Keeping It Real - Irish Film and Television

A series of essays considering the nature and direction of Irish film and television. Topics cover the 'Roy Keane' affair, the first Irish-language soap opera, the New Irish Gangsters, Irish identity post September eleventh, images of Belfast in contemporary Irish cinema and female punishment in Irish history and culture. "Keeping it Real" appeals to those interested in Irish film, media and cultural studies. It reflects the innovative popular and academic desire to extend the notion of Irishness to include not only the inhabitants of the state but also the wider diaspora. Particularly focusing on the diaspora of Great Britain and North America the book questions issues of national identity and ethnicity. Films discussed include "Odd Man Out, The Boxer, Nothing Personal, I Went Down, Ryan's Daughter" and "Resurrection Man,"

The book also features an interview with actor Stephen Rea

Ruth Barton and Harvey O'Brien are Irish Council for Humanities and Social Sciences postdoctoral research fellows working at the center for film studies at University College Dublin. Barton is the author of Jim Sheridan: Framing the Nation (2002) and the forthcoming The Real Ireland: The Evolution of Ireland in Documentary Film.