The Soul Of Cinema - Contemplate the Inner Journey with Movies
Tue, Nov 22
|Glendalough Sanctuary
Of all art forms, cinema is unique in its focus on the inner journey of character transformation. This series of 6 workshops uses film to contemplate some of the big themes of that journey, while referencing the work of authors as diverse as Richard Rohr, Thich Nhat Hanh and Caroline Myss.
Time & Location
Nov 22, 2022, 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Glendalough Sanctuary , Brockagh House, Derrybawn, Glendalough, Co. Wicklow, A98 VK68, Ireland
About the Event
Each workshop will include:
A Screening of One Feature Film
A short Talk on Theme
A Guided Group Discussion
Silent Reflection/Meditation
Suggested Donation for 6 weeks Euro 99
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: 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 5 – Nov 29th 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 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.
Presenter: Maria O’Loughlin
A graduate of the University of Southern California’s MFA in Writing For Screen
in television, Maria O’Loughlin has more than 16 year’s experience as a
screenwriter, producer and educator. Currently working as a scriptwriter with
Brown Bag Films in Dublin, Maria also has recent writing credits on the BAFTA-
winning CBBC series “Roy”, TV3’s new adult animated sitcom “Newsbag” and
Discovery Channel’s “I’m a Monster” series. Previously, Maria worked in
documentary and factual television for Independent Pictures, RTE and TG4, and
her short film “No Strings Attached”, starring singer Camille O’Sullivan, won the
Galway Film Centre/RTE Short Script Award in 2006. As an educator, Maria has
worked with the Kimmage Development Studies Centre and the Jesuit
Communications Centre in Dublin, and has also delivered creativity workshops
based on the ever-popular “Artist’s Way”. With a BA in English literature and
Psychology from Trinity College Dublin, as well as an MA in Critical and Cultural
Theory, Maria has also written on post-modern spirituality for “Studies: An Irish
Quarterly Review”.