The 2016 Audi Dublin International Film Festival has announced their line-up for the festival which runs February 18th to 28th. The festival will feature 16 Irish made or Irish set feature films, and 17 shorts.
The festival kicks off with the Opening Gala of John Carney’s Sing Street on Thursday February 18th. Sing Street takes us back to 1980s Dublin where an economic recession forces Conor out of his comfortable private school and into survival mode at the inner-city public school where the kids are rough and the teachers are rougher. He finds a glimmer of hope in the mysterious and über-cool Raphina, and with the aim of winning her heart he invites her to star in his band’s music videos. Directed by John Carney (Once), Sing Street stars Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Aidan Gillen, Maria Doyle Kennedy and Jack Reynor.
Friday, February 19th, sees the presentation of Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor’s Reel Arts scheme film Further Beyond. This documentary film follows the compelling 18th Century figure, Ambrose O’Higgins, and attemptd to retrace his remarkable journey from Ireland to Chile. Key locations in O’Higgins’ life – a lake in Sligo, a field in Meath, the port of Cadiz, the sea, and the edge of a snow-covered mountain in the Andes – are visited and reflected upon in the hope that something might be revealed, as if these very locations might contain clues. Having long dreamt of making a biopic of O’Higgins, this wayward and wry documentary is the filmmakers’ attempt to realise this dream through a personal voyage into the idea of the cinematic location. However, as they speculate on the idea of place and what O’Higgins embodies, the filmmakers continually get sidetracked by a competing story of immigration and displacement. Gradually, and not without humour, these intertwining narratives uncover ideas about the transformative powers of travelling, as looked at through the peculiar prism of the Irish experience.
The first Friday also sees the first selection of Irish and international shorts. Four Irish shorts will be shown, Simon Bird’s Ernestine & Kit, Daire Glynn and Ger Duffy’s Little Bear, Jack O’Shea’s A Coat Made Dark, and Mike Hayes’ Leave. Ernestine & Kit is an absurd and macabre tale, that sees Pauline Collins and Rosaleen Linehan take a country tour and imagine the terrible, immoral lives people are living today. Their one consolation is the innocence of children. Little Bear is a short story of friendship, love and imagination. It stars Calum Heath (Love/Hate), Kieran O’Reilly (The Canal) and Kojii Helnwein (Project Runway). A Coat Made Dark sees two burglars strike it rich after stealing a mysterious coat. So begins this darkly comic tale, in which Midnight, an anthropomorphized dog, and his human servant Peter struggle for power. Leave is a film about choices and consequences – a film about how your life can change without warning. The film stars Moe Dunford, Kathy Rose O’Brien, Ian Lloyd Anderson, and Amy De Bhrún.
Saturday, February 20th, marks the first full day of the festival and sees the 20th anniversary screening of Neil Jordan’s Michael Collins, attended by Jordan and Cinematographer Chris Menges, followed by an on stage Q&A hosted by Harry McGee. The film features Liam Neeson as the famed Irish revolutionary fighter during the Irish Civil War.
Saturday also features the Dublin premiere of Rachael Moriarty and Peter Murphy’s Traders, which debuted at last year’s Galway Film Fleadh to much acclaim. Traders tells the story of Harry Fox (Killian Scott) seems to have it all, the luxury apartment, the fancy car but when the company he works for goes bust it looks like he will lose everything. A solution is offered by Vernon Stynes (John Bradley) who has masterminded a diabolical, all-or-nothing scheme based in the Deep Web, called Trading. Two strangers empty their banks accounts, sell their assets, put their entire worth in cash into a green sports bag. They travel to a remote location and fight to the death. Winner buries the loser and walks away twice as rich. Vernon believes trading is a no-brainer for anyone who wants to get rich quick. Can Harry resist the lure of a such a high risk gamble? It’s dangerous, it’s illegal, but it could solve all his problems. Traders is written and directed by Rachael Moriarty and Peter Murphy and stars Killian Scott (Love/Hate, Calvary, ’71), John Bradley (Game of Thrones, Shameless), Nika McGuigan (The Secret Scripture, Mammal), Peter O’Meara ( Love/Hate, Charlie), and Barry Keoghan (’71, Mammal).
