The Bloomsday Film Festival & Loopline Film
Present
“W.B, Yeats – The Battle of Blythe Road”
“James Joyce – Reluctant Groom
Tuesday June 13th Doors 6.30pm. Starts 7pm
The Teachers Club 36 Parnell Square West, Dublin 1
Below is the Link to Buy Ticket REMEMBERING NIALL McDEVITT
Presented as part of an evening of Poetry & Film,
Celebrating the Life and Literary Legacy of the Late Poet Niall McDevitt Produced by Loopline Film in Association with The Bloomsday film Festival Dublin City Council, Irish Cultural Centre Hammersmith & Poetry Ireland
“W.B. Yeats – The Battle Of Blythe Road”
Directed by Sé Merry Doyle
Today on W.B Yeats’ Birthday, Loopline Film & The Bloomsday Film Festival presents the fascinating short film “The Battle of Blythe Road” in which the poet Niall McDevitt tells the story of W.B Yeats’s involvement with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in Hammersmith, London in 1900. Yeats wrote that the study of magic was “the most important pursuit of my life… The mystical life is the centre of all that I do and all that I think and all that I write.
It was in rooms above what is now George’s Café on Blythe Road Hammersmith, that Yeats practiced magical rituals alongside friends like Bram Stoker, Constance Wilde, Maud Gonne, and most notoriously Allister Crowley. When Crowley showed a tendency to use his occult powers for evil rather than for good,” Yeats decided not to allow him to be initiated into the inner circle; Yeats despised Crowley and thwarted his plan to take over the building.
This film first premiered on The Irish Cultural Centre’s on-line platform ICC Digital.
Iain Sinclair, the Pope of Psychogeography says “Sé Merry Doyle’s film is just what is needed now – and what never seems to be given space in the old commissioned channels”.
Journalist Michael McDonagh says “who would have known walking down the street at the back of Olympia that it had such cultural and historic significance.. It is a highly unusual story and is told with great panache by Niall McDevitt”.
The Battle Of Blythe Road won “Best Documentary” at London’s Portobello Film Festival in 2021. Directed by Sé Merry Doyle & Produced by Sé Merry Doyle & Rosalind Scanlon. “The Battle Of Blythe Road” is a Loopline Film Production. Length 23 mins.
“James Joyce – Reluctant Groom”
Directed by Sé Merry Doyle
As part of Blooms Week 2023, The Bloomsday Film Festival present this extraordinary film, which tells story of how after living together for almost three decades James Joyce married Nora Barnacle in London on 4 July 1931. The poet Niall McDevitt takes us on a London-based Bloomsday walk, stopping at the houses of people who were closely connected with Joyce and his career. One of them, Wyndham Lewis, coined the phrase ‘the Men of 1914’to describe himself, Joyce, T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound.
A highlight of the film is when Niall takes us to the house where James and Nora lived for the best part of a year on Camden Grove. James and Nora’s children Giorgio and Lucia came to visit and so did paparazzi seeking out a good story. There was high drama again with the press when the wedding day arrived and Nora and James arrived at Kensington Registry Office. This poetic and moving thirty-minute poetic documentary is a rollercoaster ride through the lives of some of the giants of 20th century literature.
James Joyce – Reluctant Groom first premiered on The Irish Cultural Centre’s on-line platform ICC Digital. It was the winner of “Best Art Documentary” at London’s Portobello Film Festival 2022.
James Joyce – Reluctant Groom is Directed Filmed & Edited by Sé Merry Doyle
Produced by Sé Merry Doyle & Rosalind Scanlon. A Loopline Production
“The Battle of Blythe Road” and “James Joyce Reluctant Groom” are being presented as part of a special evening of poetry and film to celebrate the life and literary legacy of the late poet Niall McDevitt, a native of Dublin, who was aged just 55 when he died on the 29th September 2022, in his adopted city of London, clutching the first pressing of his latest collection ‘London Nation’. At the time of his passing Niall was considered to be one of London’s most highly regarded poets. Iain Sinclair, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith and John Cooper Clarke all praised his work. Niall was also one of the most admired ‘psych-geographers’ and his London Literary Walks on Wilde, Yeats, James Joyce and William Blake attracted huge audiences.
This evening will also feature some of London’s most prominent poets, all of whom were friends of Niall, they all admired his work; they are coming to Dublin to celebrate Niall’s work in his native city. The poets are…John O’Donoghue, Naomi Foyle, James Byrne, Alan Cox
This event is produced by Sé Merry Doyle & Rosalind Scanlon for Loopline Film The Teachers Club 36 Parnell Square West, Dublin. 7pm Tickets €10.00
