Baton Rouge residents may hear sounds of the Emerald Isle emerging from the Shaw Center for the Arts on Saturday as part of the fourth annual Baton Rouge Irish Film Festival.
The Manship Theatre at the Shaw Center will host the festival from 11:45 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Festival goers will not only be able to witness the Na Cait Dubh Bagpipers perform, but also view several films about the Irish people.
Laura Mcdavitt, co-chairman of the film festival, said festival goers should be particularly excited about the film, “Hard Times”, which will make its North American debut at the festival.
“The movie is about a little village that has fallen on hard times.” Mcdavitt said. “But there is more than one meaning to the word hard in this film. The characters in the movie hijack a shipment of Viagra and try to sell it in the Netherlands to save the village. They end up trying to hide it in the town’s holy well, and that is where the story gets interesting”
“Hard Times” will be released to the public in October. Other movies being shown Saturday include: “The Secret of Kells,” “The Yellow Bittern” and “The Boxer.”
Mcdavitt continued, describing the other events on Saturday. “We are going to have Irish dancers in the morning,” she said. “The bagpipers will also be here in the morning to start everything off. But, one of the coolest things is that a reproduction of the ‘Book of Kells’ will be on display for people to view. There are only so many reproductions of the book.”
Celtic singer Danny O’Flaherty will also perform at the event. The festival continues Sunday with Military Day. The Navy League of the United States, the Fleet Reserve Association an the Baton Rouge Irish Club will present the movie The Long Gray Line.
The festival concludes Monday evening at Phil Brady’s Bar and Grill with “Kill the Irishmen.”
But festival goers don’t have to be Irish to enjoy the films, Mcdavitt said.
“It’s a time to see something unique and different,” she said. “The Irish culture also has a huge history here. South Louisiana was the fourth largest import for the Irish.  It was the Irish that really built New Orleans.”
 
____ Contact Joshua Bergeron at [email protected]