Celebrating our national holiday, St. Patrick’s Festival will bring together 3,000 artists, musicians, dancers, poets and performers in a stunning programme with over 30 events spanning four days and nights from March 16th – 19th. Here are some of the film highlights:
A Page of MadnessA Page of Madness/Kurutta Ippeiji (1926) is a silent film by Japanese film director Kinugasa Teinosuke. It was lost for fifty years until being rediscovered by Kinugasa in a shed in 1971. Every generation has turned out a handful of directors whose work has broken the mould to go far beyond the standards set by their contemporaries. One of the first of these was Teinosuke Kinugasa, who all the way back in the 1920s was busily familiarising himself with developments in European cinema and became the first director in Japan to realise his ambition of treating cinema as a distinct art form in its own right, divorced from the commercial concerns of the new mass-audience medium.
Based on a treatment by the later 1968 Nobel Prize-winning novelist Yasunari Kawabata, A Page of Madness seems a far cry from the standard theatrically derived Kabuki adaptations produced at the time. It’s a simple story of a retired sailor who has taken a job as a janitor in an asylum to look after his insane wife; however a synopsis of the plot can’t begin to explain the power of the film, nor the audacity of its cinematic vision.
March 2017 marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Ireland and Japan. This will be a rare screening of arguably the most important Asian film from the silent era in the beautiful surroundings of the Chapel at Trinity College Dublin. This presentation will be accompanied by a new score produced by acclaimed Irish musicians and composers Matthew Nolan and Seán Mac Erlaine in collaboration with the London-based shakuhachi (Japanese flute) master, Clive Bell.
Tickets – €14/10 concession are available here
Open Air Cinema
In America will be shown in the open an air Cinema in association with Happenings and Fingal County Council. The stunning film will be viewed on a large screen at Swords Castle, Bridge St. Townparks, Swords, Co. Dublin. The incredibly moving film tells the story of an Irish family moving to America for a fresh start. The event is Thursday, March 16th at 7:30pm. The screening is free but ticketed via stpatricksfestival.ie.
Sing Street will also be shown in an open air cinema in association with Happenings and Fingal County Council in Blanchardstown Plaza. This Golden Globe nominated film is the story of a boy, growing up in Dublin during the 1980s, who is forced to relocate to a new public school when the recession hits his family. He escapes his school and home life by starting a band to impress a young girl. Just a 30-minute drive from the city centre, the open-air cinema is something different and makes the perfect weekend date. This event is on Saturday, March 18th at 7pm. The screening is free but ticketed via stpatricksfestival.ie.
Other Events:
St. Patrick’s Daze in the IFI features a Hollywood drama Trial at Tara (1953) which is an Amharc Eireann Newsreel from St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin in 1960 and Ireland in Spring (1957) showing a St. Patrick’s Pageant on Saturday, March 18th at 12:30pm. The tickets for this event are between €6-8 from ifi.ie.
St. Patrick’s Ciné-Concert in the IFI is a programme of St. Patrick – themed silent films from the 1920s and 30s that will be presented with live accompaniment from harpist Cormac de Barra and percussionist, whistle and flute player, Éamonn de Barra. It will take place on Saturday, March 18th at 2pm. Tickets for the event are between €6-8 from ifi.ie.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral Ciné Concert features three silent films from The Kalem Film Company. The company spent several years in Killarney and Beaufort and the films were made showing the politics and life of Ireland in the early 1900’s. The Irish Cine Theatre Ensemble will also have live performances from the original scores from these films. The event takes place on Sunday, March 19th at 8pm. Tickets are €10 and you can buy them from stpatricksfestival.ie.
For more events around the city check out the full line-up on stpatricksfestival.ie.