IRISH FILM FESTIVAL LONDON 2023 PR EVALUATION
OVERVIEW
This year’s Irish Film Festival London screened 13 films and a shorts programme at the Vue West End, Vue Piccadilly and the London Irish Centre. The PR campaign launched with the UK premiere of One Night in Millstreet. Boxing champions Steve Collins and Chris Eubank were reunited at the red carpet event, surrounded by fans and photographers (including PA Media and David Bennett Photography) eager to capture the moment. The evening ended on a high note with a reception at the Century Club. Coverage highlights included a feature in the Times newspaper and online with Steve Collins. Steve was also interviewed on talkSPORT - the UK’s biggest sports radio station with a reach of up to 3 million listeners a week. One Night in Millstreet director Andrew Gallimore and Festival Director Michael Hayden were interviewed on Times Radio on the Ed Vaizey show. Films by and about women were also at the heart of this year’s festival. Joe Lee’s 406 Days - The Debenhams Picket Line was covered on Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4, where presenter Emma Barnett interviewed former shop stewards Carol Ann Bridgeman and Jane Crowe, who feature in the documentary. Patricia Kelly, director of Verdigris, was interviewed on Times Radio’s Alexis Conran show. The Reviews Hub reviewed six of the films in the festival, and in particular praised the opening film (One Night in Millstreet) and closing film (Five and a Half Love Stories) giving them both four-star reviews. The festival was extensively supported by Irish press, especially The Irish World - a media partner of the festival and a weekly newspaper for Irish people in Britain - who ran a series of articles on films by and about women in the festival, with six features in total that appeared both in print and online. The Irish Times, with a circulation of 1.2 million, attended and covered the awards ceremony. The Irish Post featured Michael Hayden’s appointment as Festival Director and a piece introducing the festival programme, as well as a feature on the awards.
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ONE NIGHT IN MILLSTREET Reach: 3.75M
BOXING | STEVE COLLINS INTERVIEW
Two Oliver Reeds, a wolfhound and a hypnotist – life with Steve Collins Former middleweight and super middleweight champion Steve Collins recalls 1995 meeting as he prepares to donate land for keyworkers’ homes When a barefooted Oliver Reed tumbled into the room with his shirt hiked up atop his vast stomach, Steve Collins sensed trouble. The actor and the fighter had spent a lovely afternoon together, but the mood was turning. “He was strong as a bull and doing these handstands,” says the former two-weight world champion when we meet in a room in a London club. “I could not believe his strength for a man of his age and weight. Then he challenged me to an arm-wrestle. He beat me and I said, ‘I let you win, Oliver, because I don’t want you getting upset because you’re getting old.’ It was banter but he was insulted. He wanted to kill me and came at me with a bottle of champagne. The next morning I got a message from him: ‘Great craic.’ That was the side that wrote hell-raiser headlines, but Collins saw the kinder one too. Reed had first made contact with Collins when he asked him to look after Oliver O’Dea, a young boxer he had taken an interest in. “There were two Oliver Reeds — the one I met in the day and the one I met that night. I thought he was so fascinating. What an intellect! Interesting, a charmer and the best example of someone who should not drink.” Over a couple of hours Collins, now 59, describes a kaleidoscopic cast list, including the mind guru and alleged cult leader who played a part in his success, and his own varied guises — fighter, farmer, actor and now the landowner planning to build 330 homes for keyworkers in St Albans. The reason for the interview is Wednesday’s Leicester Square premiere of One Night in Millstreet, the opening act of the Irish Film Festival. The documentary tells the story of how Collins beat Chris Eubank to win the WBO super-middleweight title in 1995. It was a deliberately weird event, the glitz of boxing transplanted to the sticks of a Co Cork town, population under 2,000. Long before the days of infighting influencers and cross-over exhibitions in the Saudi desert, Collins used all kind of hokum to baffle boxing’s great eccentric.
