IRELAND ON SCREEN
RTÉ Television have partnered with the Irish Film Board in a new initiative to celebrate some of the best new and acclaimed Irish films. Ireland on Screen will see a selection of top Irish films broadcast on RTÉ One television this August including the Network TV Premieres of Ondine, Happy Ever After, The Runway and Academy Award winner The Shore, along with much loved favourites such as Dancing at Lughnasa, Song for a Raggy Boy and Michael Collins. This collection of films showcases some of Ireland’s most talented actors, writers, directors and film makers.
Saturday 25th August at 10.10pm on RTÉ One
In The Name of the Father
Jim Sheridan’s In the Name of the Father is based on the true life story of Gerry Conlon, one of the Guildford Four who were falsely convicted of the IRA’s Guildford pub bombing. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Pete Postlethwaite) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Emma Thompson).
Saturday 25th August at 00.40am on RTÉ One
Conspiracy Of Silence
A can of worms is opened within the Irish Catholic Church following two controversial incidents, the suicide of Frank Sweeney, a parish priest and the expulsion of Daniel McLaughlin, a young trainee priest from a nearby seminary, on the grounds that he was open to the sexual advances of a male colleague. A local journalist, David Foley, is convinced that Sweeney’s death and Daniel’s expulsion are linked. Desperate to clear his good name and be re-instated, Daniel agrees to talk to Foley. As the story gathers momentum, the Church closes ranks.
Sunday 26th August at 9.30pm on RTÉ One (Network TV Premiere)
Ondine
IFTA award winning Ondine is a Irish romantic drama film directed and written by Neil Jordan, starring Colin Farrell, Dervala Kirwan and Alicja Bachleda. Ondine is a tale about hope, love and the value of believing in magic. It tells the story of Syracuse, a local fisherman whose everyday life is transformed by a beautiful and mysterious woman, whom he fishes from the sea and who his young daughter believes is a mermaid. But as in all fairytales, enchantment and darkness go hand in hand.
Monday 27th August at 9.35pm on RTÉ One
Michael Collins
Starring Liam Neeson, Julia Roberts, Aidan Quinn, and Alan Rickman, this historical epic directed by Neil Jordan and received two Academy Award nominations. Michael Collins, one of Ireland’s most controversial patriots and revolutionary heroes, leads his countrymen in their fight for independence. Having come of age in the early 20th century, when a monumental history of oppression and bloodshed had divided Ireland and its people, Collins was arrested during the 1916 Easter Uprising, when Irish revolutionaries surrendered to the overwhelming military power of the British forces after a six-day standoff at Dublin’s General Post Office. Upon his release, he took leadership of the Irish independence movement and strove to create a free and peaceful country.
Friday 31st August at 10.353pm on RTÉ One
Song For A Raggy Boy
Against the wishes of the Bishop, Father Damian (Alan Devlin), the principal of St. Jude’s Reformatory School, appoints William Franklin (Aidan Quinn) the only lay teacher among a staff of Catholic Brothers. Franklin’s teaching methods are diametrically opposed to those of the Brothers, who resort to verbal and physical abuse. As Franklin tries to build a relationship based on trust with the boys, he unlocks their hidden talents, teaching them to appreciate poetry, recruiting Liam Mercier (John Travers), an exceptionally talented boy, to help him take on the challenge. Discovering at St.Jude’s the same kind of repression and tyranny he fought against in Spain, Franklin continues to have flashbacks to his days in the Spanish Civil War. When on Christmas day, Brother John gratuitously beats two young brothers, who have broken a school rule, Mercier and Franklin curtail the violence but not for long: Brother John’s determination to find out why Franklin has decided to teach at St. Jude’s, results in more brutality, with unimaginable consequences.