"The Irish in Film," the free film series sponsored by the Irish Studies Program at Fairfield University, opens on Wednesday, October 2 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. All but one of the films will be introduced by members of the Irish Studies faculty, who will field questions from the audience after the screenings. Two special guests, novelist Mary Pat Kelly and screenwriter Naomi Sheridan, will introduce and lead the Q&A after "In America," the film slated for October 16.
This year each film will have a "Cities" theme, as part of the University's 2012-2014 interdisciplinary area of focus. The four cities featured in the films are Dublin, Limerick, New York, and Cork.
The fall series concludes on October 23 with "Disco Pigs" (2001), a coming-of-age story set in Cork City about two disco-going teens, Pig (Cillian Murphy) and Runt (Elaine Cassidy). Directed by Kirsten Sheridan, daughter of the director Jim Sheridan, the film explores the intense relationship of the inseparable teenagers, who live next door to each other, have their own language, play by their own rules, and retreat into their own dangerous fantasy world. The film will be presented by Robert Epstein, Ph.D., associate professor of English.
For more information, contact Marion White, Irish Studies Program, at (203) 254-4000, ext. 3021 or mwhite@fairfield.edu.