ONE NIGHT IN MILLSTREET
ONE NIGHT IN MILLSTREET
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The UK’s biggest sports radio station interview with Steve Collins, with mentions of One Night in Millstreet and the Irish Film Festival London.
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Interview with Michael Hayden and Andrew Gallimore (director of One Night in Millstreet) for the Culture Crunch panel on the Ed Vaizey Show.
406 DAYS - THE DEBENHAMS PICKETLINE Reach: 3.7M
Former shop stewards Carol Ann Bridgeman and Jane Crowe, who feature in 406 Days, were interviewed by Emma Barnett for the BBC Radio 4 programme Woman’s Hour, which has a weekly reach of 3.7M and was also mentioned on their social media platforms.
406 DAYS - THE DEBENHAMS PICKET LINE
Reach: 13K David Hennessy spoke to Jane Crowe and Carol Anne Bridgman, two members of the Debenhams strike whose struggle has depicted in the documentary 406 Days which comes to Irish Film Festival London this week. 406 Days, the documentary about the Debenhams strike in Ireland, comes to Irish Film Festival London this week. The longest industrial dispute in Ireland’s history is the subject of Joe Lee’s enthralling 406 Days- The Debenhams Picket Line which has been showered with awards. In April 2020, Debenhams sacked its staff by generic email and reneged on promised unionnegotiated redundancy packages. The mostly female workforce refused to take this lying down. Packed with first-hand accounts, 406 Days is a testament to the tenacity of the workers. The workers remained on the picket lines, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and until it finally ended in May 2021 with a compromise and a government-sponsored proposal based around a retraining fund. Although the two strikers we spoke to agreed that this training fund was worthless and pointless, Jane Crowe and Carol Anne Bridgman both told us that this about more than money, it was about rights and for workers in the future which is why it is also so important to them legislations is going through the Dail to change things so that in future the workers are not at the bottom of any list of creditors when companies go into liquidation. It comes to London soon but what is it like for you to watch the film about the strike? Jane Crowe from Ballyfermot, Dublin says: “We’ve seen it a few times now and it gets more emotional every time you see it.
VERDIGRIS
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Patricia Kelly told David Hennessy why her debut feature film Verdigris, about two very different women who strike up an unlikely friendship, is a personal one. Patricia Kelly’s feature length debut film Verdigris follows the story of middle-class, middle aged woman Marian, played by Geraldine McAlinden, who is trapped in an abusive marriage and takes on a part time job when she forms an unlikely friendship with the young sex worker Jewel who is played by Maya O’Shea. The film will have its UK premiere at this month’s Irish Film Festival London. Verdigris has already emerged as a winner of the Best Independent Film award at Galway Film Fleadh, where O’Shea was also nominated for the Bingham Ray New Talent Award. It also won Best Narrative Feature Film Award at Kerry International Film Festival and the Audience Award for Best Irish Film at Newport Beach Film Festival. Patricia describes the film as a personal one. The film sees Marian take on a new job as a census enumerator. On her tough inner-city route, Marian faces dismissive and abusive locals who flatly refuse to engage in the census. This includes brash and no-nonsense teenager Jewel, who Marian soon realises is living alone with no obvious means of supporting herself. Marian finds herself striking a deal with Jewel – she won’t report her to the authorities if Jewel helps her get the locals to fill out their census forms. As they walk the streets of Dublin, an unlikely friendship blooms.
