After packing his mankini for his trip to the famed film festival, Don O’Mahony selects some of the things to watch out for at this year’s event.

66 year old writer and director Jim Sheridan is one of the titan of Irish filmmaking, with a hand in productions like My Left Foot (nominated for two Oscars), In the Name of the Father, The Field and In America.

The Irish actor Daniel Day Lewis has been given a knighthood.

Haunted by more than 900 years of often bloody history, Windsor Castle was a fitting place to try and lay to rest the ghosts of a troubled past.

It’s official. Amy and Brian really are our Kate and Wills.

The last remaining archive of work by Christy Brown has been bought in London by the National Library of Ireland and the Little Museum of Dublin for €45,000.

JANUARY

IN January RTÉ news reporter Caitriona Perry travels to the US to take up her “dream job” — the prestigious post of Washington Correspondent.

IN 2007 I was working with Mark E Smith, lead singer-songwriter of The Fall, on his autobiography Renegade. One afternoon he rang me up, asking if I could take his typewriter down to ‘our new office’ above a pub in Salford, England.

Hunter’s Hotel,

Sean Connery has been voted the top British actor in America, but two Irish actors are featured in the list — and referred to as British.

THE news that two major films may begin production here in the near future has again focused an international gaze on Ireland’s film industry and the possibility of big-budget blockbusters returning to these shores once more.

ARDMORE Studios, which opened its doors as Ireland’s first film studio in May 1958, remains the physical heart of the Irish film industry. Having played host to more than 100 films, the original studios, situated on a 10-acre site, represented an investment of over £500m at the time.

BETWEEN a surprise wedding proposal and a heated debate on its attitude towards women, this year’s Rose of Tralee Festival was anything but dull.

The theme is familiar regarding the proposed hospice at Magheramore, Co Wicklow. Everybody, from the Columban Sisters to Daniel Day Lewis to civic society groups, have done their bit to get it built. The only party that hasn’t is the public sector-operated HSE.

Gangs of New York in Kenmare, must rank as one of the more unusual gatherings in 2013.

IT’S A common misconception that the Eighties were all about shoulder pads and leg warmers, Dynasty and Duran Duran.

Drunk on the run of sunny days, anticipation hovered above the strollers’ greased-back hair-do’s as they ambled past static lines of cars on their way to Páirc Uí Chaoimh last night.

There's something different about Barack Obama. We just can't quite put our finger on it…

Ben Affleck is getting an honorary degree from Brown University.

As an actor, I believe your biggest enemy is yourself.

ANYONE who has ever known anyone with an Irish wolfhound declares an Irish connection for St Patrick’s Day.

Daniel Day Lewis is the first man to win three best actor awards at the Oscars.

Jim Sheridan admires how Colin Farrell turned his life around.

Four of the Academy Awards nominees top 150 minutes each. I saw them in one go, says John Daly

Pneumonia stricken Jennifer Lawrence picked up the Best Actress in a Motion Picture gong at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.

When Steven Spielberg spoke to Edward Hale, he was effusive about the acting talents of Day-Lewis

Daniel Day-Lewis has been nominated for Best Actor for his title role in US historical drama 'Lincoln' as the nominations for the Oscars were announced today.

From the second of the Hunger Games’ movies to a new Die Hard instalment, 2013 promises much in top films, writes John Daly

Irish people are apparently looking to the internet to answer to that age-old question "What is love?".

If art is judged on its ability to provoke debate, then Paul Thomas Anderson makes great art.

Film fans are getting their first glimpse of Daniel Day Lewis as Abraham Lincoln.

Rock legend Bruce Springsteen had 35,000 fans in raptures at the RDS last night — including one very special guest.

Pitched as a romantic comedy about a couple with commitment issues, The Five-Year Engagement (15A) is in fact a drama about how Tom (Jason Segel) copes — or fails to — when he’s asked to put his career as a chef on hold in order to further that of his fiance, Violet (Emily Blunt).

Andrew Farrelly , head gardener at Ballintubbert, Co Laois, gives top tips for the new year garden

CADS: they’ll break your heart, shatter your confidence and cost you a fortune in gin, comfort food and snivelling late- night phone calls to friends in the wake of the inevitable break up.

Other People’s Money

Robert Downey Jr. is in talks to take on the lead role in ‘Inherent Vice’.

LIAM NEESON walks slowly into the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills like a man who is in something of a fog.

Daniel Day Lewis and Michael Caine are to be honoured at the British Independent Film Awards in London tonight.

Eminem is set to return to the big screen with upcoming horror 'Shady Talez'.

Hollywood star Denzel Washington has emerged as the surprise favourite to be Ryan Tubridy's first guest as he begins his tenure as 'Late Late Show' host.