Lindsey Wilson University Arts and Humanities Irish Film Series a 'Crash Course on 20th Century Irish Identity'

Public invited to screen four Irish films from Jan. 27 through Feb. 17.

by Duane Bonifer

COLUMBIA, Ky. (01/19/2026) — Area residents will have an opportunity to learn about the last century of Irish culture and anti-colonial struggle through the lens of four films, thanks to the Lindsey Wilson University School of Arts and Humanities.

The Lindsey Wilson Arts and Humanities Irish Film Series will screen four Irish films that deal with Ireland's struggle for independence from four different perspectives. The screenings will be: The Wind That Shakes the Barley on Jan. 27; The Banshees of Inisherin on Feb. 3; Hunger on Feb. 10; and Kneecap on Feb. 17. All four screenings -- which are free and open to the public -- will begin each time at 7:30 p.m. CT in W.W. Slider Humanities Center Recital. The films are intended for high school-age audiences and older.

Each screening will be preceded by a talk from Lindsey Wilson English professor Karolyn Steffens, who will help set the context of each film. Each film will also include a post-screening discussion led by Steffens.

"The four films are basically a crash course in 20th century Irish cultural identity, history and politics," said Steffens. "I chose these four films because they really give you a feeling of place and are incredible performances."

The Wind That Shakes the Barley is a 2006 historical fiction film that tells the story of two brothers who fight together during the Irish War of Independence of 1919-21 and then are on opposite sides during the Irish Civil War of 1922-23.

The Banshees of Inisherin is a 2022 film that picks up after the Irish Civil War. Set on a fictional island off the coast of Ireland, it is about two lifelong friends whose friendship comes to an abrupt end.

Hunger is a 2008 historical drama that fast forwards almost six decades to the 1981 Irish hunger strike led by Provisional Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands, and Kneecap is a 2024 comedy-drama that tells the story of the Belfast-based Irish-language rap trio by the same name.

Series will prepare LWU students for trip to Ireland

For 26 Lindsey Wilson students who are taking Steffens' "Literary Cultures" class this spring semester, the film festival will help them prepare for a trip to Ireland over spring break. In addition to studying the films, the LWU students are reading Irish poets and playwrights.

"The students are taking a 16-week course that is immersing them in a study of 20th and 21st century Irish identity," said Steffens. "They are studying how Irish identity is expressed through literature, theater, film and poetry."

The course is yet another reminder that Irish culture has produced more than a lion's share of authors and artists.

"For the size of its population, so many storytellers and artists come out of Ireland," said Steffens. "It's truly incredible and staggering, and that's one thing you realize in a class that focuses on Irish culture expressed through the arts."

Because several of the films and texts in the class are set in, around or comment on the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War, the students are exploring the role that literature and art play in nationalist and anti-colonial struggles. And for many of the Lindsey Wilson students, the course and trip will also help them discover or learn about their own roots, as many of them have Scotch-Irish ancestry.

"I'm all about immersing students in the culture, the history, the politics, the literature and especially the big questions the Irish have grappled with over the centuries," said Steffens. "The Irish deal with enduring questions of identity and unity that still impact Ireland today. So many of the students in my class have Scotch-Irish ancestry, so this will also be an opportunity for them to focus on connections to the Irish diaspora and their own sense of self."

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