Erin go bragh: Film captures Irish conference

Everyone no doubt remembers the hoopla surrounding last spring's international gathering, "Re-Imagining Ireland," at UVA. Sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, it brought such luminaries to town as Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, and writers Roddy Doyle and Frank McCourt.

All the excitement was captured on film, and on Tuesday, October 19, the Virginia Film Society screens the theatrical premiere of Re-Imagining Ireland, a documentary based on May's events.

Director Andrew Wyndham of the Virginia Foundation for Humanities will be on hand to discuss and answer questions about the film on which Paul Wagner was senior producer.

Narrated by the Pulitzer Prize-winning McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes and Tis, the film features 34 prominent Irish personalities in literature, politics, social activism, and the arts, and explores what it means to be Irish in the 21st century. Perhaps most interesting in a world marked by religious conflict, the program offers a perspective on the religious and political turmoil in Ireland and the workings of the peace process. It unsentimentally explores the human struggle to come to terms with cultural difference, encouraging acceptance and tolerance.

Re-Imagining Ireland shows Tuesday, October 19, at 7pm at Vinegar Hill Theatre. $7.50, free to Film Society members. 982-5560.

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pic from 9/19 2002 issue

Paul Wagner.
PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO