Clapham will welcome the best in Celtic cinema when the fourth annual Irish Film Festival Londonopens across London tomorrow.
Two of the festival’s main events, the UK premieres of off-beat comedies Gold and Poison Pen, will be hosted by Clapham Picturehouse
Award-winning director of Gold, Niall Heery, said: “If you look at A-list festivals around the world, more often then not, there are Irish film screenings in some capacity.
“I think the industry is in a reasonably good place.”
Gold stars experienced stage and screen actor James Nesbitt, and newcomer Maisie Williams, best known for her extraordinary portrayal of the vengeful Arya Stark in HBO’s smash-hit series Game of Thrones.
Maisie plays a teenage girl whose father tries to re-connect with her, despite the fact she and her mother now live with his former controlling PE teacher.
His paternal efforts veer from chaotic to comic catastrophe as his good intentions fall short.
Romanic comedy Poison Pen follows the misadventures of high-brow author PC Molloy as he is forced to write for a gossip magazine and struggles to keep his own secrets from becoming front page fodder.
The Institute of Contemporary Arts in Charing Cross will show the UK premier of apartheid documentary Blood Fruit, the remarkable story of one young Irish check-out girl who changed the face of the anti-apartheid movement.
The ICA will also host an evening of award-winning short films, including well-known Irish comedian Dylan Moran in Breakfast Wine, that cover topics from slang to car services across the political divide.
The short films run anywhere between 2 and 30 minutes, we’ve included some teasers below.
Volkswagen Joe from TW Films on Vimeo.
DEADLY TRAILER from Kavaleer on Vimeo.
Europe House in Westminster will host a free lecture by St Mary’s University Twickenham professor Lance Pettitt who will explore how autobiographical filmmakers help shape cinematic history.
Tickets and screening information can be found here.
Featured image courtesy of the Irish Film Festival/Wildcard Distribution, with thanks
