Birr Castle to host two outdoor film screenings

Birr Castle is the place to be this weekend as OFFline Film Festival hosts two exciting outdoor screenings in its Moonlit Movies series.

First up this Friday, August 30, it’s The Commitments followed by Sing Street this Saturday night (August 31).

Voted the best Irish film ever made in a poll sponsored by Jameson Whiskey in 2005, The Commitments charts the unlikely journey of Dublin soul band. Ambitious Jimmy Rabbitte takes control of his friend’s struggling wedding band and transforms them into ten-piece soul group, ‘The Commitments’, recruiting new members from around his working-class community.

From these humble beginnings, the band achieves fame in Dublin until tensions and inflating egos threaten to scupper their chance at success. Based on the novel from Booker-prize winning author Roddy Doyle’s ‘The Barrytown Trilogy’, The Commitments mixes professional actors and musicians, including ‘The Frames’ Glen Hansard, Maria Doyle Kennedy, and the rousing vocals of Andrew Strong, putting the band’s performances at the heart of the plot. With a shrewd eye for the real attitudes of working class Dublin, The Commitments tells an often comic drama about people struggling to make their way in the world.

Sing Street presents a pitch-perfect reconstruction of Dublin teen life in the 1980s, with director John Carney (Once) scoring another triumph with this hilarious, warm hearted musical tale. With money tight in a boozy, middle-class 1980s Dublin household, youngest son Conor is forced to transfer from his private school to the Brothers in Synge Street where posh new boys are easy prey for the school bullies. Working on relationship advice and musical cues from his much-admired, louche, older brother, he forms a band to attract a sophisticated older woman who he persuades to appear in a series of music videos.

Gary Hoctor, coordinator of Moonlit Movies said: “The aim of Moonlit Movies is to reignite the love for classic Irish films and also to give people the chance to see these great films on the big screen. Maybe you’re young enough never to have seen some of these films the first time around, so why not come along and discover these films with us? Outdoor film screenings on this scale are rare in the county, so Moonlit Movies is definitely not to be missed.”

Tickets start at €10

Visit OFFline film festival for more info & to book your tickets. Pre-booking is strongly advised.