Guest Host: Robert Ehrlich

Screening Time: Friday, May 2, 10:00 AM, Charles Theatre 2

Director: Jim Sheridan

Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Emma Thompson, Pete Postlethwaite, John Lynch, Corin Redgrave

Country: Ireland/U.K.
Year: 1993
Running Time: 133 minutes
Format: DVD

Based on a true story, In the Name of the Father tells the story of small time thief Gerry Conlon (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his father, Giuseppe (Pete Postlethwaite). When Gerry and some friends are picked up after burglarizing a hooker’s apartment, the British police, desperate to show some results in a recent IRA pub bombing, force a false confession out of him. The confession sends not only Gerry and his buddies to prison, but also members of Gerry’s family, including his ailing father, as co-conspirators. Over the next fourteen years, he fights to prove his innocence with the help of a British attorney (Emma Thompson).

The film became an instant classic, winning multiple critic’s awards and garnering eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and acting nominations for Day-Lewis, Postlethwaite, and Thompson. It also marked the second of three successful collaborations between director Sheridan and actor Day-Lewis, following My Left Foot and preceding The Boxer (which was presented at the 2002 Maryland Film Festival, hosted by critic Terrence Rafferty).

--Dan Krovich

Presented By: Robert Ehrlich

Robert Ehrlich was born and raised in Arbutus, Maryland. While growing up he excelled both in academics and athletics, earning an academic scholarship to the Gilman School where he was elected captain of the football team and earned all-state and all-American honors. He then earned a scholarship to Princeton where he studied political science and was co-captain of the football team. After receiving a law degree from the Wake Forest University School of Law. In 1987, Ehrlich was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates, where he served eight years before running for and being elected to the United States Congress, where he served four terms. In 2002, he ran for Governor of Maryland and won an historic victory to become the state’s sixtieth governor and first Republican governor in thirty-six years. He and his wife Kendel are the parents of Drew, born in 1999.