Irish Week at St Leonards’ Kino-Teatr

Spokeswoman Olga Mamonova said: “This year we’ve managed to secure a major Irish film a month ahead of its general release – an adaptation of the award winning novel That They May Face the Riding Sun! Hastings/St Leonards audiences will be the first in the UK to see the film.”

Over the years Olga has organised many Ireland-related screenings, Q&As, music and literature events, including a special preview of the Peaky Blinders with director David Caffrey attended by actress Charlie Murphy, a series of films marking the 100th anniversary of the end of the Irish Civil War, evenings of classical Irish music and an exhibition Rebel Song: Faces of Irish Music by the photographer Andrew Catlin who worked with Sinead O’Connor and Shane MacGowan during the 1980s-1990s. This year’s programme also includes some live events as well as the films.

Friday, March 15 at 3pm and 7.30pm: That They May Face The Rising Sun (Ireland 2024)

“Kino-Teatr is proud to have secured a special screening of the film ahead of its general release in the UK on April 26. Based on internationally acclaimed Irish author John McGahern's award-winning novel of the same name, the film is set in a 1980s rural community in Ireland and centres on a creative couple, writer Joe (Barry Ward) and photographer Kate Ruttledge (Anna Bederke), who have moved from London back to Joe’s remote Irish hometown to try out a new lifestyle away from the bustle of the metropolis. Directed by Pat Collins and filmed on the shore of Loch Nafooey, County Galway.”

Saturday, March 16 at 3pm and 7.30pm: LOLA (Ireland/UK 2023)

“An independent found-footage science-fiction film created by Irish director Andrew Legge, starring Emma Appleton and Stefanie Martini. It received universal acclaim and even got permission from the David Bowie estate to use his songs, which is very rarely granted. LOLA won the Méliès d'Or for Best European Film and earned the highest opinion by Mark Kermode who interviewed director Andrew Legge at the BFI. Shot on 16mm, the film tells the story of two women during the WW2 who have invented a machine that intercepts future television broadcasts.”

Sunday, March 17 – St Patrick's Special Jazz Morning, 11am-1pm: A Jazz Morning with Mike Hatchard and guests performing songs about and settings of lyrics by James Joyce, WB Yeats, Oscar Wilde “with more than a healthy influence of traditional Irish music.”

Sunday, March 17, 2pm: More Than a Muse: Maud Gonne & the Love Poetry of WB Yeats - free event

“The Irish Nobel-Laureate poet,WB Yeats made a lifelong career out of his love for the revolutionary activist, Maud Gonne. But as the narrator of a new novel about their relationship puts it ‘When told from the woman’s side of the bedsheet, most tales take a turning, and this one more than most.’

“Learn about the bizarre love triangle between Yeats, Maud Gonne and her daughter — and the poetry it inspired. Be introduced to Maud Gonne’s own social and political influence. And help launch an epic novel series by the Irish historical novelist and poet, the best-selling author, Orna Ross, who now lives in St Leonards.”

Tickets available at kino-teatr.co.uk and at the Kino-Teatr Victorian ticket booth.