"The Irish in Film," a free movie series sponsored by the Irish Studies Committee at Fairfield University, opens on Wednesday, April 3 with the first of four diverse films. The series, now in its sixth year, is part of Fairfield University's "Arts & Minds" season of cultural and intellectual programs and is open to the public.

The films will be shown in the Multimedia Room of the University's DiMenna-Nyselius Library on Wednesday evenings at 7 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. Each film will be introduced by a member of the Irish Studies faculty, who will field  questions from the audience after the screening.

The series begins on Wednesday, April 3, with "Albert Nobbs" (2011) based on the Anglo-Irish writer George Moore's short story of the same tile published in his collection Celibate Lives (1926).  Directed by Rodrigo Garcia, the film was written by the Irish novelist John Banville and Glenn Close, who stars in the title role. Set in Ireland in the late-19th century, the film concerns a poor woman who disguises herself as a male and works as a waiter in a Dublin hotel. Janet McTeer and Mia Wasikowska also star. Nels Pearson, Ph.D., director of Irish Studies, will introduce the film.

On April 10, the series continues with Carol Reed's classic film noir "Odd Man Out" (1947), starring James Mason as Johnny McQueen, the chief of a Northern Irish revolutionary organization that closely resembles the IRA. Based on a novel by F.L. Green, the film examines the "troubles" in the North, a community's refusal to help the rebels, and a love story. Kevin Cassidy, Ph.D., former director of Irish Studies, will introduce the film.

"Evelyn," (2002), the story of a father's actual experience in trying to regain his children who were taken away from him by the state and put into Catholic orphanages, will be screened on April 17. Directed by Bruce Beresford, the film stars Pierce Brosnan, Stephen Rea, Aidan Quinn and Alan Bates. Dr. William Abbott, associate professor history, will present the film.

The series concludes on April 24 with "The Irish R.M." (1985), a TV adaptation of entertaining stories by the Anglo-Irish writers known as Somerville and Ross, published in 1899. Set in the west of Ireland in the late 19th-century, the film stars Peter Bowles as Major Sinclair Yeates, the British Resident Magistrate, who is new to the country and finds the place and people very different from what he expected. The nonpolitical stories can be seen as the last hurrah of the Anglo-Irish ruling class. Professor Marion White, who teaches Irish Women Writers, will introduce the film.

For more information, contact Marion White, Irish Studies Program , at (203) 254-4000, ext. 3021 or mwhite@fairfield.edu .

Posted On: 02-06-2013 11:02 AM

Volume: 45 Number: 169