Cine Gael’s ever-popular
evening of short films
The Vasectomy Doctor bestowed Audience’s Favourite prize
By Byron Toben
July 5, 2022
Montreal’s Cine Gael Irish Film Series ended its abbreviated 2022 season with its ever-popular evening of short films. Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Cine Gael preceded the evening by playing on the screen, as the audience filed in, highlights of its 15, oops 20, oops 30 years, all arranged by Cine Gael webmaster Antoine Maloney.
The nine short selections ranged from one minute to 15 minutes. They included three dramas, two animations, one science fiction, one documentary and one Gaelic language entry.
The dramas were White Horse, Day Out and The Yellow Dress.
The animations were The Wiremen and Archie’s Bat.
The documentary was The Vasectomy Doctor.
The Irish language horror film was Bainne.
The sci-fi was Rip to the Rescue.
The one-minute personal film was My Father Taught Me to Swing an Axe.

The Yellow Dress
These were chosen from over 100 possibilities by the usual Cine Gael shorts team of Heather McDougal and Kester Dyer. As usual, the audience had fun filling out forms to determine their ratings for first, second and third.
[The Vasectomy Doctor] told the true story of Dr. Andrew Rynne, the first doctor to perform a vasectomy in Ireland. In 1990, a man entered his surgery and shot him.
A few days later, the documentary, The Vasectomy Doctor, was declared the winner. It told the true story of Dr. Andrew Rynne, the first doctor to perform a vasectomy in Ireland. In 1990, a man entered his surgery and shot him. Cine Gael awarded the film a prize of 100 Euros. It can still be viewed by a link on the Cine Gael website.

The Vasectomy Doctor
The evening was preceded by a talk by the Irish High Commissioner to Canada, Eamonn McKee, who mentioned the 1932 landing in Donegal by American pilot Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic (in rough weather to boot). I confess I didn’t quite hear the relation of that to the Cine Gael short film evening, but it was interesting.
* * * * *
Not a part of the Cine Gael series but created by Cine Gael regular Colleen Curran and posted on WestmountMag.ca for the last two years, were the ultra-short (3 minute) episodes of her quirky Kitty Calling series wherein professional do-gooder Kitty phoned shut-in Bernice during the COVID-19 restrictions.
So, to supplement Cine Gael’s short film evening, here are the recent last two and final episodes of Kitty Calling. Great fun while it lasted.
Images: courtesy of Cine Gael
Feature image: Archie’s Bat
Read more articles from Byron Toben
Byron Toben, a past president of The Montreal Press Club, has been WestmountMag.ca’s theatre reviewer since July 2015. Previously, he wrote for since terminated web sites Rover Arts and Charlebois Post, print weekly The Downtowner and print monthly The Senior Times. He also is an expert consultant on U.S. work permits for Canadians.
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