Sunday, February 21st, sees the premiere of the 9 Irish Film Board backed After ’16 shorts, a once-off shorts initiative to commemorate, celebrate and ruminate on 1916.
- A Terrible Hullabaloo, directed by Ben O’Connor, written by Aoife Noonan and produced by Bob Gallagher, for Bowsie Workshop.
- Goodbye, Darling, directed by Maria Elena Doyle, written by Alex Barclay and produced by Fiona Kinsella for Jumper Productions.
- My Life for Ireland, directed by Kieron J Walsh, written by Pat McDonnell and produced by Damien O Donnell for Suitable Films.
- The Cherishing, written and directed by Dave Tynan and produced by Dave Leahy for Warrior Films.
- The Party, directed by Andrea Harkin, written by Conor O Neill and produced by Emmet Fleming for Fleming Creative.
- A Father’s Letter, directed by Joseph Dolan, written by Sinead McCoole and produced by Niamh Heery for Swansong Films.
- Baring Arms, written and directed by Colm Quinn and produced by David Clarke for El Zorrero Films.
- Mr Yeats and the Beastly Coins, directed by Niamh Guckian, written and produced by Ann Marie Hourihane.
- Granite and Chalk, directed by Stephen McNally and Patrick Hodgins. It is written and produced by Naomi O Leary, for NaoimCo.
These are followed on Sunday by the Dublin premiere of Declan Reck’s The Truth Commissioner. Set in a post-Troubles Northern Ireland, The Truth Commissioner follows the fictional story of Henry Stanfield, played by Roger Allam, a career diplomat who has just been appointed as Truth Commissioner to Northern Ireland. Eager to make good as a peacemaker, the Prime Minster urges a commission following the South African model of Truth and Reconciliation. But, though Stanfield starts bravely, he quickly uncovers some bloody and inconvenient truths about those now running the country; truths which none of those in power are prepared to have revealed.The film stars Roger Allam (The Queen), Sean McGinley (The Wind That Shakes the Barley), Tom Goodman Hill (The Imitation Game), Conleth Hill (Game of Thrones), Ian McElhinney (Game of Thrones), Bríd Brennan (Shadow Dancer) ,and Barry Ward (Jimmy’s Hall).
Monday, February 22nd, features two Irish made documentaries, Claire Dix’s Reel Arts backed We Are Moving – Memories of Miss Moriarty and Johnny Gogan’s Hubert Butler: Witness to the Future, as well as Ben Wheatley’s Northern-Irish filmed High-Rise. We Are Moving – Memories of Miss Moriarty is an intimate portrait of Joan Denise Moriarty, a visionary who overcame enormous odds by doggedly following her dream of bringing ballet to every corner of Ireland. Gogan’s film follows Kilkenny based writer Hubert Butler’s journey through Stalinist Russia of the early 1930s, through prewar Vienna where Butler worked to smuggle Jews into Ireland, and on to his his exposure of the hidden genocide of half a million Orthodox Serbs in WW2. High-Rise centres on a new residential tower built on the eve of Thatcher’s England, at the site of what will soon become the world’s financial hub. Designed as a luxurious solution to the problems of the city, it is a world apart. Enter Robert Laing, a young doctor seduced by the high-rise and its creator, the visionary architect Anthony Royal. Laing discovers a world of complex loyalties, and also strikes up a relationship with Royal’s devoted aide Charlotte. But rot has set in beneath the flawless surface. Filmed in Bangor, and directed by Ben Wheatley from a screenplay by his regular collaborator Amy Jump, High-Rise is an adaptation of JG Ballard’s classic British thriller, starring Tom Hiddleston in the lead. He is joined by Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans, and Elisabeth Moss.
