The Emerald Isle on the Silver Screen
by Sally Blanchard

November brings the annual Magners Irish Film Festival to Boston, running from the 9th to the 12th. Celebrating Irish history and culture through film, it showcases features and shorts, as well as documentaries. The Film Festival is in it’s eighth year after beginning in 1999. Peter Flynn, Festival Director, and Jim Lane, professors from Boston‘s own Emerson College, combined their background in arts and communication with their own nationality. Every year they try to pair the recognizable aspects of Irish culture with something new and innovative, keeping the traditions alive in the modern generations. The festival is now run along with Dawn Morrissey, Festival Producer, and Harvey O’Brien, Associate Director. Originally run by the Boston Irish Film Festival, it joined with Magners Irish Cider (the only cider imported into the US from Ireland) 4 years ago to make it the Magners Irish Film Festival. The BIFF runs related events during the year, enabling Americans to see films they may otherwise not be able to. Movies will be shown in Cambridge at the Brattle Theatre and Harvard Film Archive, but receptions will take place all over Boston at various hotels and Irish pubs.