The event is to become an annual celebration of Irish-American director John Ford’s work, in which the legendary filmmaker’s themes and techniques are examined and discussed. The Symposium is an initiative of the Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) in Ireland and the John Ford Estate in the United States, with the support of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
The John Ford Ireland Film Symposium will hold more than a dozen screenings over the four-day event, as well as the Ford Masterclass with an Oscar winning screen talent. The programme, further details of which will be announced shortly, will also include Public Interviews and informative industry Panel Discussions, as well a special outdoor screening of the classic John Wayne western ‘The Searchers’. The Film Symposium will also explore the many vibrant links between Ford and the first ever John Ford Award recipient, Clint Eastwood, through a retrospective and series of discussion events.
A devout Ford fan himself, Joseph McBride is the author of ‘Searching for John Ford’, the acclaimed biography which Martin Scorsese described as a “treasure”, and which was chosen as the Best Foreign Film Book of the Year by the French film critics’ association, le Syndicat Français de la Critique de Cinéma.
McBride is also a screenwriter, having penned the cult-classic high school comedy ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll High School’. He has received multiple awards for his writing skills, including the Writers Guild of America Award for co-writing ‘The American Film Institute Salute to John Huston (1983)’, as well as two Emmy nominations and a Canadian Film Awards nomination.
To register for updates for the John Ford Ireland Film Symposium visit the official website www.johnfordireland.org