Wednesday, February 24th, also features 3 Irish films, the Dublin premiere of Simon Fitzmaurice’s My Name is Emily, and the Irish premiere of Rebecca Daly’s Mammal, and the world premiere of Aodh Ó Coileáin’s Fís na Fuiseoige. My Name is Emily is love story between two teens and a road movie. On her 16th birthday, Emily escapes from her foster home and with the help of Arden, the boy who loves her, she sets out to find her father Robert, a visionary writer locked up in a psychiatric institution. The film is written and directed by Simon Fitzmaurice, who was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease (ALS) in 2008. Now totally incapacitated, Simon typed the script and communicated to his cast and crew solely through the movement of his eyes and iris recognition software.Evanna Lynch stars in the lead role Evanna Lynch (Harry Potter), support from acclaimed Irish actor Michael Smiley (Kill List, A Field in England) as her father Robert, and newcomer George Webster as Arden. Mammal is the story of Margaret (Griffiths), a separated woman living alone in Dublin, who learns that her teenage son has been found dead. Enduring her unsettling grief privately, she escapes daily to the local swimming pool. One day at the pool she runs into Joe (Keoghan), a homeless youth she found injured late one night in the deserted laneway behind her work. Margaret offers Joe a room in her house and an unorthodox relationship starts to develop between them. Margaret’s ex- husband Matt (Michael McElhatton) begins to turn up randomly in Margaret’s life. As Margaret and Joe’s mutual reliance grows their tentative trust is threatened by the escalation of Matt’s grieving rage and Joe’s involvement with a gang of violent youths. The film features Australian actress Rachel Griffiths, Irish rising star Barry Keoghan, as well as Michael McElhatton, Johnny Ward, Aoife King, Joanne Crawford, Nika McGuigan, and Annabell Rickerby. Fís na Fuiseoige is a celebration of the Irish language, its sense of place and its connection with the people who dwell here.
Thursday, February 25th, again features 3 Irish films, the world premiere of Oonagh Kearney’s short The Wake, Teresa O’Grady-Peyton’s documentary The Judas Iscariot Lunch, and The Pipe director Risteard O’Domhnaill’s latest documentary Atlantic. The Wake is an Irish film that explores female dynamics inside the house, using dance as a unique cinematic language. The Judas Iscariot Lunch presents thirteen Irish expriests who speak candidly and frankly about the crossroads they came to with their beliefs, after being ordained and positioned as missionaries in East Asia, the Pacific and South America in the 1960s and 1970s. Atlantic follows the fortunes of three small fishing communities – in Ireland, Norway and Newfoundland – which are at turns united and divided by the Atlantic Ocean.
The second Saturday of the festival, February 27th, features the second selection of Irish and international shorts. Four Irish shorts will be shown: Vincent Gallagher’s Love is a Sting, Dennis Fitzpatrick and Ken Williams’ The Break, Ben Harper, Sean Mullen, and Alex Sherwood’s Geist, and Damien O’Donnell’s How Was Your Day. Love is a Sting follows a struggling children’s writer who gains an unexpected house guest in the form of an ageing, hyper-intelligent mosquito named Anabel. The Break is a story about a family: Tim and his two sons, Seán and Scott. It’s post-economic-crash Ireland and they’re down on their luck. Geist sees a shipwrecked fisherman take shelter in an abandoned house on a remote island, but soon realise he is not alone. How Was Your Day centres on a woman who is excited about the approaching birth of her first child.
Saturday also features Staid, the feature debut of best selling author and playwright, Paul O’Brien. Hidden away in a small town, four people who are tied together by new and old relationships, tangle, fight, sing, talk, smoke, drink, argue, laugh, leave and return – while stumbling towards the reality that their lives are finally changing whether they like it or not.
