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In pictures: Lenny Abrahamson and others in Cork for launch of Fastnet Film Festival

In pictures: Lenny Abrahamson and others in Cork for launch of Fastnet Film Festival

Irish Examiner30-04-2025

The spotlight will be on Schull this May as the Fastnet Film Festival returns with a stellar line-up from May 21 to May 25.
The Fastnet Film Festival's programme was recently unveiled at a launch party at Crane Lane in Cork city.
The Fastnet Film Festival launch party recently took place at The Crane Lane. Picture: Gerard McCarthy.
This year promises a mix of Hollywood stars, screenings, panels, masterclasses, and special guest events in the stunning village of Schull.
Eoin O'Hannrachein, James Browne and Cian O'Hannrachein from Cork at the Fastnet Film Festival launch party at The Crane Lane. Picture: Gerard McCarthy.
The Fastnet Film Festival is a short film festival without a cinema, providing those who attend with many alternatives, from screenings on Cape Clear, the village hall, local hotel, cafés, and numerous local pubs and restaurants in town.
The Fastnet Film Festival programme was unveiled at a launch party at The Crane
The Festival focuses on the craft of filmmaking, hosting seminars, workshops, and masterclasses with industry experts on all aspects of the film industry.
Tom McCarthy ,Fastnet Film Festival Committee and Cllr Deirdre Kelly, Deputy Mayor of County Cork at the Fastnet Film Festival launch party at The Crane Lane. Picture: Gerard McCarthy.
Fringe events include a film quiz, live music, and family entertainment.
Hilary Lane, Alper Hackett and Jo Lyons at the Fastnet Film Festival launch party at The Crane Lane. Picture: Gerard McCarthy.
Over 500 short films from over 40 countries are entered into competition each year for a share in the cash prize fund of €45,000.
Liz Flatman and Gene Griffin, Film Festival Design Team, at the Fastnet Film Festival launch party at The Crane Lane. Picture: Gerard McCarthy.
As part of this year's celebration of film, stars including Maria Doyle Kennedy, who has starred in more than 50 films and TV series including The General, Wolfwalkers, The Tudors, Downton Abbey, Orphan Black, Outlander, Kin, and Father Ted; Barry Keoghan, multi-award winning actor revered for his intense and versatile performances; and Domhnall Gleeson, whose career spans critically acclaimed films such as Star Wars, Ex Machina, Brooklyn, and The Revenant, will join in the festivities in Schull.
John Kelleher film producer and Jean van Sinderen la,w UCC at the Fastnet Film Festival launch party at The Crane Lane. Picture: Gerard McCarthy.
Irish film director Lenny Abrahamson was among the guests in attendance at the Fastnet Film Festival launch event in Cork city last week.
Stephanie Power, Jack and Martin Levis from Ballydehob at the Fastnet Film Festival launch party at The Crane Lane. Picture: Gerard McCarthy.
The festival will take place from Wednesday, May 21 to Sunday, May 25.

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Grumbles about Vikings and hangovers: the scribbles on Columbanus manuscripts being exhibited in Dublin
Grumbles about Vikings and hangovers: the scribbles on Columbanus manuscripts being exhibited in Dublin

Irish Independent

time5 days ago

  • Irish Independent

Grumbles about Vikings and hangovers: the scribbles on Columbanus manuscripts being exhibited in Dublin

The National Museum of Ireland has launched its new exhibition Words on the Wave: Ireland and St Gallen in Early Medieval Europe, showing off 17 manuscripts from the Abbey Library of St Gall in Switzerland along with artefacts from the museum's own collection. Research from UCC and Trinity has confirmed that they were written in Ireland before being transported to Switzerland. The manuscripts include the four gospel books of the New Testament and other religious texts along with scholastic writings for teaching Latin. UCC Professor of Irish at University College Cork Pádraig Ó'Macháin has been working in this area since 1985 and set up the digitisation of Irish manuscripts in the19 90s through Irish Script on Screen. He has described the exhibition as 'mind-blowing'. He said: 'To see the manuscripts all together, and surrounded by the archaeological context, is very unique.' One of the manuscripts, Priscian's Institutiones Grammaticae, which is a Latin grammar book has thousands of scribbles in the margins written by monks in the Old Irish language. Visitors can get a glimpse into the everyday thoughts of these monks through their doodles, witty banter, and grumbles about the Vikings, hangovers, and the quality of the ink in the margins of the manuscript. Professor Ó'Macháin said: 'This was 850 AD and you can see the signatures of two guys from Cavan on the manuscript. It has lots of notes and the prayers to St Bridget and all sorts of marks that show it was well studied in the monastic school in Ireland before it left for the continent. 'But when it comes to the continent, you can see continental students were distracted because they started drawing doodles. And some of these doodles could even be considered offensive. The manuscript has lived a long and interesting life.' The exhibition aims to break down what some might see as an inaccessible period in history, bringing to life these works through visual graphics and videos, the artefacts in the display and the manuscripts themselves. ADVERTISEMENT Matt Seaver, assistant Keeper in the Irish Antiquities Division of the museum encourages all to attend the exhibition, no matter how much or how little they know about this time in Irish history. He said: 'You're going to go on a journey from Ireland, both in sight and sound, all the way from Ireland to St Gallen, over by the Alps. You're going to look at the different motivations for Irish people, why did they travel at the time, and then what they were writing about and what their very human experiences were. So it's not all highbrow, intellectual stuff, it's real-life experiences.' Other manuscripts on display are: Isidore's Etymologiae, Priscian's Institutiones Grammaticae, Irish Gospels of St Gall ( 51) and Vellum Reliquary label. Also on display are the only surviving copies of Columbanus' letters to several popes in the 7th century. Mr Seary said: 'We know exactly what their conversation was about and you can even pick up on where his personality comes out. It's remarkable.'

