A documentary on the Irish Diaspora
I wanted the narrator of my new film, “Our Irish Cousins”, to have a brogue and intended to recruit Michael Quinlan from Limerick. Michael had been our guide in Ireland. But when it came time to produce our trailer for the film I couldn’t afford to record a narration track in Ireland so I recruited my old friend PJ O’Dea. PJ agreed to help me out. I figured we could make PJ’s voice somehow work because the trailer was only ten minutes long. We had PJ sitting in a studio while I … [Read more...]
Save the date! Mike Houlihan’s long awaited film, “Our Irish Cousins” will have a sneak preview on Thursday May 10th at the Beverly Art Center at 7:30PM, Friday May 11th at The Irish American Heritage Center at 8:00PM, and Saturday night May 12th at Gaelic Park at 8:00PM. Mike will be on hand to discuss the picture and to drink with the audience. The film traces Mike’s adventures as he goes broke hustling his book all over Chicago with his son William, and then takes us to Ireland where … [Read more...]
Three years is a long time to work on a film, although theoretically this one has been in a state of maturation since 1869 when Dennis Cusack was born in Abbey Feale. Only a few days left in this year and very few days to take advantage of a tax deduction for 2011 when you donate to “Our Irish Cousins”. You can do it right here online and have it count for 2011. Oh, you can still donate in 2012 but if you need a write off for this year, the time to act is now. We are on schedule to … [Read more...]
Moses had two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. The Hooligan has two sons as well, William and Paddy. Moses didn’t go up Mount Sinai with his sons to get The Ten Commandments but the Hooligan took his lads with him on his quest. We didn’t return with the tablets but we did come back with over 50 hours of footage of our great adventure in Ireland finding Our Irish Cousins. Take a look at the Hooligan in this recent Chicago cable TV clip with his son Billy as they recount some of their adventures in … [Read more...]
Among the many blessings I was grateful for on Thanksgiving of 2006 was the re-discovery of a friend. The fact that the friend lives in Ireland made it even better. Back in the early eighties I was living in Hell’s Kitchen at 43rd and Ninth Avenue in New York City. I’d only been married a few years and my twins were still in diapers. I was a young actor-producer then, continually on the hustle. I lived in subsidized housing and around the corner from my apartment was a row of Off-Off … [Read more...]
It was the day Iron Mike Houlihan met Ironic Mike Houlihan. As we traveled through Limerick we stopped at a bar in Kilmallock with the name “Mike Houlihan” prominently displayed on the street. I once owned a bar in Rockaway Beach, New York with my partner Pete Dooley known as “The Houli Dooley”, but this pub was much nicer. Especially since it was owned by Mike Houlihan, who during the course of a decorated career with club and county, won two Munster titles, two national Hurling … [Read more...]
Hello and thanks for visiting the website for our new film, “Our Irish Cousins”. Although we’ve been working on the film only for the last three years, you might say it’s been a labor of love since 1829 when my great grandfather Tom Houlihan was born in Kilrush, County Clare. The story of any documentary film is undiscovered until all the footage is screened and that’s also true of “Our Irish Cousins”. We launched our book tour as the recession was hitting the world in 2008 and … [Read more...]
Film producer Mike Houlihan, in collaboration with The Center for Independent Documentary, is currently in post-production on a significant ethnic heritage documentary film that celebrates and discerns the mystical and mythological alchemy of Irish ancestry. Houlihan has created a very personal and compelling look at his own family history, an entertaining cultural testimony with mass appeal. We are seeking donations to enable us to finish the film and bring it to market through film festivals … [Read more...]