The festival closes on Sunday, February 28th, with the Irish premiere of Paddy Breathnach’s Oscar short-listed Spanish language drama Viva. The film tells the story of Jesus, a young gay man, who discovers that the only time he is free from life’s struggles is when he is on stage transformed into Viva, his beautiful alter ego that bares her soul on stage. His dream, however, is crushed with the arrival of his father Angel, whose standards of masculinity are derived from a world of boxing and incarceration. Their opposing expectations, further aggravated by their financial instability, create constant conflict both within themselves and each other as both men struggle to understand one another and become a family again. Written by Irish actor and screenwriter Mark O’Halloran (Adam & Paul) and produced by Rob Walpole and Rebecca O’Flanagan for Treasure Entertainment (The Stag), Viva stars Cuban actors Jorge Perugorría (Strawberries and Chocolate), Luis Alberto García and Héctor Medina.
The 2016 Audi Dublin International Film Festival runs February 18th to 28th. Tickets can be purchased via www.diff.ie.
Irish Films Listings
Sing Street (The filmmakers and cast will attend the screening)
Date/Time: Thursday 18th February at 19:00
Running Time: 106 minutes
Location: Savoy Screen 1, North City, Dublin
Synopsis: Sing Street takes us back to 1980s Dublin where an economic recession forces Conor out of his comfortable private school and into survival mode at the inner-city public school where the kids are rough and the teachers are rougher. He finds a glimmer of hope in the mysterious and über-cool Raphina, and with the aim of winning her heart he invites her to star in his band’s music videos. She agrees, and now Conor must deliver what he’s promised – calling himself “Cosmo” and immersing himself in the vibrant rock music trends of the ‘80s, he forms a band with a few lads, and the group pours their hearts into writing lyrics and shooting videos. Combining Carney’s trademark warmth and humor with a punk rock edge, and featuring a memorable soundtrack with hits from The Cure, Duran Duran, The Police, and Genesis, Sing Street is an electrifying coming-of-age film that will resonate with music fans across the board.
Further Beyond (Followed by a Q+A with the Filmmakers)
Date/Time: Friday 19th February at 18:00
Running Time: 89 minutes
Location: IFI Screen 1, 6 Eustace Street, Dublin 1
Synopsis: In their debut documentary Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor take as their point of departure the compelling 18th Century figure, Ambrose O’Higgins, and attempt to retrace his remarkable journey from Ireland to Chile. Key locations in O’Higgins’ life – a lake in Sligo, a field in Meath, the port of Cadiz, the sea, and the edge of a snow-covered mountain in the Andes – are visited and reflected upon in the hope that something might be revealed, as if these very locations might contain clues. Having long dreamt of making a biopic of O’Higgins, this wayward and wry documentary is the filmmakers’ attempt to realise this dream through a personal voyage into the idea of the cinematic location. However, as they speculate on the idea of place and what O’Higgins embodies, the filmmakers continually get sidetracked by a competing story of immigration and displacement. Gradually, and not without humour, these intertwining narratives uncover ideas about the transformative powers of travelling, as looked at through the peculiar prism of the Irish experience.
ADIFF Shorts 1
Date/Time: Friday 19th February at 18:15
Running Time: 116 minutes
Location: Light House Screen 1, Market Square, Smithfield, Dublin 7
Synopsis: Irish short films include Ernestine & Kit, A Coat Made Dark, Little Bear and Leave
Michael Collins (including Post-Screening Discussion)
Date/Time: Saturday 20th February at 14:00
Running Time: 133 minutes
Location: Savoy Screen 1, North City, Dublin
Synopsis: Michael Collins, the man and the movie, stands tall. The man is a hero whose fighting tactics became a model for other 20th-century struggles, a statesman who negotiated Ireland’s break with England, a political martyr slain for the great cause he lived and breathed. Michael Collins roils with the passions of war furiously waged and peace desperately sought. Liam Neeson (winner of a Venice Film Festival Best Actor Award) plays the title role. Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rea, Alan Rickman and Julia Roberts also deliver vivid performances. They, Jordan and a superb behind-the-cameras team make Michael Collins a man and a movie you won’t soon forget.
