Here are some of the highlights for the festival, running 6 - 13 March.
The Red Carpet Gang - Gala Screenings
The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival boasts a raft of well-known visitors from the red carpets of the world as well as a number of newcomers and established auteurs both emerging from, and establishing themselves in the quality film circuit. In keeping with giving as much as possible to a deserving Dublin audience, the festival opens with a gala screening of 'In This World', Michael Winterbottom’s powerful Golden Bear Winner from the Berlin Film Festival. Michael will attend this screening. The Irish season will be opened by Jim Sheridan’s wonderful and hotly anticipated 'In America' that will be attended by Jim, his producer Arthur Lappin and star Paddy Considine and new young stars Sarah and Emma Bolger. On the Sunday of the festival, Hollywood’s hottest young property, Colin Farrell, will attend the screening 'The Recruit' where he more than holds his own with veteran Al Pacino. Shortly afterwards, the Centrepiece Gala Screening of 'The Life of David Gale' will be attended by director Alan Parker and star, Oscar Nominee, Laura Linney. The Closing Gala, 'Dead Bodies' will be attended by producer David McLoughlin, director, Robert Quinn and key cast members. Representing the premieres of their Irish features as well as the opening film are Damien O’Donnell, Marion Comer, Liz Gill and Eoin Moore. More international guests attending include Oscar Nominee Javier Bardem, Scottish veteran Gillies MacKinnon, French legend, Claire Denis, much lauded young filmmakers Rebecca Miller and Gael Morel.
The Xtra-Vision Irish Premiere Season
It’s been a wonderfully rich time for the production of Irish feature film in the last couple of years and the festival reflects this with a stellar lineup of emerging and established filmmakers work. This season will open with Jim Sheridan’s much-anticipated 'In America' and over the course of the week will show Damien O’Donnell’s moving drama, 'Heartlands', Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s beautifully realised period piece 'The Heart of Me', Marion Comer’s Northern Ireland thriller, 'Boxed', Liz Gill’s youthful romantic comedy, 'Goldfish Memory' and Eoin Moore’s domestic violence drama 'Pigs Will Fly' which, reflecting the truly international nature of the festival, is in German!
The State of Independents – American Independent Cinema
American Independent Cinema reflects the core of its country of origin with an originality and flair that puts many a Hollywood production to shame. The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival is delighted to present a huge range of these films both star-studded and featuring outstanding newcomers, but all intriguing and thought provoking.
Spike Lee, enfant terrible, and genius to many, returns to form with his redemption thriller starring Edward Norton, 'The 25th Hour'. Norton’s partner in life Salma Hayek takes on the role of producer as well as star in the critically lauded 'Frida' – a role for which she is Oscar Nominated. Fellow Oscar nominees Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep all feature in 'The Hours' by British Director Stephen Daldry and George Clooney joins the ‘indie’ star list as director of the acclaimed 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind'. A firm favourite, and always an interesting filmmaker, Steven Soderberg gives us 'Full Frontal' and Joel Schumacher moves away from the mainstream with controversial sniper movie 'Phone Booth', a film that is linked directly to the mainstream by its young Irish star Colin Farrell who also appears in 'The Recruit'. 'Tadpole and Blue Car' on the other hand, bring us directly back into serious, well-observed indie territory. It seems a long time since the tabloid slanging matches between Quentin Tarantino and one-time collaborator Roger Avary. Avary has since carved out his own inimitable style, represented here by in-your-face Bret Easton Ellis adaptation 'The Rules of Attraction'. Gus Van Sant is back with a desert set two-hander starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, 'Gerry'; Rebecca Miller will present Sundance Winner, 'Personal Velocity' and Burr Steers' biting satire and surprise US hit, 'Igby Goes Down' makes its Irish debut. To cap it all off, Steven Shainberg gets us down on our knees for a little sadomasochistic time and motion in 'The Secretary'.
Documentary
It’s a tribute to the rise of natural history documentary that Jacques Perrin’s elegiac and beautiful 'Winged Migration' has been nominated for an Oscar. Joining it in this programme is 'Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary', a remarkable record of the reminiscences of Traudl Junge who was Hitler’s Private Secretary for most of the Third Reich. 'Photos To Send', Dierdre Lynch’s stunning chronicle of Dorothea Lange’s visit to Ennis in 1954 for Life Magazine will join this prestigious company as will Paul Justman’s biopic of 'The Funk Brothers', backbone of Motown’s Detroit era in 'Standing in The Shadows of Motown'. The documentary strand is rounded out by Michel Reilhac’s hilarious (and quite shocking) collection of stag films from early cinema that was a cause celebre at Cannes last year, 'Polissons Et Galipettes'.
The Festival Retrospective – Claire Denis
Claire Denis is one of the most renowned filmmakers of her generation and the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival is proud to present a short but remarkable retrospective look at her work and to welcome her as special festival guest. To open this retrospective, the festival presents her most recent film, a series of chance encounters for a French woman over one evening in 'Vendredi Soir', the genre horror with Beatrice Dalle and Vincent Gallo, 'Trouble Every Day', and the phenomenal portrait of male relationships in the French Foreign Legion, 'Beau Travail'.
