BLUE ROAD: The Edna O'Brien Story | Flowerfield Arts Centre
Arts
Film
This screening is in our auditorium with unresreved tiered seating only.
Emerging from rural Ireland, Edna O’Brien broke multiple taboos with her sexually provocative literature and equally adventurous love life. Here, she opens up about her past with additional perspectives offered by Gabriel Byrne, Walter Mosely, and others.
Director:
Sinéad O'Shea
Featuring:
Edna O'Brien, Carlo Gébler, Gabriel Byrne, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Anne Enright
Running Time:
1 hr 40 mins
*****
'The Country Girls was released in Ireland in 1960, when the Catholic Church were deeply entrenched in Irish life and women’s secondary place to men was enshrined in the constitution. Into this suffocating place breezed O’Brien, defiant, glamorous, sexy, a new kind of Irishwoman and, most crucially, a new kind of novelist...
The glitzier details of Irish author Edna O’Brien’s life are given more space than her work in Sinéad O’Shea’s new documentary. But with anecdotes like these, how could you resist'
Nicole Flattery - Sight & Sound
*****
'This rigorously researched film has much to say about the writing. Contrasting voices such as the reliably lyrical
Doireann Ní Ghríofa
and the characteristically wry
Anne Enright
turn up to offer their wisdom. But, as you might expect with a study of such a figure, Blue Road is more remarkable for its consideration of how an extraordinary life was lived. '
THE IRISH TIMES
This screening is a part of Film Hub NI’s Collective initiative, which brings the best of independent cinema to audiences across NI, in collaboration with Docs Ireland. Docs Ireland takes place from 24
th
-29
th
June 2025. For more info see
www.filmhubni.org
/
www.docsireland.ie
Information Source: Flowerfield Arts | eventbrite