Movies and music make excellent companions and Irish Film & Music Week will be an excellent opportunity to enjoy both! Taking place from February 20 – 28, 2013 this year’s program will feature the Israeli premiere of Lenny Abrahamson’s What Richard Did (2012), as well as a look at the director’s previous work with screenings of Adam and Paul (2004) and Garage (2007). Music lovers will enjoy Natural Grace directed by Art O’Briain, focusing on the talents of fiddler Marin Hayes, and Silence, directed by Pat Collins, telling of one man’s journey in search of natural sounds.
Reels and jigs from Israel’s own Black Velvet will fill the Tel Aviv Cinematheque with the sound of Ireland on Friday, February 22, 2013 at 21:00. Founded in 1980 by Ehud Natan, the band maintains a strong connection to traditional Irish/Celtic music, while open to other musical influences and writing original material. Band members are: Mai Choma – fiddle; Philip Khripkov – flute, whistles; Eti Abramovitz – flute, melodica, percussion, vocals; Ehud Nathan – bouzouki, mandolin; Shani Broner – keyboards, melodica; Nadav Rogel – bodhrán, percussion.
The Friday night concert will feature music from Ireland, Scotland, Breton, and Sweden, as well as Black Velvet originals inspired by Balkan and Middle Eastern music. On this festive occasion Black Velvet will be launching their new album, and hosting special guests Izhar Ashdot and fiddler Jonathan Keren.
Irish Film Week Films:
What Richard Did (Ireland, 87 min., 2012, English with Hebrew subtitles)
Director: Lenny Abrahamson
Synopsis: The world is bright and everything seems possible, until one summer night Richard does something out of character that destroys it all and shatters the lives of the people closest to him. What Richard Did is a film about coming of age and guilt, centered around a young man dealing with the burden of his actions.
Screenings: Tel Aviv – Feb 20th; Jerusalem – Feb 28th; Haifa – Feb 21st.
Treekeeper (Ireland, 89 min., 2011, English with Hebrew subtitles)
Director: Patrick O’Shea
Synopsis: Doire turns his back on society and decides the best way to protect and care for his inheritance (acres of mature woodlands) is to make a home deep in the woods. In his isolation he is unaware that his estranged mother has sold the woodlands to a local business man. Doire will do whatever it takes to protect what he loves the most.
Screenings: Tel Aviv – Feb 21st; Jerusalem – Feb 26th; Haifa – Feb 27th.
Jump (Ireland, 84 min., 2012, English with Hebrew subtitles)
Director: Kieron J. Walsh
Synopsis: The lives of four twenty-something’s collide one fateful New Year’s Eve in Derry, Northern Ireland. With its polished cinematography, clever use of urban space, and unexpected plot twists, Jump is set up as a labyrinth where danger, death, and perversion are just around the corner.
Screenings: Tel Aviv – Feb 22nd; Jerusalem – Feb 25th; Haifa – Feb 20th.
Irish Shorts
Cluck (Ireland 2011)
Dir.: Michael Lavelle | W.: Adam Carlan, Donncha Crowley | A group of young orphans discover the true nature of friendship when a strange newcomer’s surprising popularity causes jealousy and division. (20 min., English with Hebrew subtitles)
Noreen (Ireland 2010)
Dir.: Domhnall Gleeson | W.: Brendan Gleeson, Brian Gleeson | Two Irish police officers solve their own problems through the process of attempting to explain a mysterious death. (18 min., English with Hebrew subtitles)
Small Change (Ireland 2010)
Dir.: Cathy Brady | W.: Nora-Jane Noone, Tom Collins | A young single mother becomes addicted to slot machines. The desperate hope for a win sees her world spiral out of control. (18 min., English with Hebrew subtitles)
The Crush (Ireland 2011)
Dir.: Michael Creagh | W.: Olga Wehrly, Rory Keenan | An eight-year-old schoolboy is so besotted with his teacher that he challenges her boyfriend to a duel… to the death. (15 min., English with Hebrew subtitles)
Hasan Everywhere (Ireland 2010)
Dir.: Andrew Kavanagh | W.: Sami Moukaddem, Keshet Zur | An animated short about the brave friendship between a man and a woman from hostile countries and the difficulties they have to overcome. (5 min., English with Hebrew subtitles)
23 Degrees, 5 Minutes (Ireland 2011)
Dir.: Darragh O’Connell | W.: John Hurt, Stuart Townsend | An old explorer, close to freezing in the Arctic, relives the events that brought him there. (11 min. English with Hebrew subtitles)
Screenings: Tel Aviv – Feb 22nd; Jerusalem – Feb 27th; Haifa – Feb 28th.
