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Exclusive: Juno Films has acquired worldwide rights to Ciarán Cassidy’s documentary Housewife of the Year, ahead of its North American premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival. World premiering at Cph:dox before going on to win Best Irish Feature Documentary at the Galway Film Fleadh, the film will be released in theaters next spring.

Housewife of the Year tells the story of Ireland and the state’s treatment of women through the prism of a unique, surreal, live televised competition. Running from 1969-1995, Calor Housewife of the Year was a primetime televised competition, which pitted housewives from around Ireland to compete for the title of Housewife of the Year and the prize of a luxury gas cooker. In front of a live audience, the contestants were quizzed by host Gay Byrne about how they met their partners, how many children they had and how they managed to remain glamorous,...

Lifetime award to the director of My Left Foot and In the Name of the Father.

The Irish Film & Television Academy is to honour director-writer-producer Jim Sheridan with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 12th annual Ifta Awards on May 24.

Previous recipients include Maureen O’Hara, David Kelly, George Morrison, Morgan O’Sullivan, John Boorman, Gay Byrne, Neil Jordan, Fionnula Flanagan and President Michel D. Higgins.

Ifta CEO Áine Moriarty said Sheridan “is a master storyteller, bold and brilliant, whose skill and vision continues to inspire so many”. She also praised his “constant support and nurturing of Irish creative talent - part of his ongoing legacy”.

Sheridan carved out a successful career in the theatre before moving into film with My Left Foot, released in 1989 and scoring Oscar wins for actors Daniel Day Lewis and Brenda Fricker.

Other films in his 25-year career to date include The Field, In the Name of the Father (which reunited Sheridan...

The star-studded guest list for this weekend's Irish Film and Television Awards in Dublin has been announced. Among those who will be in attendance are Pierce Brosnan, Saoirse Ronan, Brendan Gleeson, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Colm Meaney and Stephen Rea. Kim Cattrall of "Sex in the City,” “'The Tudors” stars Joely Richardson, Joss Stone and Natalie Dormer, “The Wire” and “Love/Hate” star Aiden Gillen, “Harry Potter” star Evanna Lynch and Colin O'Donoghue, soon to be seen on Irish cinema screens opposite Anthony Hopkins in the thriller”'The Rite,” will also be in attendance. Along with the stars of the silver screen Irish TV personalities will also be out in force, including Pat Kenny, Miriam O'Callaghan and Gay Byrne. The ceremony will take place on Saturday, February 12 at the new Convention Center in Dublin's docklands. ...

See Photo - Ireland's most popular celebrities Read more: The Best Music of 2010 A recent Irish TV show, “Irish Celebrities: who is most popular?”, made by TV3, took at a look at the homegrown celebrities the Irish public would most like to invite over for dinner. Top of the list was Irish sporting legend Brian O’Driscoll. The man who had the country declaring “In B.O.D. we trust", the Irish rugby team’s captain is the man that most Irish people would like to sit down and have a chat with. This isn’t surprising as Mr O’Driscoll has been putting himself on the line for Ireland for the past decade and has earned himself the reputation of being funny, down-to-earth and charming. In second place is a man considered to be the founder of Irish radio, Gay Byrne. Byrne started presenting “The Late Late Show” on...

Actress Fionnula Flanagan,68, has revealed how she turned to God for hope when he fifteen–year-old granddaughter went missing. The Dublin-born Los Angeles based actress who appeared recently in “Lost’ and ‘Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants” said that when her granddaughter disappeared she “ thought she must be dead or trapped in some cellar by some terrible killer or some awful torturer.” “At the time I did a very basic sort of prayer which was to let some kind of courage and goodness prevail and touch her and protect her.” Flanagan was speaking to Irish television in a series about the meaning of Life hosted by legendary broadcaster Gay Byrne. “I did ask God for her protection and she showed up unscathed.” She told Byrne. It turned out she has run away from home with friends to help harvest the marijuana crop in Northern California. “She didn’t have an excuse,...

Maureen O'Hara returned to her hometown of Ranelagh, in Dublin, to celebrate Ireland's Culture Night and launch a local arts festival. The sprightly, 90-year-old star, addressed the crowd saying "Be proud of where you came from." The Irish-American who recently celebrated her birthday was quick up on her feet as soon as she was announced. "They told me I could sit down if I wanted to but you don't like someone saying that to you so I'll stand…I could stand here and talk to you all night but I don't know whether you would thank me for it. My last message to you is always try and do something with your life and be proud of yourself. "I hope God gives me enough years to come back many times more and visit 'dear old dirty Dublin' like we used to call it when we were kids," said Ms Hara.

Broadcaster and journalist Cathal O'Shannon yesterday became a lifetime member of the Irish Film and Television Academy at an intimate Ifta tribute event which took place in Dublin's Conrad hotel. The event saw the 83 year old joined by friends, old colleagues and industry peers as he took part in a public interview with Ifta Lifetime member Gay Byrne. This was followed by the presentation of a specially made Life in Television statuette. The warm and informal event took place in Dublin on Wednesday 22nd of September at 1pm and saw the celebration Cathal's vibrant 'Life in Television' through a repertoire of work from The Irish Times to RTÉ via BBC, with Broadsheet and Newsbeat. Archive footage shown on the day reminded the gathered crowd of highlights of Cathal's career including his time with the BBC on 'Tonight'; his infamous interview – 'Muhammad Ali v Cathal O'Shannon'; and his award...

Irish actor Gabriel Byrne was sexually abused and viciously beaten during his training to become a Catholic priest.

The In Treatment star joined the Irish Christian Brothers as an 11-year-old altar boy, and undertook his seminary to become a priest for over five years.

But the 59 year old reveals his days training to become a member of the clergy were tarnished by sexual molestations and classroom beatings.

In an interview with Irish broadcaster Gay Byrne, he reveals, "Unfortunately, I experienced some sexual abuse. It was a known and admitted fact of life amongst us that there was this particular man, and you didn't want to be left in the dressing room with him. There were certain boundaries, sexual boundaries, that were crossed.

"It didn't go on over a prolonged period but it happened at a very, very vulnerable moment. I feared being beaten, and I was beaten very regularly. It did affect my sense of myself."...

Actor says he was abused by Christian Brothers in Ireland, and while training in England to be a priest

The Irish actor Gabriel Byrne has revealed that he was sexually abused by Christian Brothers as a child.

The actor also disclosed that at the age of 11 he went to England to train as a priest but was sexually abused by a member of the clergy there.

Byrne said he had struggled with alcoholism and depression in the past, and that he had been "deeply hurt" over the abuse he endured as a boy.

The star of films such Miller's Crossing and The Usual Suspects spoke openly about the abuse to Ireland's most famous broadcaster, Gay Byrne, on a new show, The Meaning of Life, on RTÉ television.

"Unfortunately, I experienced some sexual abuse," he said. "It was a known and admitted fact of life amongst us that there was this particular man,...

A report in today’s Independent claims that Andrew Sachs – who was of course subject to a ‘prank call’ from Jonathon Ross and Russell Brand – has himself pulled a similar stunt.

Just as the fuss over Call-Gate was beginning to die down, the paper claims that in the ‘80s, Sachs was a guest on his son’s radio show for Swansea Sound when a prank call was made to a member of the public.

Apparently, Sachs pretended to be the woman’s “long lost uncle” from Australia and during the call, he told the unsuspecting lady that he’d left Australia after “some trouble with the police” and went on to joke that he’d buried some jewels under a tree in a park.

It seems that many listeners were so convinced the call was real, they hotfooted it in their dozens to the park in question and began “tearing it up.