Friday, April 27th - 7:00 pm - Oak Street Cinema   Director: John Carney   Although the story isn’t complex and there are only two nameless characters in this gloriously small film, Once is sure to be one of the most popular films in this year’s festival. Glen Hansard, of the Irish band, "The Frames," and real-life collaborator Marketa Irglova star in this charmer whose lovely low-key style allows the terrific music to carry the story of a Dublin street musician and a Czech pianist as they edge hesitatingly toward romance.

The guy: he is standing little-noticed on a sidewalk singing a wrenching song about a lost love. He lives with his father over a vacuum cleaner shop. She: she lives with her mother and child in a small flat. Meeting in a music shop and discovering each other’s talents, they decide to collaborate. As they walk the Dublin streets, creating sweet music, they trade tales as he talks about his dream of record contracts in London. “Don’t expect Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” said a Philadelphia Film Fest blurb writer. “This   is a fresh re-interpretation.” Said A.O.Scott of NY Times: “It’s not the greatest movie ever made and does not set out to be but on its own modest, scruffy terms, it is close to perfect”.

Audience Award winner at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

Cast: Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová

Ireland, 85 minutes, 2006, 35mm.

Presented by: Cara Irish Pubs