Irish film has never had a prominent role on the world cinema stage.  However, in recent years, the industry is beginning to grow and flourish.  This is due in part to the lifting of long standing bans and censorship and in place, a new system of classification, as well as recent promotion by the Irish Film Board and tax breaks by the government.  Not only does the Irish government and film board view this growth as positive for direct economic benefits, it has also lead to an increase in tourism.  Irish films have particularly well received in America, due to our large Irish-American population.

So what makes a film an Irish film?  This question and others like it are never easily answered in the context of world cinema.  To determine whether or not a film is “Irish” means looking at its funding, location, actors, director, producer and other factors.  After all, many films are filmed in Ireland, like Braveheart and PS I Love You, but very few would call them Irish.  While any film funded by the Irish Film Board, which was established in 1981, is certainly and Irish film, what about others?  After the Irish Film Board was dissolved in 1987, the success of films like The Commitments brought attention back to Irish cinema and story telling, and the board was reformed again.

It was in 1993, when the Irish Film Board reopened, that Ireland saw a boom in film production.  Ten Irish featured films were produced that year, followed by eighteen more in 1994 (Garry).   This was also the year that the film industry began to see tax breaks and growing support from the government.  The hope was that a more successful film industry would promote national pride and project the Irish culture on screens across the world.  In the last decade or two, the Irish government has made it a priority to support and protect Irish arts and culture.  Many Irish artists, actors, and musicians have left Ireland to pursue their careers, travelling to the United Kingdom or the United States for opportunities.  The government of Ireland has recognized this and is working hard to encourage Ireland’s “young and talented” to stay.

The Irish Film Board and Irish filmmakers also face the challenge of reversing Irish stereotypes that have been formed through American films.  In many non-Irish films, the Irish are depicted as simple, rural, and “down-trodden.”  Most landscapes used are country, rural landscapes that only show one side of Ireland and it’s people.  Films like The Commitments “dealt with Ireland’s urban working class, neglected by foreign filmmakers who often portrayed a rural Ireland” (Garry).

We are very familiar with Irish actors here in America, but how many of their films are Irish?  Irish actors like Pierce Brosnan, Colin Farrell, and Cillian Murphy have been hugely successful in British and American films, but seldom in Irish ones.  Cillian Murphy, who we know from Blockbuster films such as Batman and Red Eye, has had success in Irish film.  His most famous Irish role was that Damien O’Donovan in the independent film, The Wind that Shakes the Barley, directed by Ken Loach.  This 2006 war film tells the story tells the story of two brothers and a community who fight for independence from England in the 1920’s.  The story is heartbreaking and the filming is gritty and imperfect, and it saw very little recognition in the US.  However it won and was nominated for several awards in Europe and won the Palme D’or at the Cannes Film Festival.  It has since become the highest grossing Irish film in history.

Speaking of Cillian Murphy, he was originally offered the lead role of another 2006 Irish film, Once.  Once, funded by the Irish Film Board and directed by former Frames bassist John Carney, was only given a 150,000 euro budget and had little chance of being very successful.  Murphy, who was to star in this modern musical, turned down the role when he learned that his would-be-co-star Marketa Irglova, a Czech pianist, was only seventeen and never acted before on film or on the stage.  While the film seemed to be falling apart, Carney offered the role to his former band mate, the Frames front man Glen Hansard, who had been helping write music for the film alongside Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice.  While Hansard had previously acted before in a small role in The Commitments, he was hesitant to crossover to the film medium.  However, Hansard agreed.  He knew the music and had worked with Irglova before so the two worked together naturally.

Carney’s vision for Once was to create a modern musical.  He struggled with the concept initially, but later said, “it became clear that I could do it just like a small indie art-house movie, very naturalistically. I could create a world where it’s O.K. to break into song, without an orchestra coming up out of nowhere” (Browne).  Once developed into a film that started to feel like a new genre.  It was a musical, yet maintained the feel of a documentary, even though the story was completely fictional.  Hansard and Irglova have even reported that fans have often mistaken the film for a collection of home videos documenting their journey to release an album.

Since the film was shot on only about 160,000 dollars and over the course of seventeen days, few thought Once would be a success.  However, the film one the Audience Award at Sundance and was bought by Fox Searchlight.  It went on to make over $20 million at the box office and even won an award for Best Original Song at the Oscars.  Also, one of the film’s featured songs, “Falling Slowly,” quickly became very popular in America.  It reached #2 on the Billboards and was nominated for two Grammys.  Between Once and The Wind that Shakes the Barley, 2006 proved to be an incredible year for Irish film and may be the jumpstart the industry needed to increase their presence across the globe.

In conclusion, the Irish are steadily making a name for themselves in the global film industry.  After years of censorship, lack of funds, and debilitating stereotypes, they are finally getting their “voice” and sharing “real Ireland” with the world.  The amount of films set in Ireland or involving Irish characters speaks to the fact that many Americans are interested in their Irish heritage and the stories of the Irish people.  Some Irish filmmakers have been tempted to play along with stereotypes or foreign expectations of what an Irish film should be, yet many are starting to focus on lesser-know tales of perseverance, national identity and real world Ireland.  The Irish have always been great storytellers, and if given the opportunity and the support, they will soon have significant presence and influence in global cinema.

2) Eddie Vedder has a new album called “Ukulele Songs.”

3) It’ll be 68 on Monday.

Some things:

1. Call work.
2. Go to the bank.
3. Go to the post office.
4. Visit grandma.
5. Go to the library and read Hamlet’s Blackberry, chapter 10.
6. Work on my Korean film presentation.
7. PLANT ROSEMARY SEEDS

I nearly forgot.  I told myself to plant rosemary seeds on March 28th and indeed I shall.

Well time’s a-wastin’ and I have quite a list there so that’s all for today.

What Wondrous Love is This? was the processional hymn this morning, which is funny, because I was just reading this post yesterday.  I smiled.  It was a pleasant Sunday, and I’ve developed a sort of Sunday tradition that I HAVE to tell you about, but not for another seven months or so.  I also made homemade guacamole which was so easy, and I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it sooner.  I made homemade tortilla chips too that were tasty and everything was perfect.

While I was looking for the aforementioned what-wondrous-love-post, I found that a year ago today I posted the lyrics of Stuart Murdoch’s Another Saturday, from the Dark Was The Night charity album.  (Even though today is Sunday,) it kind of hit home, again, and that’s certainly a feeling that I could do without.  It’s funny how sometimes you think, “Well, a year from now everything is going to be fine and I won’t even remember this,” but in reality sometimes you come full circle.

But it looks like last March 28th was Palm Sunday, and that shouldn’t happen again tomorrow.  Clean slate.

It’s another Saturday,
I can see the calm pull chaos
and the worldly body wiliting
under weights that can’t be lifted.
It looks to you for embrace,
looks to you for understanding,
understand the things you’re asking.
It’s a slow and subtle dawning
of another Saturday.

Be good to the one that’s near
and bow down to the one that’s wanting,
when the fearless step comes calling,
you’ll be ready if you’ve listened
to the voice heard in prayer,
to a steady invitation.
Shut your eyes when you’re angry,
bow your head when you get lonely
on another Saturday.

Look ahead with hope and cheer,
look ahead with blazing spirits,
’cause the one that made us wants us
to spread joy amongst the living.
And though times may be hard,
and the week behind was painful,
He won’t ask us to shoulder a weight too much to carry
on another Saturday.

-Stuart Murdoch