Latest news with #Angela'sAshes
Irish Independent
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Anticipation building for short film with Wexford family at the helm
The upcoming film, set to be officially shown in the coming months, follows a band as they struggle to go from busking on the streets of Wexford to finding fame on the stage. The main cast is also made up of Dublin actress Tonie Salburg (ANNA – A TALE FOR TOMORROW) and Liam Carney (Angela's Ashes). At the core of the film is Enniscorthy director Michael Cloke, whose family have joined hands to deliver the project; his son Cameron plays a lead role while wife Donna plays a smaller role, with his other two children helping out behind the scenes. Speaking about the project, he described how the gritty film focuses on the struggles of artists and ultimately becomes a lesson in resilience. "Side Lines is a deeply personal film that explores the sacrifices artists make in pursuit of their dreams. As a filmmaker, I wanted to capture the raw emotions of ambition, love, and the harsh realities of financial struggle. The main character's journey is one that resonates with many choosing between passion and stability, between art and survival.' "At its core, Side Lines is about resilience. It's about believing in oneself even when the odds seem insurmountable. Through this film, I hope to inspire audiences to reflect on their dreams and the sacrifices they've made or are willing to make to achieve them,' he added. He explained that the visual style of the camerawork will reflect the tension of the plot, with intimate close-ups and dynamic street performances that ill underscore the importance of music. "Music plays a central role, not just as a backdrop, but as a character itself shaping relationships, driving conflict, and ultimately leading to redemption.'
Irish Daily Star
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Star
Irish American author Maura Casey said ‘humor' kept her family from ‘bursting into tears' dealing with illness and addiction
When penning her memoir, Maura Casey got to relive her entire childhood through journals that she kept for most of her life. While attending a charity tournament, later in life, Maura shared childhood memories with Irish writer, Frank McCourt, of growing up in a busy, loud and often turbulent household. Despite being on opposite sides of the Atlantic - McCourt's Angela's Ashes being set in Limerick - the pair found themselves laughing at how similar their stories were. 'If you live in the madness of an alcoholic home, there's a funny combination of humor and madness that's hard to explain,' Maura said. Read More Related Articles Donald Trump branded 'dumbest President ever' after six-word comment about Congo Read More Related Articles Deranged Trump posts mad 184-word Easter message taking aim at all his enemies Maura is the youngest of six children, who all came in quick succession over the course of seven years. The next child up from Maura was her sister Ellen; her Irish twin who was just 11 months older and 'the most charismatic of the bunch.' Ellen was diagnosed with kidney disease when she was ten, and at that time, it was considered terminal. Ellen's doctor, Mary Hawking - a sister of Stephen Hawking - said that at each medical meeting they would ask the question, 'How do we give Ellen one more summer?' Maura and her sister Ellen were just 11 months apart (Image: Maura Casey) Maura's mother, desperate to save Ellen at any cost, donated her kidney. In Buffalo New York in the 1960s, renal transplants were still considered incredibly risky and Maura believed for many years, her mother kept a lot of the details from the rest of the family, so they wouldn't worry. 'Now people act as if getting a kidney transplant is like getting your wisdom teeth out. But then, it was kind of the medical equivalent of walking on the moon." 'The kidney lasted twenty years,' Maura explained. 'But in making the choices she did, I began to expect it shortened my mother's life considerably. And that's what I wrote the book to find out.' In many ways, Ellen's diagnosis seemed like the catalyst for the turmoil her family went through after that point. 'My father dissolved into alcoholism and a spectacular affair with a neighborhood woman, who had nine kids,' Maura explained. As she wrote, she realized that 'booze was a character in the book just as much as any member of the family.' For a long time, drinking and Irish culture were inextricable for Maura - something she laughed about when she later visited Ireland after getting sober at 28, and realized how wrong she had been. But despite some of the memories being difficult to revisit - like violent altercations within the family home - Maura retells them with an impeccable sense of humor, a trait she also credits to her Irishness. 'Humor is food and drink to an Irishman,' she said. 'It is so much a part of who we are at our very core. My mother could be hysterically funny. Her humor was witty. My father had a story-telling humor. So we were all very, very funny, in different ways, but it also seems to me that our humor kept us from bursting into tears.' For the latest local news and features on Irish America, visit our homepage here .
