The Provisional Irish Republican Army, officially known as the Irish Republican Army and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reunification and bring about an independent republic encompassing all of Ireland. It was the most active republican paramilitary group during the Troubles. It argued that the all-island Irish Republic continued to exist, and it saw itself as that state's army, the sole legitimate successor to the original IRA from the Irish War of Independence. It was designated a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom and an unlawful organisation in the Republic of Ireland, both of whose authority it rejected.
In the Name of the Father is a 1993 biographical crime drama film co-written and directed by Jim Sheridan. It is based on the true story of the Guildford Four, four people falsely convicted of the 1974 Guildford pub bombings that killed four off-duty British soldiers and a civilian. The screenplay was adapted by Terry George and Jim Sheridan from the 1990 autobiography Proved Innocent: The Story of Gerry Conlon of the Guildford Four by Gerry Conlon.
Sir Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is an English actor. Often described as one of the greatest actors in the history of cinema, he is the recipient of numerous accolades, including three Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. In 2014, Day-Lewis received a knighthood for services to drama.
Jim Sheridan is an Irish playwright and filmmaker. Between 1989 and 1993, Sheridan directed three critically acclaimed films set in Ireland, My Left Foot (1989), The Field (1990), and In the Name of the Father (1993), and later directed the films The Boxer (1997), In America (2003), and Brothers (2009). Sheridan has received six Academy Award nominations for his work.
Events from the year 1997 in Ireland.
Events from the year 1996 in Ireland.
Million Dollar Baby is a 2004 American sports drama film starring Hilary Swank. It is directed, co-produced, scored by and starring Clint Eastwood from a screenplay written by Paul Haggis, based on stories from the 2000 collection Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner by F.X. Toole, the pen name of fight manager and cutman Jerry Boyd. It also stars Morgan Freeman. The film follows Margaret "Maggie" Fitzgerald (Swank), an underdog amateur boxer who is helped by an underappreciated boxing trainer (Eastwood) to achieve her dream of becoming a professional.
Runaway Bride is a 1999 American screwball romantic comedy film directed by Garry Marshall, and starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. The screenplay, written by Sara Parriott and Josann McGibbon, is about a reporter (Gere) who undertakes to write a story about a woman (Roberts) who has left a string of fiancés at the altar.
Hugh O'Conor is an Irish actor, writer, director, and photographer. In 2020, he was listed as number 49 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
Some Mother's Son is a 1996 Irish-American film written and directed by Irish filmmaker Terry George, co-written by Jim Sheridan, and based on the true story of the 1981 hunger strike in the Maze Prison, in Northern Ireland. Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) prisoner Bobby Sands led a protest against the treatment of IRA prisoners, claiming that they should be treated as prisoners of war rather than criminals. The mothers of two of the strikers, played by Helen Mirren and Fionnula Flanagan, fight to save their sons' lives. When the prisoners go on hunger strike and become incapacitated, the mothers must decide whether to abide by their sons' wishes, or to go against them and have them forcibly fed.
Gentleman Jim is a 1942 film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Errol Flynn as heavyweight boxing champion James J. Corbett (1866–1933). The supporting cast includes Alexis Smith, Jack Carson, Alan Hale, William Frawley, and Ward Bond as John L. Sullivan. The movie was based upon Corbett's 1894 autobiography, The Roar of the Crowd. The role was one of Flynn's favorites.
The Battle of St Matthew's or Battle of Short Strand was a gun battle that took place on the night of 27–28 June 1970 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was fought between the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), and Ulster loyalists in the area around St Matthew's Roman Catholic church. This lies at the edge of the Short Strand, a Catholic enclave in a mainly-Protestant part of the city. Violence had erupted there, and in other parts of Belfast, following marches by the Orange Order. The battle lasted about five hours and ended at dawn when loyalists withdrew. The British Army and police were deployed nearby but did not intervene. Three people were killed and at least 26 wounded in the fighting, while another three were killed in north Belfast.
The 48th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 February 1998. The festival opened with the Irish film The Boxer by Jim Sheridan. Francis Ford Coppola's The Rainmaker was selected as the closing night film.
The Springfield Road is a residential area and road traffic thoroughfare adjacent to the Falls Road in west Belfast. The local population is predominantly Irish nationalist and republican. Along parts of the road are several interface area with the neighbouring Ulster loyalist areas of the Greater Shankill. The Springfield Road includes the Ballymurphy and New Barnsley districts and is overlooked by Black Mountain and Divis.
'71 is a 2014 British thriller film directed by Yann Demange and written by Gregory Burke. Set in Northern Ireland, it stars Jack O'Connell, Sean Harris, David Wilmot, Richard Dormer, Barry Keoghan, Paul Anderson and Charlie Murphy, and tells the fictional story of a British soldier who becomes separated from his unit during a riot in Belfast at the height of the Troubles in 1971. Filming began on location in Blackburn, Lancashire, in April 2013 and continued in Sheffield, Leeds and Liverpool. The film was funded by the British Film Institute, Film4, Creative Scotland and Screen Yorkshire, and had its premiere in the competition section of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival, held in February 2014, where it was particularly praised for O'Connell's performance and Demange's direction.
Run All Night is a 2015 American action thriller film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and written by Brad Ingelsby. The film stars Liam Neeson, Joel Kinnaman, Common, and Ed Harris and follows an ex-Irish Mob hitman who goes on the run with his estranged adult son after he is forced to kill the son of a mobster boss. It also marks the third collaboration between Liam Neeson and Jaume Collet-Serra after Unknown and Non-Stop.
The Foreigner is a 2017 action thriller film directed by Martin Campbell from a screenplay by David Marconi, based on the 1992 novel The Chinaman by Stephen Leather. A British-Chinese-American co-production, starring Jackie Chan, Pierce Brosnan, Michael McElhatton, Liu Tao, Charlie Murphy, Orla Brady, and Katie Leung. The film follows a London-based Chinese Nùng restaurateur and ex-soldier who seeks vengeance for the death of his daughter.
Harry White was an Irish republican paramilitary. Between 1935 and 1941 White was arrested multiple times and imprisoned in Crumlin Road Jail, Mountjoy Jail, Arbour Hill Prison and the Curragh Camp.