INTRODUCING IRISH FILM FESTIVAL LONDON
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LIES WE TELL Reach: 13K
CROÍTHE RADACACHA Reach: 13K
IRISH FILM AWARDS Reach: 1.2M
A mammy’s love nourishes a son of Ireland in Britain Boxing champions Steve Collins and Chris Eubank arrive for a screening of the documentary One Night in Millstreet, part of the Irish Film Festival London. Former world champion boxer Steve Collins is in the good room on the top floor of the Irish embassy in London, stroking his goatee and musing on the vagaries of fame. Beating Chris Eubank in 1995 made Collins world famous. But he says they’d never let you get a big head back home. He lives on a farm in Hertfordshire now, wearing wellies and driving a jeep. “People in Ireland can take you for granted. It’s a small place. We all know each other. You’d see Bono on the street and go ‘so what?’,” he says, his eyes twinkling. “Here in Britain, I feel appreciated. The phone never stops. But people on the street here wouldn’t always recognise you. See this goatee? I haven’t had it for ten years. I only grew it back for recognition for this event. It’ll be gone by Monday.” Collins is promoting a new feature-length documentary, One Night in Millstreet, about the Cabra man’s famous first victory over Peckham pugilist Eubank. Sporting his then-trademark goatee, he psyched out the British boxer in a legendary St Patrick’s Day bout. The film, directed by Welsh-born, Irish-based filmmaker Andrew Gallimore, had its London premiere last week at Leicester Square during the Irish Film Festival London, a week-long event run by Irish Film & Television UK. It held its annual awards ceremony at an event hosted by Ireland’s ambassador to the UK, Martin Fraser, at the embassy in Belgravia on Monday night. Collins was there with Gallimore. The eccentric Eubank, who is interviewed in the film, wasn’t at the embassy. But he showed up for the premiere. By all accounts, there was almost as much of an edge between the two former boxers at the accompanying Q&A as there was when they fought, twice, in 1995. Eubank never fully came to terms with his two defeats. Collins got inside his head. He showed up at one pre-fight press conference in a three-piece tweed suit, with a flatcap, a shillelagh and a wolfhound. Life coach guru Tony Quinn told the world he had hypnotised Collins not to feel pain. Eubank was freaked out. As the Celtic Tiger took hold, it was one of the most famous nights in Irish sporting history. Almost as much as the exploits of the Boys in Green in football, Collins’s victories over Eubank helped to banish Ireland’s sense of sporting inferiority towards the English. Twenty-eight years on, the now 59-year-old Collins’s enthusiasm is undimmed. He looks at Gallimore as he excitedly recalls the fight, then at me, back at Gallimore, back at me. Then he looks off into the middle distance and sees God knows what. The Millstreet crowd? Eubank’s sweaty chin? His own destiny? Collins is often teased in his homeland for being “a bit of a character”. Perhaps that is partly why he feels under appreciated. At the embassy, he is affable and generous with his time. On this drizzly, dark night in London, his unbridled joy at the recollection of a dream fulfilled is a tonic. Collins loves his homeland. He was the Celtic Warrior. But he is one of those Irish people who now slots seamlessly into Britain. Hertfordshire is his home, shared with the farmer’s daughter, Donna, whom he married. “I’m very settled. The Irish community here is very good. But Britain is a great country. I love England and I’ve no intentions of ever leaving it. I’m very happy with my life here and the way I’m appreciated. If you work hard you get the rewards.”
IRISH FILM AWARDS Reach: 577K
Stars turn out for Irish Film Festival London awards ceremony
Verdigris wins the Best Feature Award at Irish Film Festival London Irish Film & Television UK (IFTUK) has announced the winners of the Irish Film Festival, London at its annual award ceremony held at the Irish Embassy in London on 20th November 2023. The Irish Ambassador, Martin Fraser, welcomed guests at the red-carpet awards ceremony.
IRISH FILM AWARDS
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MICHAEL HAYDEN APPOINTMENT Reach: 577K
Michael Hayden ‘honoured’ to be selected as new Festival Director for Irish Film and TV UK
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Full article here
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REVIEWS
Please click film title for full review
One Night in Millstreet “Even if you don’t like boxing, this film is still a thrilling watch, packing a punch that Anthony Joshua can only dream of.”
Five and a Half Love Stories in an Apartment in Vilnius “An unusual and subtly moving look at modern love and passion.”
Lie of the Land “Well worth a watch”
406 Days - The Debenhams Picketline
Ó Bhéal
Croíthe Radacacha
LISTINGS The festival was listed on the websites below - please note links may have expired
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