6 Week Series

Week 1 Nov 1st  - “American Beauty” (1999) Theme: Presence

Film 2 Nov 8th – “The Lives of Others” (2006) Theme: Intimacy

Film 3 Nov 15th  – “Little Miss Sunshine” (2006) Theme: Failure

Film 4  Nov 22nd - Crimes and Misdemeanours (1989) Theme: The Shadow

Film 5 Nov 29th - The Painted Veil (2006) Theme: Forgiveness

Film 6  Dec 6th - The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (2007) Theme: Hope

For further details on each film please see below.

Suggested Donation: Euro 99 to cover venue and meditation

Facilitator: Maria O'Loughlin

A graduate of the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, Maria O’Loughlin has more than 25 years’ experience as a screenwriter, script editor, producer, story consultant and educator. She has developed and scripted TV projects for Brown Bag Films, BBC, Nickelodeon and the Walt Disney Company, and most recently worked as Head Writer on “101 Dalmatian Street”, which she developed for television from the Disney classic “101 Dalmatians”. She has given talks and taught courses for the Irish Writers Centre, the Animation Skillnet and Screen Ireland and also delivers creativity workshops based on “The Artist’s Way”. She is currently working as a story consultant for Netflix.

Week 1/ Nov 1st  - “American Beauty” (1999)

Theme: Presence

Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn

his life around after developing a crush on his teenage daughter’s best friend.

Directed by Sam Mendes and starring Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening and Chris

Cooper, this darkly comic drama won 8 Academy Awards, including for Best

Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Actress.

Film 2 Nov 8th – “The Lives of Others” (2006)

Theme: Intimacy

In 1980s East Berlin, a Stasi agent tasked with spying on a playwright and his

lover, becomes absorbed by their lives in a way that changes his own forever.

This beautifully emotional German drama boasts one of the best screenplays of

its decade and rightly won an Academy Award for Best Foreign language film.

Film 3 Nov 15th  – “Little Miss Sunshine” (2006)

Theme: Failure

A family obsessed with winning take a fractious road trip across America in a

Volkswagon bus, in the hope of getting their young daughter into the finals of a

beauty pageant. Starring Steve Carrell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear and Alan

Arkin, this hilarious, yet thought-provoking, comedy-drama won 2 Academy

Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor.

Film 4 – Nov 22: Crimes and Misdemeanours (1989)

Theme: The Shadow

The “perfect life” of a prominent New York ophthalmologist is threatened when

his mistress attempts to reveal their affair to his wife, prompting him to make a

very dark choice. Directed by Woody Allen and starring Martin Landau, Anjelica

Houston, Alan Alda and Mia Farrow, this existential drama is one of Allen’s finest

films and was nominated for 3 Academy Awards including for Best Director, Best

Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor.

Film 5 – Nov 29th  The Painted Veil (2006)

Theme: Forgiveness

A young British couple struggle with their failed marriage amidst the turmoil of

1920s colonial China. Adapted from a novel by Somerset Maugham and

produced by its two stars Naomi Watts and Ed Norton, this hugely under-rated

period drama explores its theme and imperfect characters with immense

subtlety and humanity. Liev Schreiber, Diana Rigg and Toby Jones also star.

Film 6 – Dec 6th The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (2007)

Theme: Hope

Based on his memoir of the same name, this is the true story of Jean Dominique

Bauby, a top French magazine editor who is left with “locked-in” syndrome

following a stroke. Completely paralysed, he learns to communicate with the

world again – and writes the book upon which the film is based - by blinking one

eye-lid, the only part of his body he is still able to move. Starring Mathieu

Amalric, this beautifully unsentimental film was nominated for 4 Academy

Awards for directing, cinematography, editing and writing, and won the Golden

Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.