CINE GAEL MONTREAL 2010
18th Annual Series
Where:
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Admission for Non-members: To join Cine Gael on Facebook click here! |
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Guest Speaker: |
Film: His & Hers (D: Ken Wardrop, 2009)
The hallways, living rooms and kitchens of the Irish Midlands become the canvas for the film’s rich tapestry of female characters. The story unfolds sequentially through young to old and the characters are charmingly abashed; while the younger contributors are animated in discussing their relationship with their other halves, the older women discuss their love, and often their bereft love, with grace and candour. His & Hers is an investigation into the ordinary to discover the extraordinary. It finds comedy in the mundane, tragedy in the profound and provides an original insight into life." |
Wednesday, Film: Co-presentation with |
Film: The Boys of St. Columb's (D: Tom Collins, 2009)
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Film: Shalom Ireland (D: Valerie Lapin Ganley)
Film: The Vines of Inis Meáin (D: Deirdre Ni Chonghaile) Deirdre Ni Chonghaile retraces the steps of her ancestor James Concannon who immigrated from Inis Meain (in the west of Ireland) to America in the 1860s. Like many an immigrant before him he tried his hand at various trades until he lucked out when he learned how to grow grapes and make wine. His CONCANNON wine is still thriving today. The film is in Irish with English subtitles. |
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SPECIAL SCREENING: Special Guest: |
Film: Child of The Dead End (D: Desmond Bell, 2009) "Drawing upon a rich vein of early cinema archive and live action shot in Ireland, Scotland and England Child of The Dead End tells the touching story of navvy poet, novelist, dramatist and screenwriter Patrick MacGill, played by Oscar-nominated actor Stephen Rea. |
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WEEKEND OF SHORT FILMS |
Fri, 7:15 PM: |
Guest Speaker: |
Film: A Shine of Rainbows (D: Vic Sarin, 2009) |
Thursday, April 22: CLOSING FILM & RECEPTION The Trotsky With Special Guests: Jacob Tierney, Director & Kevin Tierney, Producer |
Film: The Trotsky (D: Jacob Tierney, 2009) "Jacob Tierney's hilarious The Trotsky follows Leon Bronstein (the phenomenal Jay Baruchel, in a star-making performance), a precocious Montreal teen who fervently believes himself to be the reincarnation of Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky. He's determined to duplicate every aspect of Trotsky's life, including being exiled, at least twice, and ultimately assassinated. His most pressing issues right now, though, are finding his Lenin and an older wife, preferably named Alexandra.
Possibly the most intriguing creation in recent English Canadian cinema, Leon is two parts Lloyd Dobler from Say Anything and three parts the dogma-spouting volunteers from Ken Loach's Land and Freedom. Baruchel, whose previous credits include Tropic Thunder and Million Dollar Baby, gives Leon just the right mixture of hysteria and adolescent angst. Baruchel's comrades-in-arms include Saul Rubinek as Leon's put-upon father; AnneMarie Cadieux as his stepmother; Michael Murphy as aging radical Frank McGovern; the legendary Geneviève Bujold as the head of the school board; and the luminous Emily Hampshire as Leon's intended, Alexandra. One of the most appealing aspects of the movie is that it is unreservedly Canadian and packed with very specific, slyly funny cultural references, ranging from gags about the French-English divide in Montreal to Ben Mulroney's ancestry." - Steve Gravestock |
"This is the debut feature film from director Ken Wardrop, who in a few short years has established himself as a distinct new voice in Irish filmmaking. His & Hers is a creative documentary, which chronicles a ninety-year-old love story, through the collective voice of seventy ladies. Using his mother’s life as inspiration, the filmmaker has created a film that explores how we share life’s journey with others.
In 1947, a British Act of Parliament granted free secondary education to Northern Irish children for the first time. This film tells the story of eight schoolboys from this first generation who were born into social division and low expectation. This new era of education changed their country forever and led them to become some of the most important figures in Irish culture in recent history. Featuring: Seamus Heaney, Seamus Deane, and John Hume. 
"Shalom Ireland is a one hour documentary about Ireland's remarkable, yet little known Jewish community. Shalom Ireland chronicles the history of Irish Jewry while celebrating the unique culture created by blending Irish and Jewish traditions. From gun running for the Irish Republican Army during Ireland's War of Independence to smuggling fellow Jews escaping from the Holocaust into Palestine. Shalom Ireland tells the untold story of how Irish Jews participated in the creation and development of both Ireland and Israel". For more informaiton on the film visit 
MacGill lived the life of a navvy in the Scottish highlands and in his writing fact and fiction, social report and love story mingle. The documentary follows his rags to riches story as he fashions a career as a writer against the backdrop of a society in turmoil. The poet finds himself adopted by the royal court in Windsor. He fights and writes his way through the First World War, finding himself rejected in post war Ireland he emigrates to the US to seek fame and fortune in Hollywood. Patrick MacGill, author and failed screen writer, witness and fabulist, died in poverty in Florida in 1963. His book ‘Children of the Dead End’ remains a classic.
Young Tomas (John Bell) has a gentle and unassuming personality that makes his life as an orphan unlivable. His helpful nature is interpreted as weakness, and the other boys at the orphanage bully him. Then, one day, a colourful and kind woman named Maire O'Donnell (Connie Nielsen) sweeps in and infuses his once-cheerless existence with love, laughter and the belief in magic. After being whisked back to enchanted Corrie Island off the West Coast, Tomas grows and comes into his own under Maire's care and understanding--but her reserved husband (Aidan Quinn) can't hide his lack of interest in the child.
When Leon tries to unionize his father's factory after working there for less than twenty-four hours, he's punished by having funds cut off for the ritzy private school he's been attending. Forced to enrol in a public high school, Leon finds his revolutionary zeal immediately tested when he meets the crusty, dictatorial Principal Berkhoff (Colm Feore) and his henchwoman, Mrs. Davis (Domini Blythe). Do the students he's desperately trying to organize genuinely care about their lot in life? Or, as Berkhoff maintains, are they just apathetic?