Festival to mark Irish 20th anniversary
The Irish Film Festival has announced its program for 2018 for Sydney with a new documentary by US Oscar winning filmmaker Alex Gibney leading the charge.
2018 marks the 20th anniversary of the Peace Process in Northern Ireland and the Irish Film Festival marks this occasion with four new films which examine the legacy of ‘The Troubles’, the sectarian conflict that took place in Northern Ireland in the latter half of the 20th Century.
Alex Gibney’s NO STONE UNTURNED reveals collusion between Loyalist paramilitaries and the British government in its hard-hitting investigation of the murder of six Catholics in a tiny pub in County Down in 1994. The film’s producer, Trevor Birney will attend the screening in Sydney.
The opening night film is MAZE, a dramatization of the 1983 mass breakout from the Maze Prison in 1983. The film stars Tom Vaughan-Lawlor of Love/Hate fame and has been breaking box office records in Ireland since its release in September 2017.
THE JOURNEY is a fictionalised account of what might have taken place during the negotiations between Loyalist leader Rev. Ian Paisley and republican Martin McGuinness (a former IRA leader). The film features fabulous performances by Timothy Spall as Paisley and Colm Meaney as McGuinness and is both hilarious and poignant as it explores the relationship between these enigmatic leaders.
Rounding off the Northern Irish films is a landmark documentary about the role in the Peace Process of Irish Civil Rights campaigner and politician John Hume. IN THE NAME OF PEACE: JOHN HUME IN AMERICA looks at John Hume’s campaign to bring the US into the peace process to force Britain’s hand to come to the bargaining table.
The Opening Night Gala is at the Chauvel in Paddington on Thursday 19 April, followed by the now legendary Opening Night Party. The festival runs in the Chauvel until Sunday 22 April.
Tickets and full program info here.
