15a edizione | 4-7 aprile 2024 | Casa del Cinema, Roma
The “Saint Patrick Special” will open officially at 3.30 pm. The public will be addressed by the Irish Ambassador to Italy, H.E. Patrick Hennesy and the Irish Minister for Tourism and Sport, Michael Ring, T.D.
This one-day programme, will feature in this order: a marathon of animation shorts, the full-length The Secret of Kells and conclude with What Richard Did by Lenny Abrahamson.
To conclude its special one-day event dedicated to animation, the IrishFilmFesta presents The Secret of Kells (Tom Moore, Nora Twomey, 2009), a full-length animation film nominated for an Oscar in 2010.
Loved by audiences of all ages, this fascinating film draws its inspiration from the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript housed at Trinity College, Dublin. Among the voices lent to the animated characters we find that of the celebrated Irish actor Brendan Gleeson.
After the screening, the director Nora Twomey will hold a brief master class and provide some examples of the work done for The Secret of Kells and for the much-awaited, new animated film Song of the Sea which she is at present creating with the same artists.
(Screening and Masterclass from 6.30pm.)
On Sunday 17th March, during the Saint Patrick Special, The Boy in the Bubble, which won last winter’s IRISHFILMFESTA award for shorts, will be screened in 3D. On that occasion, the director Kealan O’Rourke will receive the IRISHFILMFESTA awarded him last winter.
A clear tribute to Tim Burton, The Boy in the Bubble tells the story of a boy who, after his first taste of disappointed love, places himself under a magical spell so as not to suffer again. The narrating voice is that of Alan Rickman.
Screening at 6.30 pm.
The IrishFilmFesta opens its special one day Saint Patrick’s edition at Rome’s Casa del Cinema with a selection of the best all-time Irish animation shorts (Animated Ireland, at 3.30 pm).
The programme includes productions dating from between 1909 and the present, chosen by Steve Woods, who will introduce the event with a short conference on Irish cinema animation.
Director, scriptwriter and producer, Steve Woods is one of the founders of the Galway Festival and creator of the James Horgan prize awarded annually to Irish animation artists. Besides teaching at the National Film School – IADT, in Dun Laoghaire, Woods runs a production house, Cel’ Division, located in Dublin.
The Saint Patrick’s Day one-day IRISHFILMFESTA programme will conclude with What Richard Did, Lenny Abrahamson’s latest film.
The film, which has just received five IFTA awards in Ireland – best film, best director, best leading actor , best screen-play and best editing – is the third feature film made by Abrahamson, undoubtedly one of the New Irish Cinema‘s foremost film-making talents.
Based on the novel Bad Day in Blackrock by Kevin Power, What Richard Did explores the drama of a well-to-do upper-middle-class Dublin youth whose perfect life is ruined by an unexpected act of violence. In the title role, the young Jack Reynor whose performance has already won him a prominent place in the international cinema firmament, and an important new part in Transformers 4 by Michael Bay.
(picture: Jack Reynor with his IFTA)