Cartoon Saloon: A Dream of Irish Animation

by Cláudio Alves

In the past decade, Cartoon Saloon has managed to become one of the most important studios of western animation. It all started back in 2009 when the Belgian-French-Irish co-production The Secret of Kells premiered at the Gérardmer Film Festival. That medieval fantasy went on to conquer a surprising, though amply deserved, Academy Award nomination, as have all the studios' subsequent features – 2014's Song of the Sea, 2017's The Breadwinner, and this year's Wolfwalkers.

With that last picture upon us, it feels like an appropriate time to recall the short history of this splendid studio...

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NewFest: Irish comedy "Dating Amber"

Coverage from NewFest the 32nd Annual LGBTQ Film Festival

By Abe Friedtanzer

I imagine that I’ll be thinking about Normal People for a while every time I watch an Irish romance (or maybe just any Irish production!). If I can’t see Connell and Marianne on screen again, the next-best thing is probably Dating Amber, a wonderfully entertaining comedy showing at NewFest. One of its stars is Fionn O’Shea, who portrayed the despicable and manipulative Jamie in Normal People. He's one of the romantic leads this time...

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Queer Roundup at GAZE International Film Festival

by Seán McGovern.

Last weekend I had the absolute pleasure of being invited to Dublin, Ireland to be on a jury of my queers at the 26th GAZE: International LGBT Film Festival. While it was fun to be back in MY HOME COUNTRY, it was even better to see such a diverse and compelling programme. After the jump a special spotlight on LGBT docs and the short film winners (and one spectacular narrative feature) which will be hopefully making it to a film festival near you soon. Don't forget to support queer cinema AND your local dive bar...

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Months of Meryl: Dancing at Lughnasa (1998)

John and Matthew are watching every single live-action film starring Meryl Streep. 

 

#25 — Kate Mundy, the elder head of a matriarchal clan in Ireland’s County Donegal circa 1936.

MATTHEW: Dancing at Lughnasa continues the sporadic but prestigious practice, begun by Plenty and leading up to August: Osage County, of Meryl Streep headlining big-ticket Broadway plays in screen adaptations that tend to do a disservice to the often truncated works whose very suitability for such stage-to-cineplex transfers feels rather strained. (Angels in America, made for HBO, is obviously a highly distinguished exception.) These films are greenlit as glorified acting showcases in the hopes of magnetizing a similar haul of trophies as their acclaimed theatrical predecessors. They may feature some fine, forceful performances (from Streep and several others), but their claims as cinema remain dubious at best.

I’m always curious about why Streep seldom returns to her first love, the stage, especially when one considers that the actress’ greatest role in the last decade was not Susan Orlean, Clarissa Vaughan, or Miranda Priestley, but Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage, whose wagon of wares Streep took up for a 2006 Shakespeare in the Park production, four years after playing Irina in The Seagull for the same summer series...

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TIFF: "The Breadwinner" is a visual stunner

Our ongoing adventures at TIFF

 One of the most exciting animation houses in the world is Ireland's Cartoon Saloon. In its early years its largely been a showcase for co-founder Tomm Moore who made Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea (both deservedly Oscar nominated). Now Nora Twomey, also a co-founder, steps into the director's chair for their third feature, another visual stunner. (If you haven't seen their films yet get to it. They're doing the consistently best non-Pixar derivative animation on earth now that Studio Ghibli has slowed way down.)

This time we depart Ireland for an adaptation of The Breadwinner, Deborah Ellis's bestseller about an Afghani girl who disguises herself as a boy to provide for her family when her father is imprisoned by the Taliban. Without a male relative to escort them around the city they're trapped in their home with no way to earn money or go shopping...

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