Considering the current polarized political atmosphere, John Lennon and President Bush make for odd bedfellows. But, in John Callaghan's short film "Imagine This," sound bites from the president are strung together to form the lyrics to the former Beatle's utopian song.
Edited from more than 500 hours of footage and interspersed with images of war-torn Iraq, lifeless bodies of children lying in the street and the maniacal Muppet Animal banging away on drums, the president's unique performance creates an unsettling music video.
-- START REST --> Scheduled to appear at the opening night festivities for the 8th annual Chicago Irish Film Festival at the Beverly Arts Center on the city's Southwest Side on Friday, Callaghan will conduct a digital filmmaking workshop on Saturday. Actor Gerard McSorley also joins the opening night reception to celebrate the Midwest premiere of "Middletown," (Ireland; Brian Kirk, 2006) in which he plays the father of a staunchly conservative minister (Matthew MacFadyen) returning home to rural Ireland in the '50s to save his family and the townspeople from their misguided secular pursuits of drinking and gambling. While not immediately recognizable by name, McSorley's impressive resume includes "The Constant Gardener," "Angela's Ashes," "Michael Collins" and "Braveheart.
" "Instead of making a name and leaving town or the island, McSorley stayed, and you can see him all the time in small pieces," said Judith Blackburn, festival director and founder. "Like Brenda Blethyn and Brenda Fricker, they're the face of Irish cinema over the last 20 to 25 years." Dedicated to celebrating Ireland's contemporary film scene, the festival boasts an array of documentaries, features and more than 20 shorts to be shown over six days.
They're linked by one criterion: Selections are made in Ireland or by Irish filmmakers. Blackburn attends festivals in Ireland and works closely with the Irish Film Center in Dublin to choose films each year, in addition to accepting submissions. She cited some of the documentary entries as worthy of attention.
In "Home" (U.S.; Dawn Scibilia, 2005) narrator Alan Cooke muses about the concept of home in light of his recent emigration from Dublin to New York City.
A love letter to the Big Apple, the film engages the viewer through the stimuli of the city, the barrage of sights and sounds urban dwellers take for granted. Susan Sarandon, Mike Myers, Liam Neeson, Alfred Molina, Rosie Perez and Woody Allen share their reasons for taking root in the city and how they identify themselves through that action."Home" plays at 7:30 p.
m. Monday, along with the shorts "Meeting Che Guevara and the Man from Mulberry Hill" and "The Boy with the Ever-Open Jaw." The heartwarming "The Emerald Diamond" (Ireland; John Fitzgerald, 2006) traces the beginnings of Ireland's national baseball team in the early '90s through their bronze medal win at the 2004 European Championships.
In a baseball town like Chicago, the story, told from the players' perspectives along with footage from actual games, illustrates how the love of sport can cross borders (whether country or cross-town) and forge relationships. Keeping track of salary negotiations and contract talks between U.S.
players and teams pales in comparison to seeing men of varying ages dedicate their lives to a foreign sport in exchange for representing their country and not much else. It will be shown at 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, with the shorts "Building a House" and "Teeth." Shorts populate the closing night schedule. Blink and dare to miss a slightly horrific depiction of brown mustard-colored fairies terrorizing a young girl in "The Faeries of Blackheath Woods.
" In what could give "Dancing with the Stars" a run for its money, a department store cleaning woman ignored by her husband and aching to go ballroom dancing is granted her wish after the customers leave in the sweet "Not a Word." "Last Night" uses a tired concept, and the couple's constant bickering teeters on cloying, but suspense and eerie circumstances keep viewers hooked.
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