsby’s poems and candid anecdotes bear witness to a visceral relationship with his beloved Dublin, fellow Dubliners and anything that catches his interest. Personal challenges, a sensitive humanity and a lifetime as a maverick have taught him to harness reality and reach well beyond it to avenge the banal with absurd magic. It heals him as it does us. The Peculiar Sensation of Being Pat Ingoldsby in Irish cinemas from 4th November 2022. https://filmireland.net/

We are thrilled to be once again partnering with Still Voices Film Festival to bring you a series of podcasts with artists featured at the international film festival located in the heart of Ireland. In this podcast, Gemma Creagh talks to Robert Higgins and Patrick McGivney, writers & directors of Longford-shot Lakelands. After an attack on a night out, Cian, a young Gaelic footballer, struggles to come to terms with a career-ending injury. Lakelands follows him as he undertakes a search for his own identity in a small town in the Midlands, where Gaelic football is a religion and identity is defined by what you can do on the pitch. Lakelands was filmed on location in Granard, Co. Longford, and stars Éanna Hardwicke (Normal People, Vivarium), Danielle Galligan (Netflix’s Shadow and Bone), Lorcan Cranitch (Bloodlands, The Dig), Dafhyd Flynn (Michael Inside), Dara Devaney (Ar-racht), and Gary Lydon (Calvary). Lakelands is produced by Robert Higgins and Patrick McGivney for Harp Media, with Chris Higgins and

We are thrilled to be once again partnering with Still Voices Film Festival to bring you a series of podcasts with artists featured at the international film festival located in the heart of Ireland. In this Dance-themed podcast, Niamh Creely talks to the creators behind 3 films that screen at this year’s festival. In Velvet (Jessica Kennedy & Megan Kennedy) A child sits alone on a beach. A man approaches and they set off on a journey, driving through the Irish landscape of green parks and stunted suburbs. A herd of deer graze nearby with their antlers peeling away: a shedding to transform into something new.There is an unsettled empty space that hangs between the child and the man. Will they continue on the road together or apart? In Velvet is a short dance film created by the award winning company Junk Ensemble and commissioned by Irish Arts Centre | New York City. amser/time (Deborah Light) In the intertidal zone, between land and sea, three people move through three remarkable sites along Bae Ce

We are thrilled to once again be partnering with Still Voices Film Festival to bring you a series of podcasts with artists featured at the international film festival located in the heart of Ireland. In this podcast, Gemma Creagh talks to Ballymahon artist Adrian Duncan about his new short film Lost Colony. A film told from the centre circle of a football pitch. It is a poetic analysis of the aesthetics of football. Lost Colony screens on 11th November 2022 as part of the Still Voices Film Festival. Followed by a Q&A between director Adrian Duncan and John Connell. Still Voices Film Festival runs from November 9th – 13th 2022. Adrian Duncan is an artist and award-winning writer based in Ireland and Berlin. His debut novel Love Notes from a German Building Site was published by The Lilliput Press and Head of Zeus in 2019. It won the 2019 John McGahern Book Prize. In 2020 he was shortlisted for the Dalkey Literary Awards Emerging Writer. www.adrianduncan.eu

We are thrilled to once again be partnering with Still Voices Film Festival to bring you a series of podcasts with artists featured at the international film festival located in the heart of Ireland. In this Horror special podcast, Paul Farren talks to Marie Clare Cushinan & Ryan O’Neill and Derek Ugochukwu about their films screening at the festival. Still Voices Film Festival runs from November 9th – 13th 2022. Take a look at the programme here: stillvoicesfilmfestival.com/ https://filmireland.net/

We are thrilled to once again be partnering with Still Voices Film Festival to bring you a series of podcasts with artists featured at the international film festival located in the heart of Ireland. In this podcast, Gemma Creagh talks to 3 animators – Cliona Noonan, Mary Smyth and Victor Jaquier about their films screening at the festival. Still Voices Film Festival runs from November 9th – 13th 2022. Take a look at the programme here: https://stillvoicesfilmfestival.com/ https://filmireland.net/

In this Film Ireland podcast, Gemma Creagh talks to Andrew Baird, the Director of ‘One Way’, the high-octane US thriller, written by Ben Conway. On the run with a bag full of cash after a robbing his former crime boss—and a potentially fatal wound—Freddy slips onto a bus headed into the unrelenting California desert. With his life slipping through his fingers, Freddy is left with very few choices to survive. https://filmireland.net/

In this Film Ireland podcast Gemma Creagh talks to Robert Manson, writer and director of Holy Island. Holy Island is a story about two lost souls, Rosa and David, trapped in purgatory in the form of a run-down port town. They meet awaiting a boat to leave the island, both longing to return home. Together they are forced to traverse an abnormal maze, piecing together their past lives through shared conversations and memories. In the end, only one of them can be saved. The other must fall. Holy Island is in cinemas from 14th October 2022.

In this Film Ireland podcast Gemma Creagh talks to Sasha King about her powerful film Vicky which tells the inspirational story of Vicky Phelan’s personal journey and heroic work to uncover the Irish CervicalCheck scandal. In 2018 on the steps of the High Court in Dublin, Vicky Phelan gave a now infamous address where she exposed the CervicalCheck scandal. A subsequent investigation revealed over 220 women were affected, while 17 women had already died. Vicky is a profound and intimate journey into the Kilkenny native’s fight to expose the truth. It also delves into Vicky’s personal fight to extend her life. Vicky is in Irish cinemas from 7th October 2022.

In this Film Ireland podcast, Gemma Creagh talks to Kim Bartley, Director of ‘Pure Grit’, a thrilling tale of extreme bareback horse racing, and an intimate love story. Pure Grit chronicles three years in the life of a young Native American bareback horse racer Sharmaine, her dogged determination, and the relationships that sustain her. Sharmaine dreams of becoming a champion again but she needs money to compete, and jobs are scarce on the reservation. Sharmaine quit racing and her job to care for her sister who was paralyzed in a catastrophic accident on the racetrack. When the atmosphere at home turns toxic, Sharmaine and her girlfriend Savannah are forced to leave the Wyoming wilderness for the industrial Commerce City, Denver. The city brings freedom and opportunity, but also distractions and a strain on their fledgling relationship. When racing season starts up, Sharmaine and Savannah hit the road and put it all on the line. With a new horse from her city earnings, Sharmaine sees the potential for a

In this Film Ireland podcast, Gemma Creagh talks to Antonia Campbell-Hughes on the release of her debut feature It Is In Us All. When Hamish arrives on the soil of his mother’s birth, she is felt instantly. As he travels further into the wild Irish country, a shocking car accident rips him apart, shattering his clenched control. A beast broken, he finds himself lost in the world of his long deceased mother. But when he starts to receive visits from a teenager who was also involved in the crash, Hamish begins to experience the electricity of living. It is in Us All is in cinemas from 23rd September 2022. https://filmireland.net/

In this Film Ireland podcast, Gemma Creagh talks to Halina Reijn, director of Bodies Bodies Bodies. When a group of rich 20-somethings plan a hurricane party at a remote family mansion, a party game goes awry in this fresh and funny look at backstabbing, fake friends, and one party gone very, very wrong Bodies Bodies Bodies is directed by Halina Reijn (Instinct) and written by acclaimed playwright Sarah DeLappe (The Wolves) from a story by Kriten Roupenian (Cat Person). The film stars Amandla Stenberg (The Hate U Give), Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm), Myha’la Herrold (Industry), Chase Sui Wonders (On the Rocks), Rachel Sennott (Shiva Baby) with Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies) and Pete Davidson (The King of Staten Island).