Traders (Rachael Moriarty, Peter Murphy, Killian Scott and John Bradley will attend)
Date/Time: Saturday 20th February at 18:30
Running Time: 90 minutes
Location: Light House Screen 1, Market Square, Smithfield, Dublin 7
Synopsis: Traders tell the story of Harry Fox (Killian Scott) who seems to have it all, the luxury apartment, the fancy car but when the company he works for goes bust it looks like he will lose everything. A solution is offered by Vernon Stynes (John Bradley) who has masterminded a diabolical, all-or-nothing scheme based in the Deep Web, called Trading. Two strangers empty their banks accounts, sell their assets, put their entire worth in cash into a green sports bag. They travel to a remote location and fight to the death. Winner buries the loser and walks away twice as rich. Vernon believes Trading is a no-brainer for anyone who wants to get rich quick. Can Harry resist the lure of a such a high risk gamble? It’s dangerous, it’s illegal, but it could solve all his problems.
The Irish Film Board’s After ’16 Shorts
Date/Time: Sunday 21st February at 15:30
Running Time: 115 minutes
Location: Light House Screen 1, Market Square, Smithfield, Dublin 7
Synopsis: Shorts include A Father’s Letter, A Terrible Hullabaloo, Baring Arms, My Life For Ireland, The Cherishing, The Party, Goodbye Darling, Granite and Chalk and Mr. Yeats & The Beastly Coins.
The Truth Commissioner (followed by a Q+A with the filmmakers)
Date/Time: Sunday 21st February at 18:15
Running Time: 99 minutes
Location: Light House Screen 1, Market Square, Smithfield, Dublin 7
Synopsis: Set in a post-Troubles Northern Ireland, The Truth Commissioner follows the fictional story of Henry Stanfield (Roger Allam), a career diplomat who has just been appointed as Truth Commissioner to Northern Ireland. Co-starring Barry Ward (Jimmy’s Hall), Sean McGinley (The General), Conleth Hill (Game of Thrones), Ian McElhinney (Game of Thrones) and Tom Goodman Hill (The Imitation Game), the story revolves around the lives of three men who are directly or indirectly involved in the disappearance, 20 years earlier, of the 15-year-old Connor Roche. Though Stanfield starts bravely, he quickly uncovers some bloody and inconvenient truths about those now running the country; truths which none of those in power are prepared to have revealed. Everyone claims to want The Truth, but what is it going to cost, and who is going to pay for it?
We Are Moving – Memories of Miss Moriarty (Followed by a Q+A with Claire Dix)
Date/Time: Monday 22nd February at 18:00
Running Time: 65 minutes
Location: IFI Screen 1, 6 Eustace Street, Dublin 1
Synopsis: We Are Moving – Memories of Miss Moriarty is an intimate portrait of Joan Denise Moriarty, a visionary who overcame enormous odds by doggedly following her dream of bringing ballet to every corner of Ireland. A pioneer of early 20th century Irish dance, Joan Denise Moriarty dared to create a uniquely Irish form of ballet inspired by her love of nature and Irish folklore. Her life’s work has been largely overlooked since her death. A divisive figure, she was accused of fabricating her professional dance training and of misrepresenting herself as a vanguard of Irish ballet. Her personal life has also been subject to much scrutiny over the years and remains a contentious issue for those who knew her. Despite such controversies, Joan Denise Moriarty has left behind a remarkable legacy of dancers and dance lovers who may never have found ballet without her influence. This is a celebration of Joan Denise the artist, the dancer, and the woman who was best known, loathed, and loved as Miss Moriarty. – Arts Council
Hubert Butler: Witness to the Future (Followed by a Q+A with the Filmmakers)
Date/Time: Monday 22nd February at 20:30
Running Time: 98 minutes
Location: Light House Screen 3, Market Square, Smithfield, Dublin 7
Synopsis: Operating as writer and market gardener from his base in rural Kilkenny, Hubert Butler explored Eastern Europe and the Balkans, establishing himself as “Ireland’s Orwell”, our greatest essayist since Jonathan Swift. In this, the first documentary on Butler and his work, Johnny Gogan traces the writer’s journey through Stalinist Russia of the early 1930s, through pre-war Vienna where Butler worked to smuggle Jews into Ireland, to his exposure of the hidden genocide of half a million Orthodox Serbs in WW2. Using recently declassified documents, this highly visual and expansive film explores why Butler “was fifty years ahead of his time” and “one of the great Irish writers”. Poet Chris Agee and biographer Robert Tobin lead the line of an impressive set of contributors in Johnny Gogan’s fifth feature film in drama and documentary and his follow up to Black Ice, which premiered at this Festival in 2013. Steve Wickham (The Waterboys) provides an original score with a suitably Balkan flavour while the film’s visual sweep is assisted by rich archive footage.
