Ciné Gael Montréal Irish Film Series 2001

Wednesday January 24th The Last September Director: Deborah Warner Cast: Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Fiona Shaw. PLOT SUMMARY: In 1920s Ireland, an elderly couple preside over a tired country estate. Living with them are their high-spirited niece, their Oxford student nephew, and married house guests, who are trying to cover up that they are presently homeless. The niece enjoys romantic frolics with a soldier and a hidden guerilla fighter. All of the principals are thrown into turmoil when one more guest arrives with considerable wit and unwanted advice. Guest Speaker: John Griffin, Fil Critic at the Gazette Members' Appreciation Evening at M Kibbins at 6:00 pm Tuesday Cine Gael will show a short film, and refreshments will be served for our members. Memberships are still available for $20.00 “The Famine Ship’ and “Michael Hartnett: a Necklace of Wrens' January 30th Wednesday February 7th Hidden Agenda Director: Ken Loach Cast: Frances McDormand, Brad Dourif PLOT SUMMARY: Based on an amalgam of real scandals, the film is a fictionalised account of official corruption in Northern Ireland (set in 1980). Guest Speaker: Robert Deaudelin of the Cinemathéque Québecois Wednesday February 215 Saltwater (North American Première] Director: Conor McPherson CAST: Peter McDonald, Brian Cox, Conor Mullen PLOT SUMMARY: This warm, funny coming-of-age drama, the debut of acclaimed playwright Conor McPherson (The Weir), showcases plenty of Irish color and an offbeat sense of humor, as a family struggles to keep themselves and their seaside fish’n chips shop afloat during off-season. Guest Speaker: Gordon M°Call, Artistic Director of the Centaur Theatre Wednesday March 7th A Further Gesture AKA The Break Director:Robert Dornhelm CAST: Stephen Rea, Alfred Molina, Brendan Geleason, Maria Doyle Kennedy PLOT SUMMARY: Rea, an imprisoned IRA man, takes part in a violent jailbreak from the Maze Prison and is smuggled to New York City where he becomes friends with a South American porter and his sister. This leads to his involvement in revolutionary activities in South America. Guest Speaker: Brendan Kelly, music and film critic at the Gazette and the CBC Wednesday March 28th This is the Sea Director: Mary McGuckian Cast: Samantha Morton, Ross McDade, Gabriel Byrne PLOT SUMMARY: The film is set in Northern Ireland shortly after 1994 cease-fire. Hazel is a Protestant and Malachy a Catholic. Romance between them is a threatened by prejudices, and by Rohan (leader in militant underground and friend of Malachy's brother), who wants Malachy to be recruited and fight for the cause, and by Hazel's brother Jeff, who spies on her meetings. Wednesday April 11th Raining Stones Director: Ken Loach CAST: Bruce Jones, Julie Brown PLOT SUMMARY: Bleakly funny British drama follows an unemployed father's attempts to raise money for his daughter's First Communion dress. Fans of working-class realism appreciate Loach's good-hearted, loosely-structured but incisive storytelling. Guest Speaker: Marc Gervais, Author and Film Professor at Concordia University Thursday April 26th The Borstal Boy Director: Peter Sheridan CAST: Michael York, Danny Dyer, Shawn Hatosy PLOT SUMMARY: Irish writer and political activist Brendan Behan, is befriended as a teenager in a British labor camp by a liberal warden.