Celebrating Irish Film at the CIFF

By Marcus Gilmer in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 29, 2008 8:51PM

We were grabbing a granola bar from the Walgreens by our office this morning and came across these amazing treats. It was then we realized that we've been so caught up in the Leap Year excitement that we nearly forgot that it's time to get excited about St. Patrick's Day. While most of our non-Irish friends celebrate this time of year by getting drunk on green beer and acting like idiots, we like to think we actually do pay proper respect to our Irish ancestors by cooking up a nice Irish stew and flipping through our family tree notes. Of course, our great, great, great grandfather was an Irish moonshiner (true story!) so there is some overlap.

There are other ways to celebrate your Irish heritage. Take the 9th Annual Chicago Irish Film Festival, starting tonight and continuing through Wednesday at the Beverly Arts Center. The festival is a showcase of feature-length, and short Irish films, old and new, as well as documentaries. The festival also features the U.S. premiere of Garage, winner of the 2007 Cannes Director's Fortnight Prix Art de Essai Grand Prize, and the Midwest premiere for Dot.Com, written by Chicago native Suzanne Nagle. In addition to the films, most nights will feature live music performances.

The 9th Annual Chicago Irish Film Festival, The Beverly Arts Center, 2407 W. 111th St., Friday February 29 - Wednesday March 5, Ticket packages available from TicketWeb, prices vary.

Image from the CIFF webpage