2025 Screenings
HOUSEWIFE OF THE YEAR
2024/Ireland (77 minutes) Director: Ciaran Cassidy
A documentary about one of Ireland's most unique cultural events -- the housewife of the year competition which saw women from around Ireland compete on prime-time television for the title of Housewife of the Year and the prize of a luxury gas cooker. HOUSEWIFE OF THE YEAR tells the story of Ireland’s treatment of women through the prism of a unique, surreal, live televised competition, that has to be seen to be believed, where a generation of Irish women competed in front of a live audience for the title of ‘Housewife of the Year’. The former contestants share their direct experiences of marriage bars, lack of contraception, Magdalene laundries, financial vulnerability, boredom and shame and of course, of being contestants in the competition. It is a poignant, often hilarious, uplifting story of a resilient generation of women and how they changed a country.
St Bridget’s Day (Lá Fhéile Bríde) screening presented in partnership with the Consulate General of Ireland Boston and Mná Mheiriceá.
FROM THAT SMALL ISLAND - The STORY OF THE IRISH
2025/Ireland (90 minutes)
Directors: Rachel Moriarty & Peter Murphy.
From That Small Island – The Story of the Irish is a new and ground-breaking documentary which tells the story of the Irish from first inhabitants to the present day, tracing the ebb and flow of people into and out of the island. Shot on location in 17 countries worldwide, the film provides a compelling narrative of Ireland and the Irish. Created by Bríona Nic Dhiarmada and directed by Rachel Moriarty and Peter Murphy, the documentary is narrated by Colin Farrell and the original score is by Colm Mac an Iomaire. Jane Ohlmeyer, Trinity College Dublin, served as historical consultant and associate producer on the project. The series sets out to answer questions such as: Who are the Irish? Where did they come from? Where do they go? 6 million people live on the island of Ireland, but over 80 million people worldwide say they are Irish. What does that mean? Why, in a totally unprecedented manner, does the whole world turn green on St Patrick’s Day?
This special screening event included a post-film panel featuring Professor Mary Murphy, director of the Irish Institute at Boston College in conversation with Professor Bríona Nic Dhiarmada and Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, two of the major visionaries behind the documentary
This screening presented by the Irish Film Festival Boston in partnership with the Consulate General of Ireland, Boston will show a feature-length 90 minute cut of the documentary. In early 2026, the documentary will be broadcast as a four-part series by American Public Television on PBS stations nationwide.