Jameson Dublin International Film Festival

Film fans: here’s the lowdown on the 2011 Jameson Dublin International Film Festival

 

Kevin Spacey, Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen, Ken Loach, Richard Ayoade, Guillaume Canet, Harry Shearer, Timothy Spall and Aiden Gillen confirmed for the 9th Jameson Dublin International Film Festival

 

The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, Ireland’s foremost celebration of cinema, will inspire and provoke; move you to laughter and to tears this February, with a captivating selection of some of the most exciting cinema in screens across the capital from 17th – 27th. The 2011 programme  features over 130 screenings plus a myriad of special events, panel discussions, public interviews and industry masterclasses, with special guests at the festival including Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen, Kevin Spacey,  Richard Ayoade, Ken Loach, Jim Loach, Guillaume Canet, Harry Shearer, Timothy Spall, Aiden Gillen, Eva Birthistle, George Nolfi, