"The Irish in Film," the free movie series sponsored by the Irish Studies Committee at Fairfield University, opens on Wednesday, October 5 with four diverse films. Now in its fourth year, the series is part of Fairfield University's "Arts & Minds" season of cultural and intellectual programs.
On October 12, "The Eclipse" (2009), hailed at the Tribeca Film Festival and directed by Irish playwright Conor McPherson, will be shown. Written by McPherson and Billy Roche, the film is based on "Tales from Rainwater Pond," by Roche, and stars Ciarán Hinds as Michael Farr, a widowed teacher who is raising his two young children in County Cork. Ever since his wife's death two years earlier, Michael is having violent visions. When he volunteers as a driver at a literary festival, he meets Lena Morelle (Iben Hjejle), who writes books on ghosts and paranormal occurrences. Michael seeks her opinion of his own haunting experiences and a romantic relationship develops that is threatened by Lena's former lover, a bombastic best-selling American author, Nicholas Holden, played by Aidan Quinn. Dr. Robert Epstein, associate professor of English, will introduce the film.
The films will be shown in the Multimedia Room of the DiMenna-Nyselius Library on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m. The films will be introduced by professors who teach in the Irish Studies program. Fairfield University welcomes students as well as the greater community to this free event. Light refreshments will be served.
For more information, please contact Marion White, Irish Studies Committee, at (203) 254-4000, ext. 3021 or e-mail her at mwhite@fairfield.edu.