Athlone contingent gathers in Switzerland for 'Ann's Pub' film screening
Athlone publican Ann Flannery was filled with pride after travelling with a group of locals to Switzerland last weekend to attend the first public screening of a short film about her well-known pub.
Ann's Pub, a 26-minute documentary by Swiss filmmaker Thabea Furrer, was filmed at the landmark Sean Costello Street premises between 2017 and 2019.
The film was an award-winner at the Basel Film and Media Art Awards last November, and its first open screening came at the Solothurn Film Festival in Switzerland on Saturday, January 22.
Ann and a group of friends travelled from Athlone to be there for the special occasion, and were joined at the screening by other locals based in mainland Europe.
"This was the first time it was getting to the cinema for everyone to see. For our contingent from Athlone, it was like going to the Ritz Cinema and seeing Ann's Pub come up!" the star of the documentary told the Westmeath Independent this week.
Having only watched the film on a laptop before this, Ann said her first impulse was to run from the cinema when she appeared on the big screen!
"I said, 'I'm getting out of here' because all I could see was my face! It was mental. But then I said, 'ok, this is what it is,' and I settled into it."
By the time it ended, she said: "I could have grown ten foot high, I was so proud.
"To sit there in the cinema and to see our little pub was just great. I could have never envisaged it or expected it. It's a fantastic accolade. I'm so proud of it, and so proud of our town."
The reaction from other people in attendance was also very positive.
"People loved it. The culture over there is so different, so (Flannery's pub) probably looked like Glastonbury to them," she said.
"Because of Covid, the film was literally like looking back in time. You were seeing the people on the street, and the people on top of you in the pub, in the way that things were (before the pandemic). We have that captured in the archives now."
The director of the film chose to focus on the publican's own story.
A promotional synopsis of the film reads, in part: "Ann never goes out, because she lives right behind the counter of her little pub in Athlone, Ireland.
"The pub is like a stage on which she plays her part night after night. Everyone knows the quick-witted and energetic Ann. But who is she really?"
In addition to those who travelled from Athlone, some natives of the town who are living in continental Europe, such as Esther Costello and Kevin Dunne, also came along to see the film.
"The welcome we got over there was so good. We were like locals!" said Ann.
It's expected that Ann's Pub will now be on the film festival circuit for a period of time, but Ann said she would love to have a screening of it in Athlone for charity at some stage in the future.
"I hope that we will get to show it here," she said. Watch this space!