“On Mary Manning,” Film Screening at Light Industry in Brooklyn, December 10, 2019
“On Mary Manning” at Light Industry (155 Freeman Street, Brooklyn) at 7pm on Tuesday, December 10.
Presented with the Women Film Pioneers Project
Introduced by Fanny Howe, Helen Howe, and Susan Howe
Mary Manning. Private Collection.
Though a number of long-neglected female auteurs from cinema’s first decades have been recuperated in recent years—consider, for instance, the welcome revival of Lois Weber—many important women remain overlooked, particularly those who were involved in other facets of film culture. The considerable contributions of Mary Manning are a case in point. She is today best remembered as a leading figure in early-20th-century Irish theater; a playwright and performer for the Abbey Theatre and the Gate Theatre, Manning was a close friend of Samuel Beckett’s and in the 1950s she adapted James Joyce’s most challenging novel for the stage with her play Passages from Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce. But the multifarious roles she played fostering cinema in Ireland are just as remarkable. Manning not only directed at least one film (Bank Holiday, 1930, now lost), but served as screenwriter, assistant director, performer, and producer for several others. She wrote regular film criticism for the Irish Statesman and the Gate’s drama journal Motley, while also co-founding the Dublin Film Society and an amateur filmmaking club, Irish Amateur Films.
Screening of:
By Accident. Dir.: J. N. G. (Norris) Davidson, asst. dir./casting: Mary Manning, sc.: Norris Davidson (Irish Amateur Films IE 1930) cas.: C. Clarke-Clifford, Olive Purcell, Mary Manning, Paul Farrell, si, b&w, 16mm (digital projection).
Guests of the Nation. Dir.: Denis Johnston, adp./props: Mary Manning (Denis Johnston Productions IE 1935) cas.: Barry Fitzgerald, Frank Toolin, Cyril Jackson, Charles Maher, Georgina Roper, Fred Johnson, Shelah Richards, Cyril Cusack, Hilton Edwards, si, b&w, 35mm (digital projection).
Screening in the Rain. Cam.: J. N. G. (Norris) Davidson, misc. crew: Mary Manning (Irish Amateur Films IE 1930) cas.: Mary O’Moore, Grace McLoughlin, Judge Johnston, Lord Longford, Hilton Edwards, Micheál MacLiamóir, si, b&w (tinted), 16mm (digital projection).
All films courtesy of the IFI Irish Film Archive.
Tickets – $8, available at door.
Please note: seating is limited. First-come, first-served. Box office opens at 6:30pm.
For more information, please visit Light Industry’s website.