Films imitate life at Chicago Irish Film Festival

There’s a roomy hostel at the edge of town in tiny Cong, Ireland, where much of the 1952 John Ford classic "The Quiet Man" was filmed. It is there, in the cozy common area, where foreigners of all stripes – Americans, Asians, Europeans – settle in to catch the nightly screenings of the film that served as Ford’s idyllic tribute to his homeland.

Sure “The Quiet Man” has its place in film history. It’s a lyrical, romantic epic. It’s a great American film directed by a great American and populated by legendary American actors. But it’s not Irish cinema. It’s not untainted, diverse, darkly comic or gritty – the type of Irish cinema that typically gets little reception over here in Americay.

But that’s just what a host of Irish filmmakers have been doing in the burgeoning Irish film industry, just a few decades old and still finding its place in the big, glitzy world of Hollywood-inspired blockbusters. And those are just the type of films that the annual Chicago Irish Film Festival is designed to showcase.

The festival, which opens Friday at the Beverly Arts Center with the U.S. premiere of the acclaimed film “Garage,” is in its ninth year and is largely the product of Beverly’s Judith Blackburn, who takes annual scouting trips to Eire for some of its best features, shorts and documentaries – many of which have yet to premiere in the Midwest or even North America.

With nine screenings and two receptions, the festival runs through March 5 and will showcase three feature films, four documentaries, a classic Irish film, two programs of short films and animations for what Blackburn has described as the BAC’s most diverse festival so far.

One such film, “Garage,” won a screenwriting prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and was an official selection at the Toronto and the London Film Festivals. It joins “Dot.Com” and “The Front Line” as the festival’s trio of features – each dramatically different from the other in theme and scope. Click here for Chicago Tribune reviews.

“Garage” stars Pat Shortt, one of Ireland’s most beloved comedians in a dramatic role about a sweet, simple man who tends to the local gas station.

“Dot.Com,” a Spanish language film co-produced by Zanzibar films of Ireland and Fado Films of Portugal, is a satirical look at the differences between the global younger generation and their grandparents that spins around a dust-up when it’s discovered that the town in which the grandparents live has the same Web site as a multinational corporation.

The Midwest premiere of the action-oriented “The Front Line” tells the story of a musician from the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose application for asylum in Ireland has been approved. But his life is turned upside down when he is forced to choose between protecting his family and perpetrating a crime.

“The idea for ‘The Front Line’ came to me when I saw an African immigrant in a new security guard’s uniform standing outside a bank in a tough part of Dublin,” explains director David Gleeson. “I felt sorry for him, imagining the racist abuse he was likely to get. But then I thought to myself: ‘What if he’s a really dangerous man, and anyone who picks on him is messing with the wrong guy?’ Hey, presto. A movie was born.”

Founded in 2000, the Chicago Irish Film Festival is one of only a handful of Irish film festivals in the United States. Many of its films have won awards and have had selected screenings at some of the largest festivals in the world, including Cannes, Sundance and Toronto.

Gleeson admits that the concept of Irish cinema likely is lost on Americans. “There are, however, certain stereotypes of Ireland that can be hard to surmount,” he explains. “I’m talking of course about ‘O’Irish’ movies that concentrate more on this mythical, quirky image, which is not a true reflection of what Ireland is.” ‘Waking Ned Devine’ is a good example – a film directed by an Englishman and shot entirely in the UK. Then there are the IRA films, which I think we all overdosed on over the last few decades. The reality in southern Ireland of course is that we were largely untouched by the Northern Ireland situation. The people of London were more affected than any of us down south.”

Anything that doesn’t fit into one of those categories, Gleeson explains, has to be marketed very carefully.

“We’re finding it quite hard; we’re inexperienced,” admits Ross Whitaker, who directed “Saviours,” a feature-length “no-budget” documentary about three young boxers in a Dublin inner-city boxing club as they train for the 2005 Irish Senior Championships. “There are a lot of festivals out there, but there are a lot of films too. The competition is incredible.”

That is why contemporary Irish films have been gaining in popularity in recent years at international festivals. It’s all about good marketing, the filmmakers argue.

Ireland’s movie industry still is young. So international exposure is vital both as an opportunity to gain possible funding for future projects as well as a way to learn how other film cultures and businesses work.

“We look for stories where there is something at stake,” Whitaker says, explaining the force that drives the conception of his films. “When we have an idea for a film, we ask ourselves, ‘What’s at stake here?’ For this film, in an inner-city boxing club, surrounded by areas of deprivation, we found people with plenty at stake. Kids fighting for a better life and coaches determined to make their world a better place.”

Gleeson and Whitaker acknowledge that screening a film internationally is challenging. If money can be made, the theory goes, the film is likely to enjoy a long life on the festival circuit and may get wide distribution. “But as most films don’t fit into those categories, they don’t see the light of day outside their own home territories,” Gleeson explains.

Nick Kelly, who wrote and directed the short “Why the Irish Dance That Way,” credits a humble amount of public arts funding with helping him realize the concept of his film, which examines the cultural origins of Irish dancing. “As a novice film-maker, those funding opportunities are a really useful way of getting experience working with a proper crew. The money’s tiny, but it’s just enough to pay for the film stock and the caterers, and that allows you to network and pull in favors to get the crew to enable you to shoot. We shot it in a single day in Wicklow.” The film has been screened at numerous international festivals, including Montreal, Sydney and Berlin.

Several hundred film festivals are held across the globe each year, but Gleeson doesn’t believe their proliferation in recent years has diluted their impact. “If it’s a good and respected festival then it doesn’t matter how many others there are. A good and respected festival will still mean something.”

Good or not, though, a foreign film – even an English-language Irish film – isn’t likely to grab many eyeballs in the States, where few moviegoers know anything about Irish cinema.

“We’re lucky in Europe in that we’re very well subsidized. I guess the independent scene, which I would define as any film that isn’t financed by a studio, is tougher in the U.S. In Europe practically every film made is an independent movie,” Gleeson says.

Kelly attributes it to cultural nuances. “Irish cinema suffers from the dominance of the verbal over the visual in Irish cultural life. Most of our cultural successes are based around the written, spoken or sung word rather than the visual image.”

As Irish films go, they still tend towards the inward-looking, wordy end of the spectrum, very often concentrating on themes of national – rather than international – interest. “But we’re still getting in touch with our inner Spielberg,” he adds, admitting that being fortunate enough to attend several international festivals has allowed him to learn from his various audiences “reacting to my work who know nothing about the world which spawned me or my movie. I’m really looking forward to seeing how it goes down with the crowd in Chicago,” says Kelly, who has played Chicago several times in his role as musician.

“Participating in festivals such as the Chicago Irish Film Festival offers a wonderful opportunity to present our movie to an audience that hasn’t had the opportunity to see the film on a big screen. It’s also great to address an interested audience and answer questions on your work and on the movie,” adds Gleeson, whose aunt and uncle moved to Chicago more than half a century ago. “It brings the whole process of making a film to a wonderful conclusion. And of course for me personally it’s an excuse to visit Chicago, my favorite American city.”

Admission for Friday’s opening reception and screening is $30 ($25 BAC members). Film admission and closing reception admission is $20 ($15 for BAC members). Admission for individual screenings is $10 ($8 for BAC members). The festival pass for nine screenings and two receptions is $65 ($50 for BAC members).

Individual tickets or festival passes may be purchased by calling the Beverly Arts Center at (773) 445-3838 or by visiting www.beverlyartcenter.org.