Colm Tóibín to introduce Brooklyn at Adaptation Film Festival

Acclaimed Irish writer Colm Tóibín will introduce a special screening of Brooklyn in Sligo this September as part of the 13th Adaptation Film Festival.

The award-winning 2015 film will return to the big screen at The Model Cinema in Sligo on Sunday, September 20 at 7.30pm, with Tóibín in attendance to introduce the adaptation of his celebrated novel.

Directed by John Crowley, Brooklyn became one of the most successful Irish films of the past decade and helped cement Saoirse Ronan’s place among Ireland’s leading screen actors.

Set in the 1950s, the story follows Éilís, a young Irish woman who leaves home to begin a new life in New York.

Arriving in Brooklyn, she initially struggles with homesickness and the dislocation of being far from Ireland, before gradually building a new life and falling in love.

But when circumstances draw her back to Ireland, Éilís finds herself caught between two countries — and two possible futures.

At its heart, Brooklyn is a story about emigration, belonging and the difficult question of where home really is, themes that helped make Tóibín’s novel and its screen adaptation resonate far beyond Ireland.

Ronan leads the cast as Éilís, alongside Domhnall Gleeson, Bríd Brennan and Emory Cohen.

The film runs for 117 minutes and will be shown as part of Adaptation Film Festival’s five-day programme across Leitrim and Sligo.

The festival, which runs from September 16 to 20, explores the relationship between literature and cinema, bringing together Irish and international filmmakers, writers and audiences.

This year marks a more international direction for Adaptation while retaining its strong emphasis on Irish writing and filmmaking.

Tóibín is one of the major names taking part in this year’s festival, which will also celebrate the work of Oscar-winning German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff.

The Brooklyn screening offers audiences a chance to revisit a modern Irish cinema favourite in the setting it was designed for — the big screen — while hearing directly from the writer whose novel inspired it.

The special screening of Brooklyn takes place at The Model Cinema, Sligo, on Sunday, September 20 at 7.30pm.

Tickets cost €10 or €8 concession, plus booking fee.