Edgy New View of Ireland Goes to Town

Rod Stoneman vividly recalls a conversation he had three years ago with a French movie critic after a screening of the Irish film “I Went Down.” “As we were leaving the screening at the Cannes Film Festival, the critic said to me, ‘I really loved it, but it’s not an Irish film,’” remembers Stoneman, who heads the Irish Film Board.

“A lightbulb went off for me at that moment about people’s preconceptions of what an Irish film is. ‘I Went Down’ was Irish in every way you could define it: It had an Irish writer and director, it was made in Ireland with mostly Irish money. But the perception is that Irish films are rural films with the cottage where the smoke gently curls out from the thatched roof.” There is nothing at all quaintly rustic about “I Went Down,” a dark, comic road movie about two small-time crooks.

Some movies, a la 1998’s sweetly engaging “Waking Ned Devine,” continue to play up the charming aspects of country life in Ireland. But Stoneman says the new Irish cinema of the past 10 years is not only stylistically diverse, but also often vibrantly edgy, urban and sexy.

Tonight, Friday through Sunday and next Wednesday night, local moviegoers will be able to sample some of Ireland’s new wave of films when the American Cinematheque and the Irish Film Board present a collection of Irish movies at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. The New Irish Cinema series will screen a potpourri of documentaries, dramas, animated and short films made in Ireland over the past several years.

Stoneman says Ireland’s rapid economic growth in the mid- to late ‘90s and its transformation into a more secular, liberal society have helped open the door for more innovative filmmaking and storytelling. Once-taboo subjects like homosexuality are now being portrayed in unflinching fashion in some Irish films. The series kicks off tonight with a program of various animated and live-action short films. Highlights include “Give Up Yer Aul Sins” and “Fifty Percent Grey.” Both were recently nominated for Academy Awards in the animated short film category.

Stoneman says Cathal Gaffney’s “Give Up Yer Aul Sins” tells the story of John the Baptist from the perspective of a little girl. “It’s very rude, fast and funny but in an innocent, childlike way,” he explains. Ruairi Robinson’s “Fifty Percent Grey” is a computer animation piece Stoneman describes as “a little conceptual black joke.”

Two rock ‘n’ roll documentaries will be offered Friday evening. Sarah Share’s “If I Should Fall From Grace” tells the often troubled life story of Shane MacGowan, leader of the late, great Celtic rock band the Pogues. Tom Collins’ “Teenage Kicks” documents the history of the influential late-’70s, early-’80s punk-pop band the Undertones and its economically depressed Northern Ireland roots.

Pat Murphy’s “Nora” is the first of three films that will screen on Saturday beginning at 5 p.m. Starring Ewan McGregor and Susan Lynch, the drama is a graphically sexual portrait of writer James Joyce’s volatile relationship with his wife Nora. The film has played previously in Los Angeles.

Following “Nora” is “How Harry Became a Tree,” a comedy-drama about a tyrannical man who harbors an obsessive hatred toward the richest man in an Irish village. The film was actually made by a Serbian director, Goran Paskaljevic, which is perhaps fitting considering Ireland’s increasingly multiethnic makeup in recent years. The surge of immigrants into suddenly prosperous Ireland has helped to transform the country, even as it has sparked resentment among some natives.

“There are parallels between the Serb-Croat conflict and the conflict in Northern Ireland, which is one reason Goran was attracted to Ireland,” observes actor Cillian Murphy, a cast member. “The film is kind of allegorically about the pointlessness of hatred.” Saturday night’s final movie tackles the Catholic-Protestant dispute head on. The somber “H3” is based on real events in 1981 when a group of IRA prisoners in Belfast launched a hunger strike. The film was written by Laurence McKeown, who took part in the hunger strike. While he’s happy that Northern Ireland is currently in a calmer, more conciliatory political phase, Stoneman admits that the civil discord in this region and the issue of Irish independence from Great Britain have spawned some powerful films. These conflicts have been the topic of a number of high-profile films in the past, such as Jim Sheridan’s 1993 drama “In the Name of the Father” and Neil Jordan’s 1996 film “Michael Collins.” “Bloody Sunday,” a movie about the tragic 1972 demonstration in Northern Ireland that resulted in the killing of 13 unarmed civilians by the British army, was pulled from the festival after Paramount Classics decided to distribute the film theatrically in the United States this fall.

The series continues Sunday at 5 p.m. with “Traveller,” a documentary about the gypsy travelers in Ireland. It will be paired with “Disco Pigs,” a coming-of-age film by Kirsten Sheridan. She is the daughter of Jim Sheridan, who along with directors Pat O’Connor and Neil Jordan helped bring Irish-made films to prominent international light in the 1980s.

“Disco Pigs” finds the relationship between two close friends changing as they grow further into teen-hood. After experiencing a sexual awakening, the boy Pig (Cillian Murphy) attempts to bring a romantic dimension to his relationship with Runt (Elaine Cassidy).

“‘Disco Pigs’ is a very modern film,” Murphy says. “It could be set anywhere.” Among those attending the festival will be Tom Collins, actor Colm Meaney (“How Harry Became a Tree”), Sarah Share and Murphy.

The New Irish Cinema series takes place tonight, Friday through Sunday and resumes Wednesday night at the Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles. (323) 466-FILM or www.americancinematheque.com.