Colin Devlin will headline the Wee Craic Festival in New York

As for the usual rostra of celebrity guests on the night, Mulligan is understandably reluctant to be drawn on them.

“If they’re in town they come down,” he says. “I believe HBO’s new show the Boardwalk Empire is having its launch around the same time as the Wee Craic night so it’s possible there’ll be some overlap between us.

“Plus the Wee Craic stars like Devlin will be staying at the upscale Hilton Garden Inn in Tribeca so it’s quite likely they’ll all meet and greet each other.”

Behind the scenes now the Wee Craic shorts night creative group have been finalizing the line up with the help of their selection committee and though festival programmers they have longstanding relationships with.

“With the shorts a lot of the process is about timing,” Mulligan adds. “You have to worry about releases and distributors and you have the most talented short film makers between New York and Ireland.

“Thankfully there’s dozens of them. The other thing that people don’t realize is that the Irish government actually has a scheme to fund short works that assists and promotes new Irish work. That’s great for us too because it means there’s a talented pool to choose from each September when we do this event.

“There’s also a two hour open bar sponsored by Stella Artois and Jameson,” Mulligan adds with a laugh. “If that’s not enough to get the Irish down I don’t know what is.

“For $20 bucks you’re going to see really award winning films, Colin Devlin, and from eight to 10 o’clock you’re getting complimentary whiskeys. Come on lads, buck up, what’s not to like about that!”

There are 150 tickets in total (many have already sold) to the Wee Craic shorts night. The after party and live music takes place from 8-11 p.m. at the Tribeca Cinema Lounge. For tickets visit www.ticketweb.com or call 646-549-1349.

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Nster.com