Irish actors Colm Meaney and Fiona Shaw and US director James L Brooks were the recipients of the third annual Oscar Wilde: Honouring the Irish in Film awards presented by the US-Ireland Alliance at a ceremony in the Ebell theatre in Los Angeles on Thursday night, writes Michael Dwyer, Film Correspondent, in Los Angeles
The atmosphere was relaxed and informal, with very few ties, black or otherwise, in evidence. Even the compere, Charlie Koones, a former publisher of trade paper Variety, wore jeans.
The first award went to James L Brooks, who won three Oscars as writer, producer and director of Terms of Endearment (1983). "It is The Simpsons that causes us to honour him tonight," Mr Koones said, listing some of the many Irish characters and references in that animated TV series produced by Mr Brooks, and saying The Simpsons Moviewas a big hit at Irish cinemas last year.
In a witty acceptance speech, Mr Brooks claimed he was brought up thinking he was Irish until he discovered he was Jewish. "At school, I had to keep my identity a secret," he said. "Oscar Wilde would understand."
Cork native Fiona Shaw, accepting her award, referred to "how visual language is in Ireland". She noted that the title of Cormac McCarthy's novel, No Country for Old Men, whose film version by Joel and Ethan Coen, which is tipped for Oscars tomorrow night, comes from a WB Yeats poem, Sailing to Byzantium, which she recited in part.
Colm Meaney, a Dubliner born and bred, said he felt "tremendously honoured" to receive the award. "It's been a very interesting journey," he said of his varied career in film, television and theatre.
"You don't set out on jobs like this as a road map."
A longtime US resident, he noted the number of immigrants in Ireland now and how it used to be the Irish who emigrated. "Yes, we do have a special relationship with America, but so do Italians and Mexicans," he said.
There was no reference to the recent controversy when Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan "respectfully declined" to accept an award at this year's ceremony. She cited an Irish Times article from November 16th last in which Trina Vargo, the president of the US-Ireland Alliance, argued that there should be "no special deal for illegal Irish immigrants [ in the US], while leaving behind the millions of others in the same situation".
Ms Vargo had responded: "Ms Flanagan supports a special deal for Irish immigrants. I support legalisation of all immigrants."
The US-Ireland Alliance is "a proactive, non-partistan, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to consolidating existing relations between the US and the island of Ireland and to building that relationship for the future".
The alliance is planning an event in Belfast in April to mark the 10th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement, with Senator George Mitchell, one of its key negotiators, in attendance.
Three hours before the US-Ireland alliance function began, a press conference was held in downtown Los Angeles to announce the first tour of Ireland and Britain by Camerata Pacifica, the Santa Barbara-based chamber music ensemble founded by Belfast flautist Adrian Spence.
The tour will take in London, Dublin, Derry and Belfast. The ensemble includes Cork native Catherine Leonard as its principal violinist.
"We are getting a chance to use music as a medium of engagement to celebrate peace and prosperity in the new Ireland, North and South," Mr Spence said.
Tom Heneghan, US West regional director of Tourism Ireland, which is sponsoring the tour, said: "Camerata Pacifica is using music to engage modern Ireland with the hopes and aspirations of its diaspora who yearn for a bright future for the island."