Pilgrim Hill (Ireland, 96 min., 2011, English with Hebrew subtitles)
Director: Gerard Barrett
Synopsis: Jimmy Walsh is a middle-aged farmer living in rural Ireland with his critically ill Father. Life has been tough on Jimmy over the years, but things are about to get worse, as his life hits a very rough patch on and off the farm. A modest drama that creeps into the heart.
Screenings: Tel Aviv – Feb 23rd; Jerusalem – Feb 23rd; Haifa – Feb 26th.
Adam and Paul (Ireland, 83 min., 2004, English with Hebrew subtitles)
Director: Lenny Abrahamson
Synopsis:A stylized, downbeat physical comedy, Adam & Paul follows two friends, hapless, desperate junkies, over the course of a single day. On this day, which, like every other day, is entirely devoted to the business of scrounging money for drugs, they become entangled in endless grotesque situations and petty crimes.
Screenings: Tel Aviv – Feb 24th; Jerusalem – Feb 21st; Haifa – Feb 26th.
Garage (Ireland, 85 min., 2007, English with Hebrew subtitles)
Director: Lenny Abrahamson
Synopsis: A tragicomedy set in a petrol station in rural Ireland. Josie has worked all his adult life at the petrol station. He is lonely, but always happy and optimistic. One summer a young man named David comes to work at the station. At the same time, Josie begins to have feelings for Carmel, a salesgirl at the local store. In one moment of thoughtlessness Josie’s life will change forever.
Screenings: Tel Aviv – Feb 25th; Jerusalem – Feb 22nd; Haifa – Feb 20th.
Natural Grace (Ireland, 78 min., 2011, English with Hebrew subtitles)
Director: Art O’Briain
Synopsis: A musical journey into the heart and style of one of Ireland’s greatest fiddlers, Martin Hayes.The film celebrates Hayes’s great talent and follows him as he plays in both informal and concert settings. The film reveals a fascinating and eloquent champion of the old and the new in Irish music.
Screenings: Tel Aviv – Feb 26th; Jerusalem – Feb 27th; Haifa – Feb 22nd.
Silence (Ireland, 84 min., 2012, English with Hebrew subtitles)
Director: Pat Collins
Synopsis: Eoghan, a sound recordist, sets off on a journey to find and record places free of man-made sound. Throughout his journey, he is drawn into a series of encounters that gradually divert his attention towards a more intangible silence, one that is bound up with the sounds of the life he had left behind. A mesmerizing and serene work.
Screenings: Tel Aviv – Feb 27th; Jerusalem – Feb 21st; Haifa – Feb 23rd.
Venues:
Tel Aviv Cinematheque, 2 Sprintzak Street, Tel Aviv. 03-6060800
Jerusalem Cinematheque, 11 Hebron Road, Jerusalem, 02-5654356
Haifa Cinematheque, 142 Sderot HaNasi Street, Haifa, 04-8104299/302
Great to see such excellent Irish films being shown in Israel.
[…] Irish Film & Music week opens February 20th with Lenny Abrahamson’s film What Richard Did, Adam and Paul and Garage will also be shown at the festival. Information on screening dates and venues may be found here. […]
Comments are closed.