Presented as part of Age & Opportunity’s Bealtaine Festival – Ireland’s national celebration of the arts and creativity as we age.
The Ballina Arts Centre Bealtaine programme kicks off on Monday 9th of May with Nomadland, directed by Chloé Zhao, who won an Oscar as Best Director for this a beautiful, quiet portrait of the lives of America’s older transients who choose the open road, the huge skies and their small mobile spaces for life out of the mainstream.
After the 2008 financial collapse, widowed Fern (Frances McDormand), a former substitute teacher, finds herself forced out of her home in Empire, Nevada, when the local US Gypsum plant closes the mine, and with it, the town.
Faced with a bleak economic future, she crams her scanty belongings into a beat-up, second-hand van and hits the road, travelling from town to town, state to state, in search of work. Along the way, she meets many kindred spirits: silver-haired, fellow modern-day nomads, whose entire generation suffered the same crippling economic blow.
Featuring real-life nomads drawn from Jessica Bruder’s original book, this glimpse of hardship, the gig economy, and also love, fortune and kindness make for an unforgettable cinema experience.
Nomadland will be screened on Monday 9th May, 1pm at Ballina Arts Centre. Admission FREE. Booking essential.