THE GUARD set to open the LA Irish Film Festival
John Michael McDonagh's comedy-thriller THE GUARD is set to open the LA Irish Film Festival later this month. Proudly supported by Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board (IFB), the festival will screen a host of Irish films and will this year honour the renowned Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan (The Guard, The Others, Some Mother's Son).
A comedic fish-out-of-water tale of murder, blackmail, drug trafficking and rural police corruption, THE GUARD, the feature directorial debut of John Michael McDonagh, will screen at the Opening Night Gala on Thursday, September 29 at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. The screening will be preceded by a live performance from celebrated soprano Judith Mok of her successful one-woman show "Molly Says No" about Molly Bloom the heroine of James Joyce's "Ulysses".
The Opening Night Event, which will include a reception and live musical entertainment, is hosted by Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board.
The four day festival will screen a host of IFB-funded Irish features, documentaries and shorts including Knuckle, Parked, The Runway, Dreaming the Quiet Man, The Pipe, Bye Bye Now and Pentecost. These screenings will take place at the Aero Theater, Santa Monica.
Se Merry Doyle's documentary the DREAMING THE QUIET MAN will have its US premiere at the festival and looks at John Ford's struggle over twenty years to get The Quiet Man shown in Ireland after it had been banned.
Darragh Byrne's feature PARKED will be screening as part of Irish contemporary cinema. Written by Ciaran Creagh it features Colm Meaney and Colin McGrath.
Irish talent attending the festival include directors Ian Power (THE RUNWAY) and Ian Palmer (KNUCKLE) who will both host Q&A's to give audiences a chance to hear in-depth about the making of their features. The Women in Film International will co-present a Q&A with producer Rachel Lysaght on her award-winning documentary THE PIPE.
LAIFF's hospitality center at 'Living By Lynne Leventen' art gallery on Montana Avenue will present Curt Gunther's rare never-before-seen photographs of The Beatles from their 1964 inaugural North American tour. Lennon, McCartney and Harrison all had Irish roots.
The 2011 Los Angeles Irish Film Festival is co-presented by The American Cinematheque. The Irish Film Board (Bord Scannán na hÉireann), Ireland's national film agency is a partner of LAIFF. Sponsors include Culture Ireland, The Irish Film Institute, LA Galaxy, The Huntley Hotel Santa Monica, Kensington Caterers, Santini Wines, Rosemarie McCaffrey, Reel Ireland, Bushmills, Kerrygold, Guinness, MyIrishPride.com, Rosti Chicken, Grafton on Sunset, Living by Lynne Leventen on Montana Avenue, Santa Monica Convention and Visitors Bureau, Tala and Women In Film International. The Shangri-La hotel in Santa Monica is the Closing Night sponsor.
The festival takes place from September 30th to October 2nd at Aero Theatre and will be participating in Culture Ireland's ‘Imagine Ireland', a programme launched by the Irish Governemnt to celebrate Irish Arts in America.
The full programme and tickets are available at the LAIFF website