On Sunday April 29th a gathering of friends old and new came together in the beautiful Balboa Bay Club overlooking Balboa Island in sunny Newport Beach to celebrate the Irish film-making talent visiting California for the Newport Beach Film Festival’s Irish Spotlight. Attendees included Consul General Robert O’Driscoll and his wife Caoimhe Ni Chonchoille, and director Frank Berry and producer Donna Eperon who made the feature film “Michael Inside”, for which Frank won Best Director at the Newport Beach Film Festival.
Long-time supporters of The Ireland Funds in attendance included Capt. Kevin Mac Donnell, Ed Gaffney & Aine Healy, Dolores Keshkar, John & Veronica O’Doherty, James Delaney, Seamus and Joan Mulvenna, Laurie Grier-Mulvenna, Anne & Dermot Tuohy, Sean & Jane Brown, Eileen Weatherbee, Deirdre O’Neill, Emilie Guilbaud and Evan Kilbourne, Eamonn & Sylvia Fitzgerald, as well as new friends such as David Gaskin of IDA Ireland, and Gregg Schwenk.
The Ireland Funds’ VP for Development in Los Angeles, Jonathan Loughran, welcomed everybody to the Bay Club before Consul General O’Driscoll spoke passionately about the contribution Irish culture continues to make in the US and around the world, and how the work of The Ireland Funds supports culture in all its forms.
Special thanks to Catherine Thyen for hosting the wonderful event.
Photos: Emilie Guilbaud
