“1916: The Irish Rebellion” at the Siskel Film Center

The US premiere of 1916: The Irish Rebellion will take place at the Gene Siskel Film Center on March 21.

Narrated by Liam Neeson, the film documents The Easter Uprising of 1916, one of many attempts by the Irish people to rid their nation of British occupation. It also explores the event’s subsequent growth into one of the most celebrated moments in the modern day Republic of Ireland.

The documentary was created by the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Attendees at the premiere will include a discussion with writer and executive producer Bríona Nic Dhiarmada and executive producer Christopher Fox. Nic Dhiarmada, a Professor of Irish Studies at Notre Dame, also participated in much of the documentary’s production.

Working with a $3 million budget, the film began as a three-part series that aired on PBS, BBC, RTÉ, the national broadcaster of Ireland.

Accoring to Nicola Stathers, a writer for the collaborative online project between Ireland’s University College Cork and the Irish Examiner known as the Irish Revolution, the series “has the makings of a classic.”

“Americans will love this documentary,” she says.

The production of the series was designed to ultimately accomodate a feature film, which runs 70-minutes and premieres, for the first time in the US, at the Siskel Film Center.

The film is one of many events that commemorates the centenary of the Easter Rebellion, an action that was not initially considered a success.

Like every other attempt by Irish people to rebel against the British Empire, innocent bystanders from both sides were killed, the nation did not unite and the political situation remained unchanged after that Easter Monday in 1916.

But weeks later, when more than a dozen of the people who organized the action were put to death, it generated widespread momentum that, according to many historians, became the first step in Ireland’s rise to independence.

March 21, 6 p.m.

Gene Siskel Film Center · 164 N. State. St. · (312) 846-2800 · www.siskelfilmcenter.org

— Daniel Patton, Staff Writer