A scene from 'The Secret of Kells'. Courtesy Mongrel Media.
Toronto is known for its overabundance of film festivals. Pretty much every topic and culture imaginable has a festival dedicated to it, and there’s even a special city-run website to keep track of them all. So it wasn’t much of a surprise when we heard about the Toronto Irish Film Festival coming to the TIFF Bell Lightbox in March.
TIRFF was founded in 2009 by Michael Barry and John Galway to celebrate Irish cinema. This is the inaugural year for the festival though, and with the critically acclaimed Sundance documentary His & Hers screening, along with last year’s Oscar-nominated animated film The Secret of Kells, it’s sure to please Hogtown’s Irish community.
The animated shorts Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty and Give Up Yer Aul Sins will also be playing at TIRFF. Both were nominated for Oscars and both come from Irish animation studio Brown Bag Films.
The Toronto Irish Film Festival runs March 6, 2011 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. To purchase tickets and for more information, visit torontoirishfilmfestival.com.
