Experience Ireland at Vancouver’s First Irish Film Festival

Global EAT - Experience Ireland at Vancouver’s First Irish Film Festival
Harry Avery's Castle is situated half a mile south-west of Newtownstewart, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. (Northern Ireland Tourist Board)

Ireland, one of Europe’s best wildernesses is perhaps the most evocative region in Northern Europe. Discover Irish culture through live music and award winning films.

A country known for its incredible history, stunning landscape and a rich Celtic heritage. Here, dramatic scenery span lush woodlands, rugged coastlines and green rolling hills scattered with thousands of medieval castles.

The brilliance of Ireland rings through particularly during the Christmas season with its lively fiddle music and the melodic harp.

It brings the listener’s imagination across the Emerald Isle sprinkled with folkloric traditions.

“There is a huge Irish community in Vancouver. A lot of young people are coming here now,” says Consul General Frank Flood, the first consul general of Ireland in Vancouver.

From Celtic ballads to Bono’s U2 rock and pop, Irish people are not only known for their music, but also their movies. Fun, sad, enlightening, they provide a sneak peek into the Irish culture and its landscape.

Vancouver Irish Film Festival

The first Vancouver Irish Film Festival (VIRFF) will take place over three nights in Vancouver. The festival will run from December 7 to 10, 2018 at Vancity Theatre on Seymour Street.

Movie goers will have an opportunity to experience Irish culture through live performances and also on the big screen. Watch Irish dance and live music performances featuring the Watt School of Irish Dance and Irish-born musician Paul Caldwell.

Global EAT - Experience Ireland at Vancouver’s First Irish Film Festival
Irish-born musician Paul Caldwell can be seen every weekend in Vancouver’s local pub circuit and music venues His first EP is entitled ‘Post-It Notes’.(paulcaldwellmusic.com)

Award winning films to be screened at the film festival include:

Float Like a Butterfly – winner of the prestigious Discovery Prize awarded by the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) at the Toronto International Film Festival. The story set in the 1960s is about the challenges a teenage Irish traveller encounters in her pursuit of a boxing career.

A Date for Mad Mary – awarded Best Film at the prestigious Irish Film and Television Awards. The film offers insights into the way in which women compete with one another in often destructive fashion.

Instantly lovable… beautifully performed, warm yet melancholic… Mad Mary is a delight.- Jessica Kiang, Variety

The film Pock of the Irish & An Cosc explores the important contribution of Irish immigrants in creating and developing the Canadian ice hockey game. Maze is about the biggest prison break-out in British or Irish history.

There will also be classic Irish movies, including children’s favourite War of the Buttons, and Good Vibrations, the story of Terri Hooley, founder of the Belfast record shop of the same name.

Irish Film Fest 3 pack is $30.00 per person. The pack gives you the option of 3 movie screenings. To purchase film fest pack, go to https://viff.org.