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Kansas City Irish Festivals, Music, Pubs, & Events by an Artist in Ireland

The Irish Sea, you might say. But anyway, it’s that time of year when I think about a festival in Kansas City.

Up in Toronto today, the Toronto International Film Festival is starting and it includes no less than 7 Irish or joint-Irish films. It reminded me that among my 50 posts in draft was one about this year’s Kansas International Film Festival that runs from September 18 - 24, 2009.

The reason I was putting the post off was because I had to seach through its film guide to see if there were films not just produced in Ireland, but maybe with an Irish reference that the enormous population of Irish in Kansas City would be eager to see. And there are.

Well there’s 1 film I’ve found related to Ireland. According to the festival film guide “The Baker is a romantic comedy about a hit man who tries to quit by going to a small Irish village. . He’s mistaken for the new town baker and falls in love with the town veterinarian”.

And that’s the problem with believing what’s written on the interwebs. It didn’t ring any bells for me. But with character names like Rhys, Alun, Bryn and Rhiannon it did set off alarm bells, if I may mix my bell metaphors.

So yes, in reality the movie is more accurately described by its director, Gareth Lewis:

A hit-man in the midst of a life crisis hides out in an abandoned bakery in a cosy village in Wales where he thinks he’s found the answer to his problems: he’ll give up his stressful job and life in the city, for a simple rural life as a village baker. When he bakes he feels free. But he soon discovers that freedom comes at a price. And strange things are afoot in the village: apparently it’s not just the sheep who are in danger of being slaughtered

Or, as its tagline describes, “It’s a recipe for disaster”.

Which all sounds like a very enjoyable romp, like the Cohn Brothers doing How Green Was My Valley and something fans of British comedies would surely want to see. So although the village, like the mythical Scottish village of Brigadoon, is not in Ireland, surely you have a neglected great-grandparent or two who is British and gives you a perfect excuse to go to the Glenwood Arts Theatre at 9575 Metcalf Ave. in Overland Park, Kansas on Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 8:15pm?

And given that some people think there is no difference between Ireland and an arbitrary selection of other countries that were touched by the Celts, you could ignore me, and say it’s Ireland anyway.

All that aside, the movie The Baker has won some significant awards at other film festivals: Connecticut Film Festival – Audience Favorite Award , Worldfest Houston – Special Jury Remi Award, Gold Remi Award for Best Editing Film Festival – Audience Favorite Award - so you just might like it even if you’re German.

See Also:
   • About Ken Loach
   • Irish Cinema Recommendation of Bruno. Or Not
   • Review: What Means Motley?
   • Pirates: Dead Man’s Ren Fest
   • Review: The Wind That Shakes The Barley

This entry was posted on Friday, September 11th, 2009 at 5:16 am and is filed under Events, Movies. You can follow responses via my RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.