New International Cinema
Europe and Latin America are particularly well represented in the remainder of the programme with no less than two of the five Oscar Nominees for Best Foreign Film represented with 'The Crime of Father Amaro' (Mexico) and 'Nowhere in Africa' (Germany). From Argentina we have the wonderfully poetic 'The Son of The Bride' from Juan Jose Campanella. Previous Cannes winners The Dardenne brothers are represented by their sumptuous drama 'Le Fils', which is matched by an offering from further east with Aleksandr Sukarov’s one-take wonder 'Russian Ark'. Keira Knightley appears a long way from the Siberian steppes in Gillies MacKinnon’s 'Pure' and Suzanne Bier’s 'Open Hearts' is a surefire Danish hit after its Cannes debut last year. An exciting addition to its tradition of stylish thrillers, Spain provides us with the exciting and intriguing 'Intacto' while New Zealand has an entry entirely lacking a whiff of Middle Earth with Niki Caro’s lush and radiant 'Whale Rider'. Nearby Australia is represented in this programme by the fascinating study of the attempted prosecution of an Aboriginal man for rape in 1959 with 'Black and White'. If you like your food movies to release those juices, Sandra Nettlebeck’s 'Mostly Martha' is the must see while a sun drenched escape is guaranteed in Emmanuel Crialise’s 'Respiro'. The move from Nettlebeck’s Hamburg to Andreas Dresen’s Frankfurt exposes the dangers inherent in the friendships between couples with 'Halbe Treppe'. Ulrich Seidl’s 'Dog Days' is a provocative study of human grotesques whom Seidl found in Austria and displays for our horror, or fascination. From Russia and Tadjikstan we have very different films: Alexei Balabanov directs the western set in England, Russia and Chechnya, 'War' and from Djamshed Usmonov, the closely observed drama of one man’s life struggle, 'An Angel On The Right'. France is further represented by talented actor/director Gael Morel with 'Under Another Sky', by Michel Blanc with 'Embrassez Qui Vous Voudrez', and by that veteran observer of human hypocrisies, Coline Serreau with 'Chaos'. We are also lucky to get Spain’s official entry for this year’s Best Foreign Film Oscar, the excellent ensemble piece starring Javier Bardem, 'Mondays In The Sun'. From nearby Portugal but many miles away in style and content, Joao Pedro Rodrigues’ 'O Fantasma' charts the descent of its protagonist into a hedonistic night world that makes 'Cruising' look like 'Driving Miss Daisy'. Considerably further north, Icelandic master Fridrik Thor Fridriksson brings us a nature versus man fable in 'Falcons' and amazing young Swedish talent, Lukas Moodysson, wows again with 'Lilya 4-Ever', a troubling story of a young Russian woman adrift in a harsh world and this year’s Swedish entry for Best Foreign Film Oscar. The festival is also delighted to welcome films from two very different cultures: Israel and Iran. 'Delbaran' tells the story of Kaim, the 14 year old Afghan refugee in Iran and in 'Late Marriage' we are presented with a young Georgian man whose time has come to marry – preferably well and rich. Finally, from Canadian auteur, Guy Maddin, we have a feature and short combination the virtuoso vampire ballet 'Dracula: Pages From a Virgin’s Diary' and the frenetic tribute to silent filmmaking, 'The Heart of The World'.
Emerging and Established Asian Cinema: China, Thailand, South Korea, Japan
A little like last year’s world cup, one of the surprises of this year’s festival is the break out of South Korean cinema. No fewer than four titles in this festival and are from South Korea. They include 'Fulltime Killer' where Tok, a low rent hitman kills with theatrical flamboyance and acts like a rock star and 'Public Enemy' which features an ice-cool yuppie killer and a foul mouthed loose-cannon cop. Probably South Korea’s most famous director, Im Kwon-Taek is back with his finest film to date, 'Chihwaseon', which is a portrait of the renowned nineteenth century Korean painter Ohwon and the fourth South Korean film in the festival is 'Sympathy for Mr Vengeance', a drama exploring the dark side of survival. From Thailand is the offbeat musical romance, 'Mon-rak Transistor' and from Japan, a disturbing drama about a married couple’s sex life, 'A Snake of June'. Also from Japan is the horror-musical from cult director Takashi Miike, 'The Happiness of The Katakuris'. From veteran Chinese director, Tian Zhuangzhuang Tian, 'Springtime In a Small Town', is a remake of a classic Chinese film by Fei Mu which examines China’s post war anomie through a love triangle.
Special Events
The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival will be choc-a-bloc with special events that will add context and information to the films shown as well as looking at how we see films. Wherever possible, the festival will provide access to the production teams and casts of the films presented. The access will be in the form of Public Interviews that will take place in Trinity College and Q&A sessions that will take place in situ.
Of particular interest will be the discussion about the Irish film industry, chaired by Ted Sheehy, scheduled for 10th March. Details of panelists will be announced shortly.
www.dubliniff.com
