Tickets are now on sale for the second annual John Ford Ireland Film Symposium set to take place this 6-9th June, with this year's focus on contemporary filmmaking inspired and informed by the timeless work of the legendary Irish-American director.
This year’s symposium will take place in venues across Dublin city and, following last year’s event, film fans from around the world can experience four days of screenings, film expert debates and discussions, lectures, public interviews with filmmakers, music nights and much more.
Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan warmly greeted the return of the John Ford Ireland Film Symposium, after the success of last year’s inaugural event.
‘I am delighted to see the second John Ford Ireland Symposium take place once again in the land of Ford’s heritage. His legacy as one of the world’s greatest filmmakers continues to live on through film, words, music and gatherings. To this day, particularly in Ireland, Ford continues to inspire young up and coming directors and filmmakers,’ Mr Deenihan said.
IFTA Chief Executive Áine Moriarty highlighted the continuing relevance of Ford’s legacy on every generation of filmmaker since.
‘John Ford was a great storyteller but moreover he was a master filmmaker who inspires many of the world’s greatest filmmakers. It’s fitting that Dublin is now the annual setting for the Ford gathering where film fans, Ford enthusiasts and filmmakers from around the world can gather to examine and learn from Ford’s work and legacy.”
Highlights of this year’s symposium, which are detailed in full on the John Ford Ireland website, include a host of panel discussions with a number of award-winning filmmaking and John Ford experts.
Counted among these are:
• Gala Screening & Public Interview with Patrick and Ethan Wayne, sons of ‘The Duke’ hosted by Miriam O’Callaghan. John Wayne’s two sons, who are travelling from US to take part in the Symposium, will talk about their father’s collaboration and unique relationship with John Ford.
• Dan Ford, John Ford’s grandson (Producer & author of the book ‘Pappy’) will discuss Ford the man behind the iconic image and share insight for film fans and filmmakers alike.
• Bertrand Tavernier, renowned French Master and Director of over 25 feature films, participates in a Public Interview discussing his own superb body of work and how Ford has influenced French filmmaking through the years. 'John Ford made me what I am. His films made me want to be a filmmaker and this relationship with Ford and with his films, has never stopped'. Tavernier has also selected his favourite Ford films for screening including ‘How Green Was My Valley’ along with his own critically acclaimed and award winning ‘Round Midnight’.
• Joseph McBride (renowned film historian and biographer for Ford, Spielberg and Orson Welles amongst others), Ford biographer, gives the Keynote Lecture about Ford’s portrayal of Lincoln. Joseph McBride’s ‘Searching forJohn Ford’ biography has been described by Martin Scorsese as a 'treasure'.
• Pulitzer prize-winning and best-selling author Glenn Frankel (former Washington Post Correspondent and Current Head of the School of Journalism at University of Texas) will give first-hand insight into his new book ‘The Searchers - the Making of an American Legend’, the real story behind the great American Classic that inspired filmmakers such as Spielberg, Godard, Scorsese, Lucas, Wim Wenders etc.
• The Ford Film Hub and School has a range of Masterclasses & Discussion Panels over the four days with leading International and Irish film experts with people such as Oscar nominated directors including Tavernier, Sheridan along with (BAFTA nominated Julian Jarrold (Becoming Jane; Brideshead Revisited) and BAFTA Winning John Crowley (Boy A, Intermission), Andrew Eaton (The Killer Inside Me, Rush with Ron Howard); Mary McGuckian (Man On A Train); Tanya Seghatchian (former head Film Fund UK Film Council); John Woodward (former head British Film Institute); Sean Bobbitt (Cinematographer, Hunger, Byzantium, The Place Beyond the Pines); Mark O’Rowe, (writer, Intermission, Howie the Rookie etc) , Eugene O’Brien (writer, Pure Mule, Eden) and Terry McMahon (writer/director, Charlie Casanova), Roddy Doyle (The Commitments) Eoghan Harris (screen writer Sharpe); Philippe Carcassonne (Coco Before Chanel, The Illusionist) IFTA Rising Star Director/writer Gerard Barrett (Pilgrim Hill); Actors Stephen Rea, Adrian Dunbar among many more..
• Ford Academic Panel Discussions each day with leading International film experts including Lea Jacobs (University of Wisconsin, USA), Glenn Frankel (University of Austin, Texas), Kevin Rockett (Trinity College), Luke Gibbons (NUI Maynooth), Charles Barr (University of East Anglia), Tony Tracy (NUI Galway), Martin McCloone (University of Ulster) and Joseph McBride (San Francisco State University).
• Over a dozen public screenings, including a free outdoor screening of The Quiet Man at Meeting House Square, with special guests Dan Ford(grandson of John Ford), John Wayne’s Sons Patrick & Ethan Wayne and Oscar nominated producer Redmond Morris (son of The Quiet Man producer Lord Killanin).
• Other screenings include such classics as the 'The Searchers'; 'She wore a Yellow Ribbon'; 'How Green Was My Valley'; 'Young Cassidy'; 'Young Mr Lincoln'; and many rare Ford classics, footage, documentaries and shorts screening for the first time in Ireland.
The John Ford Ireland Film Symposium is supported by the Department of Arts, Heritage and The Gaeltacht, Fáilte Ireland, The Gathering, The British Embassy of Ireland, The Embassy of the United States Dublin Ireland, The French Embassy of Ireland, Alliance Francaise, Tourism Ireland, Dublin City Council, The Shelbourne Hotel, and IFTN.
For the full Symposium lineup and information about season passes, visit the John Ford Ireland website at: johnfordireland.org
