Despite the continuing successes of actors like Daniel Day-Lewis, Liam Neeson and Michael Fassbender, Irish cinema’s happenings have, for the most part, gone by the wayside to mainstream American audiences. 
The 2014 New Orleans Irish Film Festival, taking place Oct. 10 to Oct. 12, wants to change that. Featuring some of the first screenings of these films outside of Ireland, the festival is being sponsored by the Irish Network of New Orleans at the historic Prytania Theatre. 
Robert Bell, artistic director for the festival and an instructor in the College of Humanities and Natural Sciences at Loyola University, described the festival as the kick-off for an ongoing celebration of Irish culture and heritage, which will include examples of Irish dancing, music, food and Gaelic football.
“The main thing we’re trying to do is expose audiences to the great filmmaking coming out of Ireland,” Bell said. “[The films featured] are probably a year or two old, but they’ve never been seen in New Orleans.”
“What I do is work with filmmakers and the Irish Film Institute in Dublin to try to make the lineup for the festival a good representation of Irish cinema both classic and contemporary,” Bell said.
The festival will begin with an opening night gala, slated for Oct. 10, a night of food, drink and what Bell referred to as “the crack,” which in Ireland is another term for good conversation. That night will also feature a special screening of Jim Sheridan’s 1989 film “My Left Foot,” the first film ever to come out of Ireland to win Academy Awards — Best Actor, Daniel Day-Lewis and Best Supporting Actress, Brenda Fricker.
The next day will feature three screenings of recent Irish films — animated family film “Moon Man;” humorous documentary “The Irish Pub;” and cheerful comedy “The Bachelor Weekend.” All films were released within the past two years that have yet to receive much attention, especially in America.
The festival will close on Oct. 12 with a curated collection of animated shorts, entitled “Animated Ireland” and presented by the Irish Film Institute and with a screening of “Good Vibrations,” a film Bell singled out as one he was especially excited for.
“Young people are really going to dig it,” Bell said. “It’s really a bit of a love song to punk rock.” 
It chronicles Belfast record store owner Terri Hooley’s true story and the way punk rock was used as an escape from The Troubles, taking place in Northern Ireland during the latter half of the 20th century.
“There’s great film making that doesn’t involve car crashes, and robots, and all that stuff, and that’s sort of what we’re trying to showcase here,” Bell said.