Society launches months of movies
THE AWARD-WINNING actress and director Fiona Shaw had her schedule blown off track by Hurricane Ophelia and was unable to attend the launch of Wexford Film Society’s new Picture House season in the Arts Centre.
Cork-born Ms Shaw who is known for her role as Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter films, is making her debut as director of ‘Medea’ for Wexford Festival Opera having played the title role in theatre productions both in the West End and on Broadway.
The dress rehearsal for Medea was due to take place on Monday night but was cancelled due to the hurricane which caused widespread damage and power cuts in the county and forced the National Opera House to use a generator for the first three nights to ensure there were no interruptions.
Ms. Shaw had to abandon her Film Society engagement and apologise to the Film Society for her inability to attend. An orchestral dress rehearsal went ahead in the National Opera House without an audience.
‘Unfortunately, her dress rehearsal was cancelled the night before because of the storm which resulted in her schedule taking a spin,’ said Film Society chairman Stephen Eustace.
At the launch, it was announced that the Wexford author John Banville is the latest recipient of the Society’s Fellowship Award for his screen-writing work on films such as ‘Albert Nobbs’, ‘The Sea’ and ‘The Last September’, which starred Fiona Shaw.
The Fellowship is an annual award to honour Wexford people in the world of film and Banville joins Billy Roche, Gary Lydon, Declan Lowney, Philip Molloy and John Paul Kelly and Anna Rackard on the list of distinguished recipients
The society’s first Fellow Billy Roche collected the award on Banville’s behalf.
More than 100 people signed up for membership of the society, which unveiled an exciting line-up of world cinema and arthouse films. It kicks off in the Arts Centre on November 7 with the American independent film ‘Captain Fantastic’ and will continue every Tuesday night till April 2018.
Highlights during the season will include the Oscar-nominated ‘Land of Mine’ from Denmark; the European Film of the Year ‘Toni Erdmann’ from Germany and the French film ‘elle’ featuring a Golden Globe winning performance by Isabelle Huppert.
A collection of short films made by Wexford film-makers will also be screened throughout the season, including Laura Way’s ‘I Can’t Sleep’.