In the Green: Irish Cinema Continues its Lush Growth
Returning for its third year, The Boston Irish Film Festival will be the host to several premieres, many guest speakers, and of course, great music, and Guinness.

By Peg Aloi

A still image from "Beyond the Pale."

Just as the Irish economy has boomed and become the healthiest in Europe (largely due to high-tech companies), so too the Irish filmmaking industry is undergoing intense growth and exciting developments. Local audiences will have a chance to sample some of the most recent Irish cinematic exports in this year’s annual Boston Irish Film Festival. Now in its third year, the festival has come a long way. It started as a financially struggling but exciting program, to a two-weekend festival at two locations (the Harvard Film Archive and Boston College), to this year’s selection of high-quality premieres and impressive array of guest speakers.

Founder and festival organizer Peter Flynn (who continues the work begun with his co-founder Jim Lane) is very enthusiastic about this year’s program. From Pat Murphy’s James Joyce biopic "Nora" which Flynn states is "a beautiful piece of work," to Steve Barron’s oddball comedy "Rat" in which Pete Postlethwaite turns into a Guinness-quaffing rodent, there is sure to be something for everyone. Though some of the more obscure categories of past years are absent this year (Irish language films, for example), the program of narrative and documentary film is nevertheless sure to draw a large share of the local Irish-American, film-going audience. First night attendees are especially encouraged, as the festival’s opening night reception includes Guinness and live music from local traditional session musicians.

Highlights of this year’s program include: the aforementioned "Rat" (which I found rather quirky and dark but enjoyable); the lyrical and gorgeously-photographed "Nora" which features Ewan Macgregor as Joyce, and Susan Lynch, the otherworldly selkie-woman from "The Secret of Roan Irish," as Nora Barnacle, Joyce’s lover and muse. "Dear Boy: The Story of Michael Mac Liammoir," is a documentary about the famous Irish stage actor which is showing on a double bill with "Return to Glennascaul," known to many viewers as Orson Welles’ "Ghost Story." Also screening is Liam O’Mochain’s "The Book That Wrote Itself," in which the filmmaker crashes the Venice Film Festival to pitch his novel to unsuspecting celebrities like George Clooney and Robert DeNiro. You can also look forward to another film from local filmmaker John Michalzyk, a documentary about prisons in Northern Ireland.

Be sure to check out the autobiographical "Beyond the Pale" which won high honors at the Houston International Film Festival, and is a moving and charming story about a young illegal Irish immigrant trying to make his dreams come true. Writer/producer/actor Patrick Clarke will appear along with actors Malachy McCourt and Beverley Elder, producer Jack Alvino, and director George Bazala on Saturday April 21.

NewEnglandFilm.com interviewed Patrick Clarke about this labor of love that he wrote, co-produced and starred in.

PA: What on earth possessed you to be co-producer, writer and actor in your FIRST film? Well done, but this must have been a lot of work...

Clarke: I didn't think of it as a lot of work initially, naiveté is a great thing. Raising money is the biggest obstacle, staying focused is the second, keeping those around you motivated is the third. The rest is easy.

PA: I live in Boston and am active in the traditional music scene, so I meet a great many people in similar situations, i.e., trying to make a go of it here without green cards. What do you think you are trying to say in your film about this phenomenon? Our country is very strict about it and it must be difficult for those Irish who want to make some money and bring their wealth back to Ireland to help out the Irish economy (it does appear that in recent years this is happening).

Clarke: When I came to the states illegally in 1986 (the terrible eighties as they were known), my initial goal was to save as much money as possible and go back home and start a business of some sort. Back then the Irish economy was non-existent; our biggest export was our young people. So for that first year I knuckled down and saved every penny, I worked 2 jobs 6 days a week for an entire year, and then disaster: I met a girl, fell in love and never left. I spent 6 years undocumented, and to be honest, the prospect of a green card was all I could think of. All those years were lost because I was immersed in this illegal alien thing. During those years I worked as a Man with a Van, I advertised in the "Village Voice" and sustained myself quite well. I stayed away from the Irish thing for fear of deportation and most importantly the drinking/self-pitying culture that prevailed.

When I finally got the almighty green card, I was finally faced with reality -- there were no more hiding places or excuses, what was I going to do now? Well, it didn't get any easier. For years I got on with the day-to-day stuff, going to work and hanging out. It wasn't until I moved to LA in 1996 that it became clear, and from there on in I became a man with a mission. I had been in the states 10 years, and I only began to find out what I had missed and what the place was about and had to offer. Better late than never I suppose, but regardless of one's resident status, the first priority is to get on with living, as the man says, "You can take a ride through this life if you want but you can't take the edge off a knife, no sir." Anything can be achieved if you believe in yourself enough.

The Third Annual Boston Irish Film Festival runs April 20-22 at the Harvard Film Archive. For more information and a full schedule, go to www.irishfilmfestival.com, or call curator Peter Flynn at (413) 253-5414.  For more info on "Beyond The Pale" visit http://www.beyondthepalemovie.com. 

Peg Aloi is a freelance writer living in Boston.

Sponsors: