One of just a handful of features in the last three decades to be shot specifically on 70mm, the IFI’s screening of Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet is an extremely rare chance to see one of the great adaptations of Shakespeare’s work on film. Around twice the size of regular 35mm prints, the 70mm format offers greatly increased colour and clarity as well as sound quality that still rivals anything digital cinema has to offer. The IFI is the only venue in Ireland capable of projecting the format and will present Hamlet on 30th June at 18.30.
Belfast-born Kenneth Branagh takes the titular role and directs this 1996 adaptation of Hamlet. A star in the theatre since the early 80s, Branagh had already successfully adapted Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing and Othello for cinema. A huge critical success on release,
Hamlet was nominated for four Academy Awards. It was an extraordinarily ambitious project, the first time Hamlet had ever been filmed in its entirety (it runs to a whopping four hours +intermission) never mind on 70mm -but it’s worth every minute.
Branagh also gathered together an incredible cast including Kate Winslet (Ophelia), Derek Jacobi (Claudius), Julie Christie (Gertrude), Richard Briers (Polonius) in leading roles as well as Robin Williams, John Gielgud, Gérard Depardieu, Judi Dench, Charlton Heston, Timothy Spall and Simon Russell Beale in the supporting ensemble.
Acknowledged as one the greatest examples of Shakespeare on film, this is a rare and wonderful chance to see an actor at the height of his powers and experience the film’s lavish mis-en-scène in all its 70mm glory.
The IFI’s 70mm screening of Hamlet
is supported by Expert Air Limited.
Tickets for Hamlet (70mm) on 30th June at 18.30 are €12 and are available now from the IFI Box Office on 01 679 3477 or www.ifi.ie. Free list suspended.