Irish director and screenwriter Jim Sheridan, a special guest of the 12th Belgrade Irish Festival, was awarded the Golden Seal Award of the Yugoslav Film Archive for his outstanding contribution to the film art.
Addressing the audience, Sheridan expressed his delight at being back in Serbia and hoped that Serbia would remain open to the world.
Following the award ceremony, the audience attended a screening of the film My Left Foot, which brought Sheridan and Irish cinema to worldwide acclaim. The film is a true story about the Irish poet and painter Christy Brown, who had cerebral palsy and could only use his left foot. According to Sheridan, this film symbolizes perseverance and significantly influenced the perception of people with developmental disabilities in Ireland.
“That is the task of art. An artist should have courage. James Joyce once said that the only thing they couldn’t take from him was his courage. Well, I hope I’m not a coward either,” Sheridan said through laugh, in front of the Belgrade audience.
During the Belgrade Irish Festival, two more Sheridan films will be screened: the famous In the Name of the Father, which, according to him, represents a return to the non-violent role of fatherhood, and Along the Sky Road to Aqaba, about the life of Irish actor Peter O’Toole.
