New Stephen Rea film on show for Christmas

This new production's plot is a provocative blend of human endeavour in the face of war and natural disaster, with Stephen Rea cast in the starring role of narrator. The new film, sponsored by Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance, reveals how ordinary Red Cross people spend their own time working voluntarily on the frontline of suffering both here in Ireland and around the world. . A new slogan for the Irish Red Cross: HEALING WHERE IT HURTS © is also unveiled.

Few people realise that apart from First Aid and Overseas Service in war zones and disaster areas, the Irish Red Cross also offers professional-standard training to Carers, a Therapeutic Hand Care Service to elderly and arthritic people, a Mountain Rescue service in the Glen of Imaal, a School Safety Awareness programme for schoolchildren and a Tracing/Red Cross Message Service to help people find lost loved ones, which particularly serves refugees and asylum-seekers who have been separated from their families.

Innovation in a wide range of services to communities around Ireland as well as abroad is not new for the Irish Red Cross. It was the Irish Red Cross that initiated a TB Prevention Plan in the 1940's, a refugee resettlement programme from the '40's onwards starting with German Children, the now universal Meals-On-Wheels Service, a Blood Donations service, and the Water Safety Campaign.

Opening with a shot from World War II, of an Irish Red Cross nurse caring for a baby at our St Lo hospital in Normandy, the 30-second film moves through the ages. Although some of the images - such as that of the men in puttees and flat tin hats in the trenches - are a poignant reminder of times gone by, many of the images from the past are in fact sharply reminiscent of the present.

The gaunt faces of a group of barely clad boys stare out and suggest the suffering of countless detainees seen recently on our screens behind the barbed-wire camps in Bosnia Herzegovina. But the boys in this film are in fact Greek and the picture was taken just after the second World War ended. Stephen Rea said he was very pleased to have given his time to this project.

"I'm absolutely delighted to have been able to help out in a practical way and in fact I would add that I am very proud of my involvement with the Irish Red Cross and this film project in particular, which I believe conveys realistically the continuum of suffering and the need more than ever for the Red Cross," stated Mr Rea.

The advertisement is a cost-effective way of clearly stating the breadth of work undertaken by the Irish Red Cross. Apart from Stephen Rea who generously gave his time and experience to the project, the film would not have been possible without the support of Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance who are in a global partnership with the Red Cross. The Red Cross is also grateful to Carlton Screen Advertising who are screening the film free-of-charge. The film was scripted and produced by Alan Doherty in association with Pearse Media, Dublin.

A total of 24 screens in cinemas in Dublin will show the new Irish Red Cross half-minute infofilm.

Because of its provocative and evocative content, the info-film will mainly be screened with 15 certificate films after 6pm each day. The details of the Screen Listing for the period covering the weekend of Friday 14 December to Friday 4 January 2002, the initial four-week showing of a one-year programme are as follows:

1 Dublin College Green Screen
2 Dublin O'Connell Street Savoy
3 Dublin Stillorgan Ormonde
4 Dublin Stillorgan Ormonde
5 Dublin Rathmines Stella
6 Dublin Blanchardstown UCI
7 Dublin Lucan Ster Century
8 Dublin Coolock UCI
9 Dublin Santry Omniplex
10 Dublin Dún Laoghaire IMC
11 Wicklow Bray Royal Cineplex
12 Meath Navan Diamond
13 Louth Drogheda Omniplex
14 Louth Dundalk IMC
15 Cork City Capitol
16 Cork City Gate Multiplex
17 Cork Mallow Reel
18 Cork Ballincollig Reel
19 Limerick City Omniplex
20 Limerick City Omniplex
21 Galway City Omniplex
22 Galway City Omniplex
23 Clare Ennis Empire Movieplex
24 Offaly Tullamore Omniplex

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