Following a hugely successful inaugural event last year, the IFI will welcome the Dark Skies festival back to the IFI for its second season. Showcasing some of the best science fiction cinema of the last 65 years, the theme of this year’s screenings is Invasion. Alongside cult classics including The War of the Worlds and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, James Cameron’s 1986 epic Aliens will screen on 70mm, while Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers and Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks! will both screen on 35mm. The season runs across four consecutive weekends, starting Saturday 7th.
Oscar-winning documentarian Kevin MacDonald (One Day in September) will visit the IFI on Tuesday 3rd for a Q&A following a preview of his new documentary Whitney, a look at the extraordinary and tragic life of one of music’s greatest ever performers. Also visiting the IFI in July will be director Abbie Reese, whose documentary Chosen: Custody of the Eyes focuses on the first days of a 25-year-old woman as she enters the cloistered community of the Poor Clares; this very special screening will take place on Saturday 5th. A screening of Lauren Greenfield’s fascinating new documentary, Generation Wealth, on Tuesday 17th will be followed by a pre-recorded interview with the director.
Our relationship with religion provides the focus for a number of films, including new releases First Reformed from Paul Schrader, Daniel Kokotajlo’s Apostasy, Xavier Giannoli’s The Apparition, and a re-release of Jacques Rivette’s 1966 film The Nun. Rivette’s classic heads up a particularly strong month of 4k digital restoration re-issues, which also features Michael Cimino’s seminal The Deer Hunter, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, and James Ivory’s adaptation of E.M. Forster’s Maurice.
Mary ShelleyOther new releases this month include Michaël R. Roskum’s critically acclaimed Racer and the Jailbird, Haifaa Al-Mansour’s biopic Mary Shelley, and Carla Simón’s moving family drama Summer 1993.
July sees the IFI team up with the Irish Georgian Society for a special showing of Deborah Warner’s The Last September; the screening will be followed by a panel discussion on the Big House in Irish film featuring photographer James Fennell, Fionnuala Ardee of Killruddery House, and location manager Colm Nolan. Our free Archive at Lunchtime screenings throughout July will also look at Georgian and Irish architecture.
The 34thThis month’s Irish Focus screening, Linda Cullen and Vanessa Gildea’s The 34th, looks back at the run-up to the 2015 Marriage Equality referendum, which saw people from all over the country come together to bring about one of the most seismic social changes of recent times. Minister Katherine Zappone TD, and Gráinne Healy of Marriage Equality and Yes Equality will join Linda Cullen for a Q&A following the screening.
Finally, the IFI will welcome music producer and musicals aficionado Bill Hughes on Wednesday 25th to introduce a screening of the Blake Edwards classic Victor/Victoria starring the legendary Julie Andrews.
All this plus our regular IFI Family, Film Club, Feast Your Eyes, Wild Strawberries, and French Film Club events mean another packed calendar at the IFI this July!
Tickets for all the special events are on sale now from the IFI Box Office on (01) 6793477 and from www.ifi.ie.