Wednesday, November 9, 2011

How i Ended the Summer

Wednesday 9th November, 8.15pm, Brogans Inn, Bandon



How the ended the summer is everything you want from a tense psychological drama set against a chilling backdrop of the spectacular artic wilderness. Popogrebsky manages to create a masterpiece of slow-building tension, spiked with the unpredictability of the elements and of human nature itself.

Pavel (Grigoriy Dobrygin) is a young student out of his depth, Sergei (Sergei Puskepalis) a grizzled veteran cut off from his wife and child. They’re wary with each other, distant colleagues with no one else for miles around. Then Pavel receives a terrible piece of information over the radio and sits on it, afraid of Sergei’s shoot-the-messenger reaction.

It’s a film about trust, fraying communication, wilderness survival tactics and what the light does at sunrise. A beautifully shot, gripping and superbly acted Russian drama, this is a film that will have you at the edge of your seat. It was a much deserving winner at the Berlin Film Festival.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Welcome to Season 2011/2012

Welcome to our fourth year of the Bandon Film Society. It is said that if one can survive the first three years it will determine ultimately if your venture will be successful! I am delighted therefore that Bandon Film Society is now entering its fourth year even if we are in the midst of a major economic recession. Hopefully and with your help this year will prove to be even better than before.

For the coming season Bandon Film Society once more offer a truly amazing programme bringing the best of international film to Bandon and West Cork. This year we have expanded the programme to twelve film screenings that include Irish-made as well as UK, Russian, Swedish, USA, Spanish, French, Australian and Iraqi films that will thrill, entertain, shock, inform and educate.

Four years ago when we started Bandon Film Society we sought to bring film to our local community, in a town with no cinema, and in doing so help build within our community a social outlet for film enthusiasts where we could meet and watch world cinema as well as classic and independent films selected by members.

In the process there have been many milestones along the way; we have screened films to raise funds for emergency relief both locally in Bandon, after the floods of 2009 and for Afghanistan in 2010 while also raising funds for the St.Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal. Bandon Film Society has also been an active partner in the Engage Bandon Arts Festival, screening classic films from the age of silent films to critically acclaimed Irish films in animation and drama. Bandon film Society has also supported the Bandon Gothic Broadway Festival and the nationwide Bealtaine Festival celebrating creativity in older age in both 2010 and 2011.

The success of the club is due entirely to its members who support our society and attend film screenings throughout the year. Without your membership fees we would not be able to operate the club or without your participation select a programme of films each year. Bandon Film Society is a not-for-profit society affiliated to Access Cinema, which aims to provide patrons with an exciting world cinema programme.

Membership for this year’s season is now available and includes a fantastic selection of films as picked by our members. To begin our season and to coincide with the Engage Arts Festival we will be screening the award-winning feature film ‘The Wind that Shakes the Barley’, part of which was shot in Bandon town. This will be the first time the film is to be screened in Bandon and the venue will be the Town Hall. Aside from this, all films will be screened at Brogan’s Inn, Kilbrogan Hill, Bandon.

Membership of Bandon Film Society provides you with an opportunity to see a fantastic selection of world cinema without having to travel outside the town; come join our society and see for yourself what an entertaining club we are. We offer high quality feature films in a social venue where you can have a drink or lively discussion afterwards. Annual membership is outstanding value at €70.

This year’s selection of films should have something to appeal to all tastes and is guaranteed to entertain audiences during the long winter months. The film society is run by volunteers and we hope you can join us during the season, where we look forward to welcoming familiar and new faces alike in a friendly and social setting. As always new members are especially welcome.

We wish to thank everyone at Brogan’s Inn for their support in providing such an excellent venue and their assistance in screening films throughout the year.

