IFI Open Day returns on Saturday 20th June 2015 with 15 totally free films including Back to the Future, Jaws & Monty Python’s Life Of Brian, three sneak previews as well as behind-the-scenes tours, membership discounts, children’s workshops and a chance to win flightsto New York with Aer Lingus. Scannain recommends that you check out this amazing day of cinema.
It’s one of the key film events of the year in Dublin, the day the IFI throws open its doors and invites you in to sample what it has to offer absolutely free. This year’s IFI Open Day programme is even more jam-packed than ever with more films, more special events and one amazing competition. Whether this is your first trip to the IFI or you are a regular visitor, the IFI welcomes you!
This year’s IFI Open Day includes the return of some mega-popular hits back on the big screen including the 40th Anniversary of Stephen Spielberg’s Jaws, Monty Python’s Life of Brian, and Back to the Future. There are also sneak previews of Alice Rohrwacher’s The Wonders which won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2014, Kevin Smith’s new horror-comedy Tusk and a star turn from Al Pacino in David Gordon Green’s Manglehorn.
This year’s classic selection at IFI Open Day includes John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance with John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Lee Marvin; seminal sci-fi Forbidden Planet starring Leslie Nielsen; Orson Welles’ F for Fake; and one of Robert Altman’s finest films, Nashville. There’s also a rare screening of silent 1927 classic Wings featuring Clara Bow, breathtaking aerial sequences and even a Gary Cooper cameo.
Continuing the IFI’s support for Dublin Pride and celebrating the collections of the IFI Irish Film Archive, there will be a screening of A Man of No Importance with Albert Finney as a homosexual bus conductor and amateur theatre director who is reluctant to reveal his sexuality to an unwelcoming Dublin.
European titles include La Grande Bouffe, Marco Ferrerri’s most notorious film which unsurprisingly never received a theatrical run in Ireland in 1973 (given that it’s about four friends who gather together one weekend to eat themselves to death), and Catherine Deneuve in Les Desmoiselles de Rochefort, Jacques Demy’s exuberant love letter to American musicals.
Every year the IFI staff vote for their favourite films of the past year and the top ten form the shortlist for the IFI Audience Choice slot on IFI Open Day. You can cast your vote for what you’d like to see back on the big screen from 5th-12th June at www.ifi.ie/openday.
You can’t book in advance – all the tickets for Open Day films are free and distributed in person on the day from 11am (but see below for how to book for Archive and Projection tours and the family workshop). Maximum of four tickets per person. Arrive early as tickets are expected to go quickly! There’s also some great one-day-only discounts on becoming an IFI Member – a scheme supporting the IFI’s vital work as the home of film in Ireland as well as giving you free film tickets, free screenings, discounts in the IFI Café Bar and IFI Film Shop as well as double Loyalty Points towards more free tickets!
This year there is also a chance to meet the preservation and access team and take a tour to explore the vaults of IFI Irish Film Archive, learning how they preserve priceless elements of Ireland’s moving image heritage. There’s also a rare chance to see behind that little window at the back of the cinema with tours of the IFI’s working projection booth. The Projection Booth Tours and the IFI Irish Film Archive Tours are free but places are limited and should be pre-booked via Sharon Corrigan (01 679 5744/scorrigan@irishfilm.ie).
If you’re looking for a family day out, book in advance for the Build Your Own Time Machine! workshop before the screening of Back to the Future. Facilitated by artist Laura Healy, this workshop will use an assortment of materials and plenty of imagination to create a time machine – you just need to decide what year to visit. This free workshop should be pre-booked via Sharon Corrigan (01 679 5744/scorrigan@irishfilm.ie). Participants can also pre-book their tickets for the Back to the Future screening. Max. 4 per family.
Finally, this year there is a very special competition with Aer Lingus celebrating the journeys of Irish film. The IFI Irish Film Archive holds over 30,000 cans of film and footage and IFI International, with the support of Culture Ireland, creates over 100 Irish film programmes for festivals and cultural organisations in 50 countries worldwide each year. The IFI and Aer Lingus will be running a competition for a pair of flights to New York. Join the IFI on Open Day to enter and look out on their social media (#IFIOpenDay) for details. (*Terms and conditions apply)
Getting excited? Don’t forget to tell your friends you’re going, share your film reviews and share your pics via #IFIOpenDay on Twitter and Instagram. You can find the IFI at @IFI_Dub on Twitter and IrishFilmInstitute on Facebook and Instagram.
IFI OPEN DAY 2015 – TIMETABLE
11.00 Tickets Available
11.30 IFI Irish Film Archive Tour
12.00 Build Your Own Time Machine! (Family Workshop)
13.00 Wings
13.10 Nashville
13.20 Back To The Future
14.00 Your Own Cinema Paradiso: Projection Tour
14.30 IFI Irish Film Archive Tour
15.00 Your Own Cinema Paradiso: Projection Tour
15.45 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
15.55 La Grande Bouffe
16.15 Forbidden Planet
16.30 IFI Irish Film Archive Tour
16.30 Your Own Cinema Paradiso: Projection Tour
17.00 Your Own Cinema Paradiso: Projection Tour
18.15 Les Demoiselles De Rochefort
18.20 A Man of No Importance
18.30 The Wonders (Preview)
20.25 Audience Choice
20.40 F For Fake
20.50 Manglehorn (Preview)
22.35 Tusk (Preview)
22.50 Monty Python’s Life of Brian
23.00 Jaws