Movie Night

A smallish group of us thoroughly enjoyed the screening last night at the Tivoli of John Fitzgerald's documentary The Emerald Diamond. Mr. Fitzgerald was on hand to sell tickets before and answer questions at Kelly's bar afterward. He's the kind of guy and this is the kind of project you just want to root for, that you really want to see succeed.

The idea for the film was born out of New Yorker Fitzgerald's attempt to play for the Irish National Baseball team (yes, there is one). He wasn't able to do that because of a technicality in Ireland's citizenship requirements, but his interest sparked, he and a friend headed to Dublin with a camera and not much of a plan to shoot a few interviews with players. A few interviews grew into a few more, and a few more, and a multi-year film project was born. Financed with his own credit cards, this movie is unquestionably a labor of love. It was laugh out loud funny at times (many times) and always engaging, populated with great characters like Mexican born player Gus Hernandez, married to a Dublin girl and so proud to be representing his adopted country that he seems on the verge of tears. And homegrown star John Dillon talking about the team's unorthodox training regimen during the European Championships...stay out all night drinking before a big game, the better to go to the plate "relaxed". Did that strategy work? Well...

I won't give away much more, because you should really see it, whether you're a baseball fan or not. And with any luck, though John has moved on to Minneapolis today with his barnstorming tour, you'll get a chance this September when we hope to work out a schedule for screenings at Irish Fest. I'll keep you posted.