Declan Waugh

Chairman, Bandon Film Society

How I Ended This Summer




Screening:
Wednesday 9th November 2011
Brogans Inn, Bandon 8.15pm

How I Ended This Summer is everything you could want from a tense thriller set at an isolated Siberian weather station. It’s about trust, fraying communication, wilderness survival tactics and what the light does at sunrise. A beautifully shot, gripping and superbly acted Russian drama, this is a film that will have you at the edge of your seat. It was a much deserving winner at the Berlin Film Festival.

My Afternoons with Marguerite


Screening Wednesday 26th November

My Afternoons with Marguerite is the story of life's random encounters. In a small French town, Germain, played by Gérard Depardieu, a nearly illiterate man in his 50’s and considered to be the village idiot by his friends at the local bistro, takes a walk to the park one day and happens to sit beside Marguerite, a little old lady, who changes his life forever. It’s been a while since we’ve encountered such a feel-good movie. This is just the ticket; we need such things in gloomy times.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Inside Job

Wednesday 12th October 2011 at 8.15pm

Brogans Inn

To show their support to the protestors against Wall Street in New York Bandon Film Society will be screening the critically acclaimed film Inside Job.

This film won an Oscar for Best Documentary- in addition to winning the New York Film Critics Award, Writers Guild of America- Best Documentary Screenplay.

The film is about the very things you need to know about Wall Street and how the economy and politics work to ensure that the rich stay wealthy.

This film is about inequality, corrupt financial markets and the how the economic and political power of banks is driving the middle class into poverty and economic despair.

This film will explain why we may be left with not just a lost decade but a lost generation, unless the public fight back, educate themselves and demand that our politicians legislate to defend the public good nothing will change.

This film will explain why a peaceful anti wall street movement has erupted across the United States in the past fortnight.

If you missed the news you can find out all about it on the links provided below.

TIME MagazineWall Street Protest 12 Days and Little Sign of Slowing Down article here

Monday, September 19, 2011

Living History Through Film

The Skibbereen Eagle may have been famous for declaring ‘it was keeping an eye on the Czar of Russia’ in the 19th century but it can definitely be said that Russia is now keeping its eye on West Cork based on the experience of noted historian Gabriel Doherty, lecturer in Irish revolutionary history at University College Cork. Mr.Doherty recently presented a lecture in St.Petersburg, Russia, on the Irish War of Independence and Civil War period, incorporating in part the much acclaimed and award-winning Irish independent film The Wind that Shakes the Barley, which won the Palme d'Or for best film in Cannes 2006.

The film as many will recall was largely shot on location in West Cork, most notably in Timoleague, Coolea and Bandon town where Bandon Town Hall, Hamilton Highschool, the Allen Institute and North Main Street were used as key backdrops for the film. Many of the extras for the film came from the local community in the Bandon and Macroom areas.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley is an Irish war drama film directed by Ken Loach and set during the Irish War of Independence (1919–1921) and the Irish Civil War (1922–1923). Written by Paul Laverty, this drama tells the story of two County Cork brothers who join the Irish Republican Army to fight for Irish independence from the United Kingdom. Many of the events represented in the film are associated with real historical figures based in and around Bandon Town during this historic period. Bandon remained largely at the centre of events that occurred during this period, with noted rebel leaders such as Sean Hales and Tom Barry of the West Cork Brigade and Anna Hurley, the leader of the Bandon branch of Cummann na mBan, all residing in the area. Within Bandon town, the British Army were present in force with two factions stationed in separate army barracks, the Essex regiment commanded by the notorious Major Percival and the Black and Tans who were stationed in the Devonshire Hotel. According to Tom Barry, no Black and Tan atrocity in Cork came close to what the Essex Regiment did; he personally attempted to assassinate Major Percival on at least one occasion for his role in what Tom Barry regarded as war crimes. There is no doubt that the Essex regiment were despised for the atrocities that they committed, on one occasion capturing two close friends of Tom Barry’s ; Tom Harte and Patrick Hales and mercilessly torturing them. The torture itself of Hales and Harte is believed to have influenced a scene in the film The Wind that Shakes the Barley.

