The Irish Film Festival Ottawa began as one man’s dream.
Patrick Murray had volunteer experience with The Sundance Film Festival and Ottawa’s European Union Film Festival but he dreamed of more. He wanted an Irish Film Festival in Ottawa.
A chance meeting with Elizabeth Keogh of the Irish Embassy made the dream seem possible. Elizabeth has a life long interest in all things related to Irish culture and in all films. She is an active member of The European Film Festival for which she arranges the Irish film entry every year. She also has a deep knowledge of funding possibilities.
In the meantime Patricial Willoughby, who is a fluent Irish Gaelic speaker, approached Elizabeth about obtaining and showing Irish language films at the festival. She had already contacted Dana Aherne of Cine Gael, Montreal’s Irish Film Festival. Dana provided helpful hints on how to organize a film festival from scratch. The two Irish film buffs in Ottawa were put in touch with each other and so the festival began to take on a reality. Elizabeth then sent out an email to anyone who might be interested. A few replies later and the Irish Film Festival Ottawa was born. A meeting date was set. I went along, out of curiosity, expecting to hear plans for a year or two down the line. This was late September 2013. However, Pat’s idea was a film festival in March only six months away Surely, he could not be serious! But he was. There was a frantic search for funding and support, not to mention trying to get films, rent a venue and get the information to the public. With the help of Maeve O’Connell, who had contacts in the Irish Film World, and Vanessa McClean, who was studying film making, a list of films was drawn up. This was not a task for the faint hearted as there were hundreds of films to choose from and the Committee was determined to open with the best Irish Films to be found.
Damien Fannon and Peter Hughes, both of whom are involved in film-making, were instrumental also with Patrick and Patricia in making the final choices. Maeve also produced all our adds and programs. This was a challenge as dates and plans changed frequently. However, we ended up with some very eye catching programs and ads. Meanwhile Patricia Willoughby, Rosemary O’Brien, Eithne Considine Shankar became the sponsorship team. We had no budget to begin with, just a lot of enthusiasm and a deep belief that we could promote Ireland. The Embassy of Ireland offered support as did Aer Lingus and we were in business. Many local business came to our rescue also. Laura Hay, a previous Rose of Tralee, liaised with other Irish cultural groups in the city and secured their support . Michelle Branigan brought her multifaceted organizational skills to the festival and worked tirelessly to establish the Irish Film Festival on a legal basis. Paula McFarlane shared her experience in fund raising for an Irish Sports Club and Lynn Kellly kept our finances on an even keel as sponsorship came in.
The sponsorship team with the help of Ann Godbold promoted the festival through in the local media and further afield turning up at numerous events to promote it. As a new and unproven organization it was not easy to get the festival into print or in the media. But the Irish Community turned up to support the Irish Film Festival and the first year was a success, despite many setbacks. Our first student volunteer, James Hurley, delighted us all with his energy and enthusiasm.
The Irish film Festival is a non-profit organization. Our mandate is to promote Irish Culture through film.
The Festival takes place on the last weekend of March at the Arts Court Theatre in downtown Ottawa. This year the festival takes place with a gala opening on March 31st to April 2nd. Arts Court, 2 Daly Ave, Ottawa K1N 6E2 There will be six award winning films including a children’s film and one in the Irish language. We can promise you an exciting and fulfilling three days.
More Details visit : www.irishfilmfestivalottawa.ca
Written by : Eithne Considine Shankar – Ottawa Film Festival