Author interview: Dizzyingly inventive narrative exploring the nature of time
Author interview: Dizzyingly inventive narrative exploring the nature of time

Irish Examiner

time13-06-2025

  • Irish Examiner

Author interview: Dizzyingly inventive narrative exploring the nature of time

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Rex Ryan's foray into the life of Gerard Hutch is thought-provoking
Rex Ryan's foray into the life of Gerard Hutch is thought-provoking

Extra.ie​

time13-06-2025

  • Extra.ie​

Rex Ryan's foray into the life of Gerard Hutch is thought-provoking

When watching The Monk at Glass Mask Theatre that age-old adage about the truth and a good story might spring to mind. It wouldn't be the first time that a gangland veteran became the subject of an artistic endeavour — after all, we've had The General about the life of Martin Cahill and John Gilligan and Traynor were also committed to celluloid in Veronica Guerin, the film about the murder of the Sunday Independent journalist. In that, Alan Devine played Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch long before he was found not guilty of the Regency Hotel murders in 2023 and subsequently unsuccessfully ran for election a year later. But it's another leap that Rex Ryan has taken — devising a play about his one-time neighbour after a chance meeting with Hutch's son Jason who he knew from his neighbourhood of Clontarf. Ryan writes, directs and stars in The Monk after meeting with Gerry Hutch a number of times to discuss the man's life. Rex Ryan as a younger Gerard Hutch. Hutch has given Ryan carte blanche to portray his life as Ryan sees it, and so though facts were checked and insight into his life was certainly provided by The Monk, the actor and writer has used dramatic licence to pepper fact with fiction. We meet The Monk as played by Ryan just minutes before he is due to appear in the dock to hear whether or not he will be convicted of the murder of David Byrne at The Regency Hotel in 2016. What follows is like a fever dream trip through the life of Hutch, aided and abetted by screens that flash up different aspects of Hutch's life – from CCTV footage of an assasination attempt on The Monk as he dined out in a Lanzarote bar with his wife Trish to headlines about various robberies including the Marino Mart job which Hutch insists he had no hand, act or part in. Throughout, the face of a young girl – the angel watching over him – appears on the screens questioning what Hutch is saying. We hear about Gerard Hutch's early life in Summerhill, which paints a picture of poverty for his own family and those around him. Rex Ryan as a long-haired Hutch. There were times, he remembers, where there wasn't food on the table and how his mother looked after her children while his father worked on the docks until his back was broken and found solace at the bottom of a bottle. He describes the children playing in The Cage who get dealt a rough hand, Hutch among them as small transgressions see him being carted off and institutionalised at a young age before he gives the authorities a reason to see him as a criminal as part of a young gang called the Bugsy Malones. Ryan's telling of 15-year-old Hutch's time in Mountjoy is a poignant one, revealing how a child learned strength from neglect in prison and brutality. And it is in this vein that we continue, verging into the territory of 'ordinary decent criminal' — at one point there's a very Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels style retelling of how a robbery might be planned down to the second which treads very dubious ground. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rex Ryan (@rexryan1989) But just when you think the play has drifted into the realms of Robin Hood type territory, it turns again with a clever reproduction of the 2008 RTE interview where Paul Reynolds puts Hutch through the ringer, followed by a litany of death and bloodshed being blasted from the screens surrounding the stage while Ryan's Hutch insists he is simply the head of a family who's trying to sort out his nephew's mistake. Without giving too much away, it's quite an ending as Gerard Hutch is called to court. And we, of course, know that in real life Hutch was found not guilty. But because this production is a mishmash of fact and fiction, it's sometimes an uncomfortable watch for the wrong reasons. Rex Ryan as Gerry Hutch. Had Ryan taken Gerard Hutch's story and completely fictionalised it using a different character, without revealing he had based it on The Monk, it would be an excellent play. But with the actual crime boss looming large in the background, it becomes distracting and disorientating as the audience themselves have to figure out where the two truths lie. The acting, writing, direction and staging is superb and certainly The Monk by Rex Ryan is thought-provoking but one of those thoughts is whether or not this was a good idea in the first place from a moral perspective. But as Hutch said himself, we'll let the people decide.

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