My Name is Emily (Also part of Fantastic Flicks, with special guest Simon Fitzmaurice)
Date/Time: Wednesday 24th February at 18:00
Running Time: 94 minutes
Location: Movies@Dundrum, Dundrum Town Centre, Sandyford Road, Dublin 16
Synopsis: After her mother dies and her father is institutionalized, Emily is placed in a foster home and in a new school where she is ostracized. When her father’s annual card fails to arrive on her 16th birthday, Emily knows something’s wrong. She decides to take matters into her own hands and, enlisting her only friend at school, Arden, sets off on a road trip to break her father out of the psych ward. As their journey progresses Emily and Arden become close and both come to realize important truths about the nature of relationships, both to their parents and to each other.
Fís na Fuiseoige (Followed by a Q+A with the Filmmakers)
Date/Time: Wednesday 24th February at 18:15
Running Time: 52 minutes
Location: Light House Screen 3, Market Square, Smithfield, Dublin 7
Synopsis: Place and Identity are an entity unto themselves within the Irish language and in particular, Irish Poetry. Their amalgamation is something precious and sacred to behold and is celebrated in the verse of our country’s poets. In this documentary, the Irish language is conveyed in its most pure form, celebrating a sense of place and its connection with the people who dwell here. Those who leave Ireland always come back to it, be it spiritually, metaphorically or literally. This relationship and connection to the construct of the Irish identity works side by side with local lore and its poetic germination. Stunningly shot, both from the air and on land, with birds-eye photography that further lends itself to give the lrish landscape its own living and breathing persona. Its voice, though constant and ever present in its poetry, is refracted from person and place, countryside to city, north to south, and between the past and present – Paul Donnelly, Audi Dublin International Film Festival
Mammal (Followed by a Q+A with the Filmmakers)
Date/Time: Wednesday 24th February at 20:30
Running Time: 96 minutes
Location: Light House Screen 1, Market Square, Smithfield, Dublin 7
Synopsis: After Margaret (Rachel Griffeths) learns that her 18-year-old son, who she abandoned as a baby, has been found dead, her simple, solitary routine is tragically disrupted. But when Joe (Barry Keoghan), a homeless teen from her neighborhood, enters her life, Margaret offers him a room, and she soon embodies the mother she never was. As Margaret copes with the volatile grief of her ex-husband, her own lonely trauma seeps into her relationship with Joe and begins to blur the line between motherly affection and a far more carnal nature of intimacy. With a firm grasp on the devastating layers of grief, Rebecca Daly’s Mammal expertly guides us through the isolating depth into which Margaret is thrust. Rachel Grifith, Barry Keoghan, and Michael McElhatton infuse the film with raw vulnerability that pulsates with the animalistic nature of trauma. This quiet portrait of anguish further establishes Daly’s position as a director with astonishing command – Sundance Film Festival
The Judas Iscariot Lunch (Followed by a Q+A with the Filmmakers)
Date/Time: Thursday 25th February at 18:30
Running Time: 55 minutes
Location: Light House Screen 3, Market Square, Smithfield, Dublin 7
