Films set in Ireland

• Breakfast on Pluto
• Danny Boy
• P.s I Love You
• The Quiet Man
• Shrooms
• The Wind that Shakes the Barley
• Braveheart (filmed not set)
• Educating Rita (filmed not set)
• Saving Private Ryan – beach scene (filmed not set)
• Brad Pitt stared as an IRA member in the film The Devil’s Own in
1997. The films was set in Northern Ireland and is about the troubles in
Northern Ireland

Noticeable Irish Actors

• Colin Farrell – stared in Phone Booth, Alexander and In Bruges, born

in 1976
• Liam Neesan – OBE, born in 1952, stared in Love Actually, Batman
Begins, Breakfast on Pluto and The Chronicles of Narnia
• Pierce Brosman – born in 1953, best known for his role as James
Bond, also stared in Mamma Mia and Remember Me
• Jonathan Rhys Meyers – born in 1977, stared in Bend it Like
Beckham, Mission:Impossible and August Rush

•
• Saoirse Ronan – born in 1994, known for her roles in Atonement and
Lovely Bones

Irish Film Industry

• Noticeable Irish directors

• Terry George – screen writer and director, born in 1952 and raised in
Belfast, films include The Boxer, Some Mother’s Son and In The
Name of The Father, he’s been nominated for 2 Oscars
• Brian Desmond Hurst – Ireland’s most prolific movie director during
the 20th Century, born in Belfast 1895, directed the Quiet Man in 1952,
• Neil Jordan – born in 1950, Irish filmmaker and novelist, won
Academy Award for The Crying Game, also directed Breakfast on
Pluto
 • Martin McDonagh – born in 1970, directed Six Shooter in 2006 which
received a Academy Award and an Oscar, and his film in Bruges
(2008) received a BAFTA and an Academy Award nomination
• Roy William Neill – born 1887, best known for directing several
Sherlock Holmes films, directed 40 silent films, Black Angel was his
last film,
• Pat O’Connor – Irish film director, films include Cal, Sweet November
and Circle of Friends
• Jim Sheridan – Irish film director born in 1949, 6 time Academy
Award nominee, films include My Left Foot, In the Name of the
Father and Get Rich or Die Tryin
• Stewart Townsend – born in 1972, Irish actor and director, directed
Battle in Seattle
Usesful Resources

DigitalFilmArchive.net: Links and resources on NI film

 FilmReference.com: INDIGENOUS CINEMA AND NATIONAL IDENTITY
(details many NI films in a digetible article)
 Harvey O'Brien's history of a national cinema [pdf] - primarily on S.Irish
 Irish Film + TV Network (books on Irish cinema)
 John Hill's Cinema and NI book: Cineaste review

Themes/topics explored in Irish films and their similarities and differences to

‘mainstream’ British cinema

• Troubles in the country – Northern Ireland – conflict between

Protestants and Catholics
• Historic
• Unconventional sexual relationships are a recurring theme in Jordan's
work, and he often finds a sympathetic side to characters audiences
would traditionally consider deviant or downright horrifying. – Neil
Jordan
• Irish stereotypes