Tribeca Debut for Irish Films

The Tribeca Film Festival in downtown Manhattan goes from strength to strength each year, and 2008 is no exception. A stellar line-up of new Irish films will also be offered to entertain film buffs. CAHIR O'DOHERTY reports.

FOUNDED in 2002 by legendary screen actor Robert De Niro, the Tribeca Film Festival was created in response to the distinct loss of vitality in the downtown neighborhood after the 9/11 attacks. This year, with over 250 films and 1,000 screenings planned, the festival has become one of the most prominent in the world, totally reenergizing the area in the process.

At the 2008 festival, which starts on April 24, three impressive new Irish films will receive their U.S. premieres, each in their own way exceptional new works, heralding the arrival of important new directing talents.

The first new Irish film, Eden, is a feature length screen adaptation of Eugene O'Brien's critically acclaimed award-winning play of the same name. Set in a thriving town in Co. Offaly, Eden tells the story of one tumultuous week in the lives of Billy and Breda Farrell as they approach their 10th wedding anniversary.

Breda is secretly determined that the milestone will reignite the passion in their already floundering marriage - but Billy, on the other hand, has developed an unhealthy obsession with Imelda Egan, a pretty but completely unobtainable local young thing. He has somehow convinced himself that the coming weekend will see them become lovers under the eyes of everyone.

As the anniversary date draws closer, Billy's behavior becomes more and more erratic, while Breda's frustrations crystallize and find increasingly high-risk expression. In their desperation and loneliness, both partners act out their own inner turmoil, and the film is something of a departure in its searing portrait of a typical Irish marriage coming unglued.

Says director Declan Recks, "It's a portrait of a very recognizable type of Irish marriage - between a stoic, fairly quiet Irish guy with a lot going on beneath the deceptively placid surface, and his wife who feels adrift in a fairly joyless marriage.

"Billy never talks about himself; he just observes others, keeps himself to himself. In that way he's a fairly classic Irish man - but we show the downside too. At 40 he's horribly, woefully stuck, right in the middle of his life.

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Nster.com