Synopsis: Masculinity and faith in Irish dramaturgy have always been portrayed in two very staid states: for laughs or for terror. Refreshing in its approach, The Judas Iscariot Lunch presents thirteen Irish ex-priests who speak candidly and frankly about the crossroads they came to with their beliefs, after being ordained and positioned as missionaries in East Asia, the Pacific and South America in the 1960s and 1970s.Through their ‘camera confessionals’ we hear their questions and the guilt raised while bridging the gap between the theology they were taught at the seminary and what they put into practice in the real world. Their journey conveys the broader understanding of what faith is, and how it must move and change with the times, cultures and indeed their own humanity and needs. These humble and honest ex-clergymen give the audience an uplifting – sometimes funny – real and thought provoking story, that is stronger than the constraints of the church they left behind. Their story is as relevant today as it was back then on The Church’s position in society and one’s beliefs – Paul Donnelly, Audi Dublin International Film Festival
Atlantic (Followed by a Q+A with the Filmmakers)
Date/Time: Thursday 25th February at 20:30
Running Time: 80 minutes
Location: Cineworld Screen 9, Parnell Street, Dublin 1
Synopsis: Atlantic is the latest film from the makers of the multi-award-winning documentary, The Pipe (2010). This film follows the fortunes of three small fishing communities – in Ireland, Norway and Newfoundland – which are at turns united and divided by the Atlantic Ocean. In recent times, mounting challenges within their own industries, the fragile environment, and the lure of high wages for young fishermen on the oil rigs have seen these fishing communities struggle to maintain their traditional way of life. As the oil majors push into deeper water and further into the Arctic, and the world’s largest fishing companies chase the last great Atlantic shoals, the impact on coastal communities and the ecosystems they rely on is reaching a tipping point. Atlantic tells three very personal stories of those who face the devastating prospect of having their livelihoods taken from them, and their communities destroyed both environmentally and economically.
ADIFF Shorts 2
Date/Time: Saturday 27th February at 13:30
Running Time: 115 minutes
Location: Light House Screen 3, Market Square, Smithfield, Dublin 7
Synopsis: Irish short films include Love is a Sting, Geist, How Was Your Day and The Break
Staid (followed by a Q+A with the Filmmakers)
Date/Time: Saturday 27th February at 16:00
Running Time: 89 minutes
Location: Light House Screen 3, Market Square, Smithfield, Dublin 7
Synopsis: Best-selling author and playwright, Paul O’Brien makes his debut as a filmmaker with his amazingly raw and beautiful, terrier of a movie, Staid. Although set in Ireland, its themes are universal centrepieces of love, loss, ambition and that feeling of being stuck in life. Hidden away in a small town, four people who are tied together by new and old relationships, tangle, fight, sing, talk, smoke, drink, argue, laugh, leave and return – while stumbling towards the reality that their lives are finally changing whether they like it or not. This unfolds in a unique, lush package that hangs together so well because of the the craft of the script, the amazing first-time screen performances, and the gentleness of the storytelling. To see all of these characteristics come together in a first-time movie makes it irresistible. Staid signals the arrival of a new, important voice in Irish cinema – Executive Producer, Eoin Colfer
Viva
Date/Time: Sunday 28th February at 19:45
Running Time: 100 minutes
Location: Savoy Screen 1, North City, Dublin
Synopsis: Viva stars Héctor Medina as Jesus, a young hairdresser working at a Havana nightclub that showcases drag performers, who dreams of being a performer himself. Encouraged by his mentor, Mama (Luis Alberto García), Jesus finally gets his chance to take the stage. But when his estranged father Angel (Jorge Perugorría) abruptly reenters his life, his world is quickly turned upside down. As father and son clash over their opposing expectations of each other, Viva becomes a love story as the men struggle to understand one another and reconcile as a family.