Black ’47, out now - Revenge thriller set during the Irish Famine. Hugo Weaving, Barry Keoghan and Stephen Rea star.

There’s no shortage of Barry Keoghan around at the moment, and it looks like the young Dubliner is about to take yet another step up the movie star ladder with American Animals.

Mick O’Dea is one of Ireland’s finest portrait painters, and he spent three seasons as the artist-in-residence at the Kilkenny Arts Festival, creating portraits of various participants. He tells Richard Fitzpatrick about those sessions, the fruits of which feature in a new exhibition

Actor Kenneth Branagh has said he is humbled to receive the freedom of his native Belfast.

Des O’Driscoll’s got all the home-grown music and entertainment news you need to know rounded-up right here.

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It’s the ultimate spoiler. Director Neil Jordan has revealed his shock at discovering his film The Crying Game was renamed at Asian cinemas with its twist literally laid bare.

More than €1m was placed in bets as the rain held off to give festival-goers a thrilling first day at the races in Leopardstown.

Limerick City and County Council has said it gave €1,100 to the Richard Harris International Film Festival and not €200 as claimed by the organisers.

The promoters of a film festival which celebrates Richard Harris in his native Limerick, has accused the city’s cultural establishment of snubbing the event after the city council gave it just €200.

Ireland’s largest-ever celebration of Mozart’s music has kicked off in Kilkenny.

All the latest entertainment news today

Bafta award-winning Irish actor Stephen Rea says the Government has let down the arts.

A host of famous faces will descend on the capital this weekend ahead of the eagerly anticipated Irish Film and Television Awards.

Room, Sing Street, and My Name is Emily look set to be the big winners at the Irish Film and Television Awards (Iftas) as they have bagged eight nominations apiece.

 

The blackly comedic talents of veteran actor Stephen Rea may be the best vehicle for a play exploring Ulster loyalist identity, says Padraic Killeen

Gardaí are monitoring an estimated 80 members of rival feuding gangs as they brace themselves for two funerals next week.

The late Brian Friel should have won the Nobel Prize in Literature, according to the director of the Abbey Theatre.

Literary great Brian Friel was buried yesterday on a hillside outside a Co Donegal town where many of his works were set.

THE tributes, from everyone from the Glenties Drama Group to Meryl Streep, paid to playwright Brian Friel since his death on Friday were as deserved as they were heartfelt.

WE are warned not to speak ill of the dead and we often indulge in polite fictions to avoid conflict. In Brian Friels’s case such evasions are unnecessary, his life and work are very easy to celebrate.

The entertainment firm co-owned by Irish actor Cillian Murphy recorded profits of over €360,000 in its first year in operation.

Chat-show host and comedian Graham Norton remains one of the best paid broadcasters earning €3m in fees last year. The popular and charismatic BBC presenter is in a league of his own as the £2.2m (€3.07m) he received in presenter fees and production fees along with royalties follows on from the £2.4m he earned in 2013.

The IFTA Awards 2015 is all change - including splitting the event in twain to honour Film & Drama in May and TV in October - and there's more change on the way in the form of new presenter Caroline Morahan!

Irish actor Stephen Rea was among the winners at last night’s Baftas in London, scooping the best supporting actor for his role as Sir Hugh Hayden-Hoyle in BBC2’s The Honourable Woman.

Frank and Patrick’s Day have topped the list for film nominations with nine, while both Love/Hate and Vikings have the highest number of nominations for a television programme with seven.

The IFTA's are back for 2015, rumours of their demise have been greatly exaggerated, and the list of nominees has been revealed.

Test your knowledge of the year just gone with our entertainment quiz. The answers are at the bottom of the page. No peeking now!

Journalist Gemma O’Doherty was yesterday hailed for her “exceptional” work by the very company that made her redundant more than a year ago.

Cork actor Cillian Murphy made a triumphant return to his hometown last night when he led a stellar cast at the opening of Enda Walsh’s Ballyturk at Cork Opera House. It was Murphy’s first appearance on a Leeside stage since he first broke through in 1996 in another of Walsh’s plays, Disco Pigs.

Check out our spolier-free guide to the best shows on TV tonight.

Jonathan deBurca Butler asks five culture vultures to give their recommendations for the final weeks of the summer so you don’t miss the best of what’s on offer

As Ballyturk is readied for Dublin and Cork, Enda Walsh is already thinking about his next play, writes Alan O’Riordan.

Rachel Pilkington makes plea to Irish Government.

Over 271 of the biggest names in Irish film, television and music have called on Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney to ban fur farming in Ireland.

Black Box Theatre, Galway

John Mahoney has been to Galway so many times, there’s a danger people will forget what he’s best known for. Mahoney for years played Marty Crane, the cranky father to two psychiatrists in sublime US sitcom Frasier-

Check out our spoiler-free guide to what’s good to watch on the box tonight.

He has made it big in film and on TV but Cillian Murphy is happier on stage than chasing stardom. Now he’s set to return to where it all began, writes Alan O’Riordan.

MUSIC NEWS: The big issue among the music world’s chattering classes this week has been the announcement of Metallica’s headline slot at Glastonbury.

Those who love flat racing, and there are plenty of us, can only pray that Kingman and Australia take each other on in the English 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday, May 3.