When: 6pm – 8pm, Tuesday, March 27th
Where: Exchange Dublin, Exchange Street Upper, Temple Bar
Why: To ask your TDs to support the X case legislation

Join the IFN on Tuesday, March 27th for an evening of tea, cake, and a bit of lobbying! We’ll be holding a letter-writing group in Exchange Dublin encouraging people to write to their local TDs asking them to support the X case legislation when it comes before the Dáil after Easter.

The aim of the Medical Treatment (Termination of Pregnancy in Case of Risk to Life of Pregnant Woman) Bill is to legislate for the 1992 Supreme Court judgment in the X case, which ruled that abortion is legal in Ireland when the life of a woman is at risk, including the threat of suicide.

Successive governments have failed to legislate for this basic human right but opposition TDs Clare Daly, Mick Wallace, and Joan Collins have put forward this Bill to implement the X case ruling. In advance of the Dáil debate, all TDs need to know their constituents support this legislation.

If you have a laptop you can bring along – great! If not, no worries – we’ll have a plentiful supply of paper and pens for some good old-fashioned handwritten letters. We’ll also have sample letters for inspiration and background information on the legislation.

Feel free to bring the kids along as we’ll have a colouring corner and a mountain of biscuits to keep them occupied. The event will run from 6pm to 8pm so feel free to drop in for half an hour or join us for the evening. Any questions? Contact us on irishfeministnetwork@gmail.com

When: Tuesday, 3rd of April, 7pm - 9pm
Where: Accent's Coffee Shop - Downstairs
How to find us: We'll have the book displayed upright on the table.
The Book: 'Saints & Sinners' by Edna O'Brien
Facebook Event: RSVP http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/events/203179833115295/

About: Edna O’Brien won the 2011 Frank O’Connor Short Story Award for her collection, 'Saints and Sinners'.

'In spite of its title, Edna O'Brien's lush and melancholy new collection of stories is populated not so much by the holy or damned as by imperfect characters we can all recognise: the sad and the stranded, the hopeful and the lovelorn – people who fully inhabit their complex present, yet anticipate the losses that will befall them. O'Brien's folk are washed by longing rather than regret, and find friendships in unusual corners; they may not seek redemption, but their author is forgiving enough to grant it to them anyway.' www.guardian.co.uk

When: Saturday, 24th of March, 6pm-9pm
Where: The Irish Film Institute
The Film: Trishna by Michael Winterbottom
Facebook Event: RSVP http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/events/307022816018243/

About: "Trishna is [Michael] Winterbottom's take on Tess of the d'Urbervilles, filmed previously by Roman Polanski in Tess, an epic, slow but hypnotic period movie. Winterbottom's version is shorter, set very much in the present, and diverts from Hardy's text in many ways, but is just as compelling.

The technical qualities are superb. India is more than just a backdrop, the camera captures a studious, almost documentary-style vision of the country, one that never segues into kitsch, post-Slumdog cultural tourism.

Jay (Riz Ahmed) is the wealthy son of a London hotelier on holiday in India with his mates. Jay's life doesn't add up to much; he earns just enough to do nothing. But then he catches sight of the beautiful Trishna (Freida Pinto). Trishna is a peasant girl, working to support her family after her father was crippled in a road accident, so, to tempt her away, Jay lands her a well-paid job at one of his father's hotels in Jaipur. But after their relationship turns physical, Trishna is racked with guilt and goes home.

Jay pursues her and convinces her to come with him to Mumbai, where they can live unnoticed and untainted by the rich-poor divide of rural Rajasthan. At first, Trishna enjoys her new freedom, taking dancing lessons and dreaming of Bollywood stardom. But Jay starts to neglect her, and loneliness sets in.

Like Polanski's Tess, Winterbottom's heroine is rather passive, a woman who lets things happen to her, and for many, the gorgeous but woefully reactive Trishna will be frustratingly meek. Likewise, Ahmed's Jay, a nice guy who transforms somewhere along the way into a boorish bully, will be a test of an audience's sympathy.

But for those prepared to take the journey, the film is a seductive, allegorical study of male-female relationships that says more about what its characters are than who they are." www.guardian.co.uk

When: Thursday, 15th of March, 6pm-9pm
Where: The Irish Film Institute
The Film: The Other Side of Sleep by Rebecca Daly, the first female Irish director to be featured at Cannes.
Facebook Event: RSVP http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/events/343898315652439/

About: "A withdrawn factory girl (Antonia Campbell-Hughes) who’s prone to bouts of sleepwalking awakens in a forest, lying beside the corpse of a young woman. She becomes obsessed with the girl’s murder – her mother had met a similar fate decades earlier – and finds herself drawn to the victim’s family as her grasp on reality begins to unravel. Whereas some filmmakers might exploit such a premise for its potential as a pulpy whodunnit, Rebecca Daly’s intriguing debut feature is far more concerned with its profound exploration of loss, coupled with an evocative portrait of small-town Irish ennui. Filmed in Offaly, The Other Side of Sleep is dominated by a largely wordless and deceptively complex performance from swiftly ascending star Campbell-Hughes, who says an awful lot by doing very little. Reminiscent at times of Sean Penn’s sorely underappreciated The Pledge, this deeply immersive mood piece is by turns haunting and hazy, reflecting its protagonist's somnambulant state. It’s a quiet triumph that gets under your skin. (Notes by Derek O'Connor.)

The March 15th screening of this film is a preview and will be attended by Director Rebecca Daly, Producers Morgan Bushe and Macdara Kelleher, and cast Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Sam Keeley, Cathy Belton, Anna Cahalin, Betty Brennan, Arlene Kelly and Vicky Joyce. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Rebecca Daly, Antonia Campbell-Hughes and Director of the Dublin Fringe Festival, Róise Goan." www.ifi.ie

Miss Representation is a documentary about the media’s negative portrayal of women and girls. Now is your chance to bring this important film to your school / group / club.

Though Miss Representation is American, we feel that its message and the questions it raises are important in an Irish context. The IFN has hosted two sold-out screenings, and we know that more people want to see the film. 


The Irish Feminist Network is proud to announce that (with some legal constraints) we can now offer to screen the film at your school / group / club for a limited time only.

If you would like to screen Miss Representation, the requirements are:

• $250 screening fee (roughly €190), payable in advance to Miss Representation via in the IFN
• An IFN Coordinator must attend all screenings, so please be flexible with the  date / time / location of your screening and contact us early.
• The IFN coordinator can host a workshop if requested – discretionary fee.

While we’d love to lend this DVD out to anyone interested in watching it, the IFN is contractually obliged to look after it and return it to the US once we’re finished screening it. It’s for this reason that an IFN Coordinator must attend all screenings. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

We hope you’ll consider screening this film. Please contact us at irishfeministnetwork@gmail.com to arrange a screening.