Many may not realise that during the period of the War of Independence, Bandon town and its hinterland remained one of the most active regions nationally for republican activity. The West Cork Brigade was involved in successful military engagements at Toureen and Kilmichael just one month preceding and after the tumultuous event of Bloody Sunday in Dublin. Within months of it, the West Cork IRA, led by Tom Barry, carried out a large-scale ambush at Crossbarry. They were nearly surrounded but manage to escape. This was one of the largest military encounters of the War of Independence.

Not shortly afterwards, in the summer of 1921 rebel activity reached a high point with the British garrisons at Bantry, Skibbereen, Drimoleague, Clonakilty, Bandon, Innishannon and Kilbrittain all under attack. The period was one of high anxiety with the countryside griped by violence and suspicion. Reprisals by the British forces involved the destruction of property and arrest, murder or harming of civilians; this in turn led to further reprisals by republican forces who commenced a campaign against Irish country houses. Some 16 country houses were destroyed around Bandon town and Commandant Sean Hales, leader of the Bandon Battalion of the IRA kidnapped James Francis Bernard the 4th Earl of Bandon and Lord Lieutenant of County Cork.

During the final four weeks of the War of Independence, armed parties of the IRA engaged in military activity in Bandon on eight occasions, the Innishannon Post was fired at on four occasions and Kilbrittain Barracks sniped at five times. British soldiers were wounded at Ballylickey as was a Black and Tan sergeant and an enemy agent in Bandon. Yet another Essex soldier was shot dead within sight of his Bandon barracks and one more Black and Tan was killed in Skibbereen. The successes in West Cork were not without sacrifice as many local volunteers and patriots from Bandon, Kilbrittain, Timoleague, Ballinadee, Courtmacsherry, Dunmanway and Rossmore were killed in the struggle for independence. Not long afterwards, two of West Corks most famous leaders suffered a similar fate. On August 22nd 1922 Michael Collins, Commander-in-Chief of the National Army, was shot dead at an ambush at Béal na mBláth and four months later his friend and comrade Sean Hales T.D. was gunned down outside Leinster House in Dublin. His brother Tom Hales fought on the opposing side and commanded the Flying Column, which attacked the Free State Army convoy at Béal na mBálth resulting in the death of his friend, Michael Collins.

All of this sets the scene for the first screening in Bandon of the award-winning historical film The Wind that Shakes the Barley on Sunday 25th September in the Town Hall by Bandon Film Society in conjunction with the Engage Arts Festival. Of particular interest to many in West Cork and beyond will be the historical talk to be given prior to the film by Gabriel Doherty, lecturer in Irish revolutionary history at University College Cork. Gabriel has edited several volumes on this topic, including studies of Michael Collins, Eamonn De Valera and the 1916 Rising. He has also written and lectured numerous times on the subject. His lecture will no doubt be interesting and insightful with its focus on the historical themes, personalities and episodes alluded to in the film and the extent to which its depiction of the War of Independence and Civil War is faithful to the historical record.

Additionally, to mark the participation of Bandon and its community in this award-winning film a commemorative plaque will be unveiled at the Town Hall on the night at 7.20pm by the Town Mayor.

Booking for the event is highly recommended as places are strictly limited. Tickets for the double bill historical talk and film screening are €10. To avoid disappointment, please call 086-3689939 or 087-1205022 to book tickets. Tickets are also available at the following outlets in Bandon town: An Tobairín, Bandon Books, URRU and Hickeys Newsagents.

Nowhere Boy: 8th June 2011



A biopic based on the early and informative years of John Lennon. It is the story of a troubled childhood and a determined and strong-minded young man who uses his love of music to overcome a bitter and uncomfortable domestic past. ‘Nowhere Boy’ is a joyful journey into the power of personality, the finding of friends and the start of an amazing life. Moving and emotional with outstanding individual performances. Hugely entertaining.