What the focal! is a short comedy film adapted by playwright Jonathan Burgess from an original idea by Linda Ervine.
When Maggie, a Protestant from East Belfast, decides to learn Irish her husband Jimmy, a Loyalist, puts his foot down and tells her that there will be no Irish spoken in ‘his’ house. However, Maggie and her best friend Anne decide that they will secretly enrol for Irish classes, under the guise of learning French.
Following the film, Linda will deliver a brief talk entitled The Miracle that is Turas (turas being the Gaelic word for journey), followed by a Q&A panel session, including some of her students. When the Turas Irish Language Centre opened in East Belfast in January this year, it was called ‘a miracle’.
Until recently, no one could have conceived of the idea that people would learn Irish on the Newtownards Road, yet today over 120 people, of all ages, attend classes every week. The evening concludes with a music session incorporating tunes and songs from both traditions
£3 from St Michael’s Irish Centre
A provocative and deeply moving work, celebrating the resilience and humour of a city mostly forgotten now by the West.
Combining new music for classical accordion, poetry, photography and film Sklonište celebrates the spirit of the Sarajevans who lived through the longest siege in modern history. The Siege of Sarajevo (Bosnia) was the longest siege in modern warfare, lasting 1,425 days and claiming 13,952 lives.
Ailís Ní Ríain is an Irish classical composer and writer, interested in creating work across music, theatre and installation to challenge, provoke and engage
£7/£5conc/members
More information here.
Watch trailers of the event, below.
Sligo band, Rackhouse Pilfer are a stomping, fiery and exciting band and have been getting rave reviews for with their brand of rootsy Americana.
Critics describe them as “a word of mouth phenomenon”, “a fiery and exciting new band” and “musically gifted”
£9 from St Michael’s Irish Centre or online (+booking fee)
Hannigan first came to light as an angel-voiced, somewhat mysterious figure singing harmonies alongside Damien Rice. They played together for seven years, but it wasn’t until the release of her solo debut, Sea Sew, in 2008 that the full spectrum of her abilities became apparent. Now her third album, 2016’s At Swim carries on the success.
American artist Heather Woods Broderick (piano, cello, guitar and flute) is Lisa’s support, touring the UK and Europe
Doors open 6.30pm. £22.50 (+ booking fee) available from TicketWeb
In the anniversary year of the 1916 Rising, Mick Hannigan, Co-Director of the IndieCork Festival, presents Irish short films which take a satirical and critical view of the Ireland promised by the Proclamation of 1916.
Films presented include Eireville, Our Country and Horse; all key films in the canon of Irish film. Our August Destiny is a filmic response to post-1916 Ireland and will be a rare chance to see these great Irish shorts, consider how they regarded the wake of 1916, and will be of interest to film lovers, historians, specialists, the Irish community and beyond.
This event is held in partnership with IndieCork and Picture House
It is 1914 in Downings, County Donegal. In a women’s commune, we meet and witness the journeys of five women, accompanied by live music, imagery and old, Celtic stories.
Our main character, Murieann, is leaving the island of Tory for America. We journey with her, exploring early-twentieth-century revolution and suffrage, in Ireland and England, precipitating the feelings, actions and emotions that continue informing politics today, locally and globally. Should we take action? Should we educate? Must we be involved? What does that mean?
A brand new production and original play, at up-and-coming venue The Invisible Wind Factory, Scadán is fictional play (based on historic accounts) produced, performed and written by young, emerging artists living in the city, including young writers, Lauren O’Hara and Connor Kelly (from Derry-Londonderry), who live in Liverpool alongside upcoming, Liverpool-based Producer/Director Roisin Fletcher.
www.crowdfunder.co.uk/scadn-2016-1
www.facebook.com/scadan2016
£8/£6 conc/£3 15-17 year olds
A place to meet and explore a wealth of Irish and Liverpool traditional songs.
All musicians of all ages are welcome at this weekly session attended by locals, house musician, bar staff and strangers each Tuesday. Under 18s welcome
Liz Weir will join St Michael’s regular storytellers for an evening of entertainment, telling tales of ghosts, banshee and enchantment, firmly rooted in the Irish landscape in which she grew up, touching the hearts of listeners.
Liz is celebrated for her work with a wide variety of audiences, from pre-schoolers, primary students and youth groups to seniors and dementia sufferers and is the first winner of the Storybridge Award from the National Story Telling Network (USA). This is expected to sell out, so book fast!
£5 from St Michael’s Irish Centre or online (+booking fee)
Mick Hannigan, Co-Director of the IndieCork Festival will be joined by a contemporary Irish filmmaker, to take a look at the best of new Irish short films, many of them making their international premiere at LIF 2016.
Hot off the presses from the recent IndieCork Festival – the world of Irish short cinema unreels with exciting new productions. With introductions, background information and a Q&A to follow, this is a must for contemporary film makers, film lovers and those interested in the Irish zeitgeist.
This event is held in partnership with IndieCork and Picture House
£7/£5 conc and members
Lynched are a four-piece traditional folk group from Dublin, who combine distinctive four-part vocal harmonies with arrangements of uilleann pipes, concertina, Russian accordion, fiddle and guitar.
Their repertoire spans humorous Dublin music-hall ditties and street-songs; classic ballads from the Traveller tradition; traditional Irish and American dance tunes and their own original material
£15 from the Liverpool Philharmonic (+ booking fees)
