Best Feature winner “Gold,” directed by Niall Heery, will be kicking off The Irish Film Festival of Boston running this weekend at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square.

By Haley Houseman

The Irish Film Festival of Boston will be taking over the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square this weekend, Thursday, March 19 through Sunday, March 22, just in time for the St Patrick’s Day holiday. Over thirty films will be shown, from family-friendly animation to documentaries, short films, comedies and thrillers.

For the fifteenth year, the volunteer-run festival will give out awards and attract actors, directors and audiences alike. Screenings are coupled with receptions and question and answer sessions with filmmakers follow. The festival director, Dawn Morrissey, reports the event is “very fortunate to yet again have such a great selection of films and talented filmmakers in our midst in Boston,” as stated in Harvard Magazine. More than three thousand people attend the event over the course of four days, many of them Irish or Irish-American.

The festival schedule includes director Niall Heery’s dark comedy Gold, starring James Nesbitt and Maisie Williams of Game of Thrones fame. Kicking off the program on Thursday at 7:30 p.m., this is the pick for the festival’s Best Feature. Also showing is Oscar nominated short film Boogaloo and Graham, a story from Northern Ireland of two young brothers and the baby chicks that they have vowed to keep and raise themselves.

A centerpiece for the festival is Irish Times’ pick for Best Irish Film of 2014, One Million Dubliners, which explores the Glasnevin Cemetery and the unexpected business of death. Another Oscar nominee is An Bronntanas (The Gift), a thriller that was Ireland’s 2015 entry and the festival’s 2015 Special Jury Prize winner. The story follows the dramatic lives of a local lifeboat crew and weaves languages along with the plot. Movies that showcase Irish music are a regular feature of the festival, as is a grand finale on Sunday.

Tickets are $15 for opening night ($14 in advance) and $11 for all other screenings. An All-Access Festival Pass can be purchased for $85, which allows access to all screenings and receptions. Visit www.irishfilmfestival.com for the full program listing.