You didn’t get much more glamorous in the early 1960s than a visit from Princess Grace, formerly Grace Kelly. And that’s precisely what Ireland was treated to in 1961 and 1963. To celebrate the release of Olivier Dahan’s Grace of Monaco
starring Nicole Kidman at the IFI on the 6th June, the IFI have put together a special selection of footage from the IFI Irish Film Archive for June’s FREE Archive at Lunchtime screenings.
Starting the programme is a special Monagesque Montage of footage that includes newsreel and amateur footage of her visits to Ireland. Dublin put on quite a display of welcome for the state visit of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace, with all O’Connell Street sporting Monaco’s colours and Clery’s Department store boasting a proud Welcome sign. Other footage shows Princess Grace travelling through town with a large Garda escort, climbing Croagh Patrick, meeting her Kelly cousins in Westport and watching the All-Ireland Hurling Final at Croke Park (Kilkenny beat Waterford by seven points!)
Completing the programme is a heart-warming short fiction film, Melanie Clark Pullen’s Marion agus an Banphrionsa about one young girl’s passionate desire to meet Princess Grace and where it takes her in later life. The short film includes additional archive footage of the visit.
The special Princess Grace IFI Archive at Lunchtime Programme 1 screenings run on alternating Mondays and Wednesdays in June. For a full schedule see www.ifi.ie. Grace of Monaco is released at the IFI and on general release from the 6thJune 2014.