For one night only - the Craic Festival brings movies, music and fun to NYC

New York's biggest and best Irish film and music showcase set for September 9

First up for this year screenings will be a series of award winning short films selected from the Galway Film Fleadh, Tribeca Film Festival and Sundance, including the Oscar short-listed Shoe, and the Cork Film Festival’s winner of the Best Irish Short Film, Pentecost.

“I like to show new films that shake things up a bit, and sometimes I pursue shorts that haven’t made it in front of mainstream audiences but that I hear great word about in terms of reactions and audience enthusiasm. And I like to throw in one or two surprises too,” says Mulligan.

“So this year we’re screening Shoe starring Peter Cunanan. It’s the story of a young man who’s planning to throw himself off a bridge who finds his suicide attempt is interrupted by a pushy beggar.”

Another classically Irish film is Pentecost, the story of a reluctant young alter boy whose heart isn’t exactly in the job. Preferring football matches to Sunday Mass, it’s the kind of story line that will be familiar to the festival’s core audience.

“I can relate to that film myself,” says Mulligan, who grew up in the Irish stronghold of Brooklyn.
“When I was a kid my mother wanted me to be an alter boy and I told her flatly, ‘But mass is at 6:45 a.m. and I have a paper route -- that doesn’t work for me.’

“My mother said I was too much. The priest told me maybe being an alter boy was not for me. I said I don’t think it is. I said my route was more important to me. I was like 10.”

It’s that kind of decisiveness that makes for a great festival programmer, and Mulligan has been offering ever more ambitious lineups since he formed the event back in the late 1990s.
But his criteria for choosing the films has stayed the same. Each short must have an Irish theme, or have been shot by local Irish filmmakers or star some Irish actors (or failing all that, they just have to be made in Ireland).

Taking shelter from Hurricane Irene last weekend, Mulligan had the time to reflect on the highlights of the last decade’s worth of Irish film and music.

“Like a lot of people this weekend I had no power in my home on Long Beach due to the hurricane, and my iPod had a little charge left so I listened to some of the music we’ve staged at the Craic Festival since we started,” said Mulligan.

“That lineup includes Mark Geary, Glen Hansard, Mundy and Damien Dempsey. It’s amazing how many first class acts we’ve actually staged year after year. This is really good music. I listened to them until the battery ran out, and it was a powerful reminder of the really good acts we’ve debuted in the U.S.”

Along with the short films, this year the Wee Craic festival is screening a handful of award winning animated shorts from the Galway Film Fleadh.

“It’s a good eclectic lineup this year reflecting the diversity of the country itself, and remember that we have a really cool after party from 8:30 p.m. until 11 p.m. with Tullamore Dew and Stella Artois and all of this can be had for the laughable sum of just $20.

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Nster.com