I recently read (again) the Steven Spielberg biography by Joseph McBride. There is a passage in the book that always gets my attention. “Early in 1977, when Close Encounters was still months away from completion, George Lucas showed a rough cut of Star Wars (without John Williams’s rousing musical score) at his San Anselmo home, in northern California. The audience included executives of Twentieth Century-Fox; Gloria Katz and William Huyck, who worked on the script; and several of Lucas...

Eustace Street in the Temple Bar district of Dublin, home of the Irish Film Institute, has been a busy place this weekend, as the inaugural John Ford Ireland Film Symposium presented a variety of screenings, lectures and academic panel discussions devoted to the prolific Irish-American film director, whose influence continues to loom large, nearly 40 years after his passing.Afficionados of Ford's work have come from all over Ireland, continental Europe, North America and as far away as Australia...

Both Ingmar Bergman and Orson Welles called him their favorite director. On set, John Wayne called him “Coach”. Jimmy Stewart referred to him simply as “Boss”. In a career that spanned over 60 years, few directors have rivaled John Ford in terms of creative output, popular success, critical acclaim or overall influence on the craft of cinema. And from June 7th to 10th, Ford fans and scholars will converge on Dublin for the inaugural John Ford Ireland Film Symposium, organized by the Iris...