Samhain in Western Canada: An Irish Film Festival

Halloween is widely celebrated throughout Canada but its ancient Irish origins are lesser known. To support this, and to follow on from the success of the Emerald Lens initiative at the 2024 Whistler Film Festival, the Consulate General of Ireland in Vancouver partnered with the Vancouver International Film Festival Centre (VIFF) to bring Irish horror and supernatural films to the screen, in the first genre-specific Irish film series to run in Western Canada.

The film series, ‘Samhain: Roots of Halloween’ featured 13 screenings of five Irish horror films over the course of the last week of October. Showcasing the evolution of the Irish horror genre from lost folk classics to recent releases by female directors and the first ever horror film entirely in Irish.

The film selections comprised of Aislinn Clarke’s Fréwaka, Kate Dolan’s You Are Not My Mother, John Farrelly’s An Taibhse, Damian McCarthy’s Oddity, and Robert Wynne-Simmons’ The Outcasts. Tourism Ireland, as sponsors of the event, played a vital role in setting the scene of Ireland as a destination for the historical beginnings of Halloween. Their ‘Home of Halloween’ tourism campaign trailer set the scene before each of the 13 screenings.

The film series closed out with a screening of The Outcasts, marking its Canadian premiere, despite being released over 40 years ago. Robert Wynne-Simmons’ 1982 film was one of the first films created by the Irish Film Board in the 1980s and is arguably the origin of all Irish folk-horror on screen.

Despite winning major awards at film festivals across Europe, the film virtually disappeared after a short theatrical run and limited VHS release. It is fitting that this dream-like film existed only in the collective imagination for many decades, until it was recently restored by the Irish Film Institute’s Digital Restoration Project funded by Screen Ireland.

The screening was followed by a panel discussion on Irish horror, the dark power of folklore, tradition and disruption. The panel featured speakers from the University of British Columbia: Sabina Magliocco, Professor of Anthropology at UBC and Professor Emeritus at California State University Northridge who has published on religion, folklore, festival and witchcraft in Europe and North America and is a leading authority on the modern Pagan movement.

The panel also included Tim Frandy, Assistant Professor of Nordic Studies at UBC, whose research involves folklore studies; and Brian McIlroy, Professor Emeritus of Film Studies at UBC where he taught a course on Irish film for many years.

Ahead of opening night, the Consulate hosted a launch reception, which was well attended by film industry representatives, including BC Film Commissioner Marnie Gee, VIFF partners, Mayor of Burnaby Mike Hurley; community members, and members of the local media.

The Samhain: Roots of Halloween collaboration with VIFF sold out 11 of the 13 screenings completely online, and it received extensive local media coverage. The series offered Vancouver audiences a chance to experience Irish storytelling at its most atmospheric. By pairing contemporary Irish horror films with the ancient traditions of Samhain, the screenings invited audiences to trace familiar Halloween traditions back to their origins and discover Ireland as a country where folklore still shapes modern creativity.

The partnership also helped further develop Irish and Canadian cultural ties, highlighting Ireland’s flourishing film industry. We look forward to continuing to bring Irish cinema to Hollywood North in the years ahead.