Belgrade in Irish green: Films, music, debates

On the occasion of the 110th anniversary of the Tenth Ireland division joined the Serbian forces in the First World War, and this year the Belgrade Irish Festival will be held.

During the 12 days of the festival (March 6 to 17), the program will be full films, theatrical performances, fine arts, stand-up comedy and with music.

Neil Jordan is coming.

Belgrade Irish Festival/Pat Redmond

This year's Irish Film Week will be opened by the guest of honor, the famous Irish director Neil Jordan, at the Yugoslav Cinematheque. He will be awarded the Golden Seal Award for outstanding contribution to cinematography.

Jordan's films are characterized by the exploration of dark human emotions - violence, betrayal, but there is always love. Each of the films is covered with a veil of tension. His 19 films from four decades of work are deeply rooted in world cinema.

The most famous is "The Crying Game", for which he received an Oscar for the best screenplay, along with a nomination for the best director. He won awards at almost all major world festivals.

Neil Jordan is also a successful fiction writer. His first published book was "Nights in Tunisia", and "The Past", "The Drowned Detective", "The Mistake" are also worth mentioning. His latest novel "Shroud of Saint Nobody" was published in 2023, after which he also published a memoir called "Amnesia".

Jordan's literary works have deservedly won him awards such as the Rooney Award for Film Literature and the Irish PEN Award for Literature.

The films that will be screened at this year's festival are an ideal blend of Neil's diverse characters, who are always treated with a touch of humanity – even though they may be vampires or werewolves.

Thus, the Cinematheque is showing four of Jordan's films - "Michael Collins", "The Good Thief", "Little Butcher" and "Pack of Wolves".

In addition to Jordan's four films, "Heart of Ireland," "Patrick's Day," "Kneecap" and so on will be broadcast.

Connecting the Irish, French and Serbian cultural scene

Belgrade Irish Festival/Jean Luc Godard, Brigitte Bardot, StudioCanal

Although it is primarily a film festival, many Irish artists will have the opportunity to introduce art lovers to their work.

The beginning of the festival will be colored by the works of the Irish artist Jean Karen. The "Godard Bardot" exhibition will be her first independent exhibition in Serbia, after a successful exhibition in Dublin's The Horse gallery.

Jean Karen will present thirteen hand-made prints from Jean-Luc Godard's film Contempt.

It is not one of Godard's major achievements, but the importance of the film lies in the fact that because of it, Godard turned his career in a different direction.

Jean Karen, using the dye transfer technique, created prints of key shots with Brigitte Bardot. The famous actress gave permission for such a unique portrayal of herself from scenes from the film. In this way, "Contempt" got a chance for the audience to see it differently.

Irish literature on the Belgrade stage

Jen Carson, a writer from Belfast, is one of the participants of the 13th Belgrade Irish Festival. Her novel "Palikuće", also translated into Serbian, won the EU Prize for Literature in 2019.

The film is set in East Belfast, the epicenter of the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.

"I hope that by writing about how deep the conflict is and how much the trauma has affected the people who witnessed it firsthand, but also the next generation living with its structural, economic, educational and political impacts, I hope to inform readers about what it's like to live in a post-conflict society," Carson says for the new issue of Vremena, which hits newsstands on Thursday (March 6).

At this year's Festival, Jen Carson will read her works and have an interactive lecture with the audience. The Irish writer Tim McGowan is coming as a literary guest.

In honor of Irish soldiers

A lecture on the Commemoration of the military campaign of the Tenth Irish Division on the Balkan front will be held as part of the Festival. It will be led by the historian Miloš Ković and Shane Brown as the guest of honor, a lecturer from the University of Dublin.

Another guest will be Mark Keating, who will talk about the initiative to commemorate the Irish soldiers who died in the First World War. He will follow the paths crossed by soldiers in the war by bicycle, in the distance from Belgrade, to Kolubara, Cer, Mačkovo kamen, all the way to Corfu, Thessaloniki, Kajmakčalani, Montenegro and Macedonia, to the places where the biggest battles took place.

In addition to his goal of remembering fallen soldiers, Keating will be raising money for children with cancer.

Irish magic in the heart of Belgrade

Every year, many locations around the world mark March 17, St. Patrick's Day, in the same way; this year too, in the center of Belgrade, Hotel Moskva will shine with green lights.

Saint Patrick, born in Britain, is the patron saint of Ireland and a Christian missionary. As a young man he was taken to Ireland as a slave.

When he fled home after a few years, he returned again as an Irish missionary. He used the three-leaf clover to explain the Trinity of Christ. He died on March 17, 461, and this day is celebrated in his honor.

Music scene and stand-up

When it comes to musical performers, we will be able to hear the Irish jazz and blues singer Mary Kohlin, who is performing in Belgrade for the first time. With the new album "Repeat Rewind", she will mark 40 years on the stage. Considered Ireland's best female vocalist.

In addition to her, Dušica Mladenović will play the musical piece "By the Sea" on the violin. The author of this piece, Irish composer Ian Wilson, composed it after the death of his father, who lost his battle with Alzheimer's disease.

The Fishamble theater group is another participant that will have the opportunity to enchant music and art lovers. This troupe has presented its work throughout Ireland and in twenty other countries. Together with them, actor Pat Kinevan will present to the audience the play "Silent", for which they won the prestigious Olivier Theater Award.

Belgrade Irish Festival/Maria Falconer

One of the participants of the Festival will be the stand-up comedian, Shane Callahan. The theme of his performance is based on his upbringing in the Catholic Church during the nineties, as well as his life in Eastern Europe, where he performs as one of the few gay comedians from the English-speaking world.

This is only a part of what is at the festival, and it is the entire program here.