The Baton Rouge Irish Film Festival returns this weekend on Friday, July 28, and Saturday, July 29.
For more than 50 years, the Baton Rouge Irish Club has been celebrating Irish culture in Baton Rouge. This year, the organization hosts its ninth annual Baton Rouge Irish Film Festival with two days of entertainment, food, music, culture and more. The event is at the Manship Theatre at the Shaw Center for the Arts, on Third Street at North Boulevard. For tickets, visit manshiptheatre.org, call 344-0334 or purchase at the door.
Day one: Friday, July 28
The festival begins at 6:30 p.m. with a short reception for festival sponsors at The Gallery at the Manship Theatre. That is followed by a bagpipe performance at 7. At 7:30 p.m., the Wee Irish Film Night, a collection of judged short films, begins with a short welcome and the announcement of the 2016 Award in the Manship Theatre. Admission is $8.50 and includes all short film screenings, music, refreshments and cash bar. Here’s the schedule:
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The short films will be shown at 7:30 p.m. in this order:
• A Little Bit of Tear (12 minutes) directed by Michael Flatley
• Even Droids Have Friends (13 minutes) by Caroline Grace-Cassidy
• Second to None (7 minutes) by Vincent Gallagher
• The Fashion Show (16 minutes) by Lucy Lumsden
• The Nation Holds Its Breath (21 minutes) by Kev Cahill
8:40 p.m. Intermission with music by Hint of Whiskey and food from Desserts First
9:20 p.m. short films will be shown in this order:
• The Lost Letter (8 minutes) by Kealan O’Rourke
• Digs for Pennies (16 minutes) by Evin O’Neill
• The Sweetest Thing (6 minutes) by Douglas O’Connor
• Gridlock (20 minutes) by Ian Hunt Duffy
• There’s Something About the Virgin Mary (12 minutes) by Kevin McSorley
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Day two: Saturday, July 29
The festival continues with a collection of four feature films and a documentary. The festival will include two 45-minute intermissions with performances from Hint of Whiskey and food from Desserts First. Tickets are $8.50 for one film screening, music, refreshments and cash bar. Tickets to each feature film must be purchased separately, but the documentary screening is free. Here’s the schedule:
Noon. Bagpipe performance and welcome speech
12:05 p.m. Dare to Be Wild (PG) by Vivienne De Courcy. The biographical romance drama is based on a true story. The film follows Mary Reynolds on her journey from naive, country girl to prominent landscape designer. With beautiful scenery like the green hills of Ireland and the desert highlands of Africa, Dare to Be Wild shows Mary Reynolds’ chasing her dreams of enacting environmental change while falling for a charismatic British botanist Christy Collard.
1:45 p.m. Short intermission
2 p.m. A Date for Mad Mary (NR, Ages 17+) by Darren Thornton: In this dramedy, ‘Mad’ Mary McArdle returns home from prison, but everything has changed. Mary’s best friend, Charlene, is getting married with Mary as her maid of honor, but Charlene refuses Mary a plus one assuming that she’d be unable to get a date. Mary is determined to prove her wrong.
3:25 p.m. Long intermission in gallery
4:10 p.m. Free Documentary – How to Defuse a Bomb: The Project Children Story (NR, some content not suitable for children) by Des Henderson: For 40 years, NYPD bomb disposal expert and Irish immigrant Denis Mulcahy brought more than 23,000 children from the worst areas in Northern Ireland to America for a summer getaway. Winning over Irish hearts and minds while influencing American politics, Mulcahy became a major contributor to the peace in Northern Ireland.
5:45 p.m. Short intermission
6 p.m. The Journey (PG-13) by Nick Hamm: The film follows two men from opposing sides of the political spectrum and how they come together to change the course of history. Amidst a decades-long conflict in Northern Ireland, Ian Paisley, a deeply conservative British loyalist, and Martin McGuinness, a former Irish Republican Army leader, get an impromptu, detour-filled car ride through the Scottish countryside. Along the way, each begins to see the other less as an enemy, and more as an individual. This historical drama stars Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney, Freddie Highmore, Toby Stephens and John Hurt.
7:40 p.m. Long intermission in gallery
8:25 p.m. The Flag (NR, some content not suitable for children) by Declan Recks: After Harry loses his job, father and hamster in one day, he finds a statement from his grandfather. During the 1916 Easter Rising, Harry’s grandfather claims to have raised the flag over the General Post Office. The Flag follows Harry’s comedic journey with his friends to find the flag, which supposedly hangs in an army barracks in England.
10 p.m. Festival closes with an After Party. Location to be announced.
