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2016 PROGRAM

1 April 2016 | 7:30 PM (Opening Night!)

Stay (2013)
Dir. Wiebke von Carolsfeld
99 min.

Taylor Schilling (Orange is the New Black) and Aidan Quinn (Legends of the Fall) deliver heartfelt performances as Abbey and Dermot, a couple struggling to find their way in life. After retreating to the rugged expanse of the Irish countryside, their happy existence is upended when Abbey discovers she's pregnant. Dermot, a long-since disgraced professor, has no interest in being a father. With their lives now at a crossroads, Abbey and Dermot's relationship hangs in the balance. They must both face the truth of who they are and which path in life to take that will finally lead them home.

2 April 2016 | 11:00 AM

PANEL: Creative Process in Filmmaking

Filmmakers Wiebke von Carolsfeld and Pixie Cram, along with local artist and curator Julie Rae Tucker, discuss how do to make a film with a succinct point of view and an original voice! They also address how a filmmaker take his or her individual vision and transforms it into a finished work of art which best expresses these ideas.

This panel is kindly sponsored by The Gaelic Hour on CJLL 97.9 FM.

2 April 2016 | 2:00 PM

A Shine of Rainbows (2009)
Dir. Vic Sarin
100 min.

A young boy struggles to find love and acceptance with his new family in this drama from director Vic Sarin. Tomas (John Bell) is an eight-year-old orphan living in a home for children without parents on an island off the Irish coastline. Tomas has become a target for bullies and knows little peace at the orphanage, so he's overjoyed when he's adopted by Maire O'Donnell (Connie Nielsen), a lovely and caring woman who takes the boy under her wing. However, while Maire shows Tomas plenty of kindness, the same cannot be said for her husband, Alec (Aidan Quinn), who doesn't hide his disappointment with his frail new son. As Tomas tries to understand Alec and live up to his expectations, he finds a baby seal on the beach, and begins caring for the abandoned animal, showing it the compassion he's longed for in his own life. A Shine of Rainbows was an official selection at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.

2 April 2016 | 5:00 PM

Noble (2014)
Dir. Stephen Bradley
100 min.

They broke everything but her spirit. They took everything but her dream. This is the incredible true story of a fearless Irish heroine driven by her daring vision to escape the slums of Ireland and risk everything on the streets of Vietnam.

2 April 2016 | 8:00 PM

Glassland (2014)
Dir. Gerard Barrett
93 min.

John (Jack Reynor, Transformers: Age of Extinction) lives with his mother, Jean (Toni Collette), in a south Dublin social housing suburb and ekes out a meager living as a nocturnal taxi driver, barely making ends meet. He returns home one morning to find his mother, an unwavering alcoholic, unconscious - and this was not the first time. Hospitalized after this overdose, Jean's best hope is a costly private rehab clinic, but she violently rejects John's attempts to help her, as well as his intentions to unite the family. With no savings or insurance, John is forced to offer his services to a petty criminal to help pay for the pricey recovery program, subsequently forcing him to face a life-changing task that may alter him and his family's lives forever.

3 April 2016 | 2:00 PM

1916 Silent Films / Cinereel with Live Musicians and Irish Language Shorts
1916 Easter Uprising Commemoration

This April is the 100th Anniversary of the Easter Rebellion in Ireland. Ireland and Irish communities around the world are commemorating the 1916 centenary through various cultural events. For our 2nd edition Irish Film Festival Ottawa put together a 90 min program themed around the 1916 Uprising.

Curated by the Irish Film Institute, this ciné-concert features a programme of newsreels documenting events immediately preceding and following the Uprising in Dublin in 1916. This British, German, American and Irish newsreels in this short programme were presented in 1916 in cinemas in Ireland and further afield. They are presented here with live musical accompaniment provided by Alexis MacIsaac, Calum MacKenzie, and Ross Davison.

3 April 2016 | 5:00 PM

You're Too Ugly (2015)
Dir. Mark Noonan
81 min.

Will is released from prison on compassionate leave to care for his niece Stacey after the death of her mother. As they both head into the sleepy Irish midlands and attempt to be a family, they suffer a series of setbacks. Stacey is refused admission to the local school because of her recently developed narcolepsy; Will repeatedly comes close to breaking his prison-ordered curfew; and his attempts at being a father figure to her prove disastrous...

3 April 2016 | 8:00 PM (Closing Night!)

Standby (2014)
Dir. Rob Burke, Ronan Burke, Robert Burke
90 min.

Twenty-something Alan is down on his luck. Stood up at the altar and recently fired from his banking job, he finds himself working with his mother as a part-time tourist advisor at Dublin Airport. It's there he comes face to face with first love Alice, stuck on standby for a flight home to New York. Their summer romance ended eight years previously with Alan promising to return to the US one day. He never did, and they haven't spoken since. Seizing his chance, Alan convinces a reluctant Alice to stay one more night in Dublin. Over the course of an unforgettable evening, they may just realise that they are more compatible than ever. But time is running out on this brief encounter. When does an unexpected second chance, become the one you've always been looking for?