"…

We will show my Irish Institute award-winning 1877 production of John Maguire's "Honesty Is the Best Policy" on DVD.

The production won an Off-Broadway Award from The Irish Institute. Maguire's play focuses on the "No Irish Need Apply" period in New York City after the Civil War Draft Riots, about 12 year earlier.

My production has been included in the archives of the Theatre Collection at Lincoln Center, and archived with…

I once held the conceit that Maureen O'Hara was my mother. So it came as both a surprise and a delight to come across a picture of the deservedly famous Irish redhead standing alongside my father.

In the photo above, Dad is standing, third from left, next to film star Maureen O'Hara. To Dad's right is a…

There’s a saying we have in Ireland that you’d nearly think was coined for Colm Tóibín’s novel Brooklyn. Namely, if you’ve the name of getting up early in the morning you can lie till lunchtime. And it seems to me that Tóibín lay too long when he wrote Brooklyn.…

When the actor Arthur Shields strode towards the Abbey Theatre on Easter Monday, 1916, it was with one intent -- not to rehearse or act in a play, but to collect his rifle and take part in the greater drama that was about to shake the streets of Dublin.

Pictured, Arthur Shields

Once…

The West, the American West, is the place in our souls where romance and reality meet head-on. Ironically it is also the place where reality and romance have always met head-on. Ever since “the West” was that ill-defined space on the map west of the White Mountains, west of the…

The film "Spotlight" was recently released, based on the true story of the Boston Globe’s investigation of the Boston Archdiocese’s willful coverup of child molestation and abuse. The reviews have been, like the movie itself, scattered.

This is, without a doubt, a shattering film. Well made and well acted, it…

There is a moment in "Brooklyn" -- the recently released 1950s period semi-romance -- when one naive and worried young Irishwoman turns to a slightly less naive and worried young Irishwoman and asks her what America will be like. The response is heartfelt, immediate, true and not quite true, all at once: "Like Ireland,…

RIP Maureen O'Hara

http://news.yahoo.com/actress-maureen-ohara-dies-aged-95-183235805.html

No matter how good a cupcake is, when you are expecting a full dessert, it can be disappointing.

Which was my reaction on seeing the award-winning (very) short film "Spiorad na Samhna -- Spirit of Samhain," advertised as exploring “the origins of Halloween in Ireland.” By…

There's going to be two San Francisco screenings of "Shalom Ireland," a documentary film about Ireland's remarkable, yet little known Jewish community.

During the Beth Israel Judea screening, we will show a short sneak preview clip from "The Long Ride," a soon-to-be released documentary about the Immigrant Workers…

The following Q&A with County Clare-born actor Kirby Simone (Oonagh) in Sixteen Films' biopic "Jimmy's Hall") is part of the studio's Production Notes for the film, shot in the story's actual locales in County Leitrim. The notes,…

One could argue that freelance photographer Joss Barratt has done as much to inform movie goers about Ken Loach’s past 20 years of work as the noted British filmmaker himself. Barratt’s photography is seen far and wide, perhaps by millions, across newspapers, magazines, on movie house walls and windows, and across the Internet, by far more people than ever get around to seeing Loach’s provocative and…

As I watched Ken Loach's newest film, “Jimmy’s Hall,” I was struck by how, as had also been true in “The Wind That Shakes the Barley,” Paul Laverty’s writing and Loach’s directing of that writing is free of pretension.

Loach (pictured, foreground) doesn’t need fantastic sound tracks or the latest and greatest special…

(Jack Kruschen, John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara & Chill Wills in McLintock! - 1963)

There are magic moments in life that give you a sense…

The following Q&A with Sixteen Films Director Ken Loach, in two parts, is part of Sixteen Films' Production Notes for its biopic "Jimmy's Hall." The notes, assembled for the produceers by Benji Wilson, were presented to the entertainment industry trade and news media. We are delighted to share these…

In the following three-part series, Sixteen Films' screenwriter Paul Laverty writes about the genesis of "Jimmy's Hall." His observations were first published in Sixteen Films' Production Notes, and are reproduced here with permission. Production Photos see here are by …

In the following three-part series, Sixteen Films' screenwriter Paul Laverty writes about the genesis of "Jimmy's Hall." His observations were first published in Sixteen Films' Production Notes, and are reproduced here with permission. Production Photos see here are by …