2013 Irish Film Series
Working with NSCAD and Saint Mary's universities, the centre sponsors an annual series of films devoted to an important Irish filmmaker.
The kick-off series in 2013 was devoted to Pat Collins.
March Screening
Silence (2012).
Silence is the story of Eoghan, an Irish sound recordist living in Berlin, returning to his homeland after 15 years. He returns to Ireland for a job: to record a space free of human-made noise. Pat Collins’ lush debut feature follows Eoghan across wooly, windswept Irish landscapes as he travels further and further from civilization, seeking pure sound. Along the way, we experience his encounters with hermits, eccentrics, and sages, and witness his growing interest in the omnipresent, yet ever elusive, sound of silence. With touches of folklore and local history, this quasi-documentary is an intense examination of the human experience and a lyrical meditation on loss and memory, sound and silence.
April screening:
Oileán Thoraí: a documentary on Tory Island (2002)
and Tim Robinson: Connemara (2011).
Oileán Thoraí is a documentary that captures the changing patterns of life on Tory Island, Ireland’s most remote, inhabited island, characterized by its inaccessibility, unforgiving landscape and population of 150. Oileán Thoraí is an intimate documentary, blending music, storytelling, art and song.
Tim Robinson: Connemara explores the life of Ireland’s most celebrated and internationally recognized map maker, who has been studying the district of Connemara for the last 30 years. Based on his three Connemara books, Tim Robinson: Connemara provides a stunning visual interpretation of his work as both a map maker and a writer.
May screening
The Art of Living (2001) and
Taibhsí i mBéal na Gaoithe Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill (2008).
The Art of Living is a unique essayistic film about the world-renowned Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami. Framed around two interviews with Kiarostami, one on the Aran Islands and the other at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002, the film intercuts these interviews with interpretations of his work by several influential contemporary film critics.
Taibhsí i mBéal na Gaoithe Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill is a portrait of one of Ireland’s leading poets. Told through a series of intimate interviews, the film builds a compelling portrayal of the female poet, providing a rare and deeply personal insight into Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill’s six year hiatus from writing as she struggled with creativity and her own mental health.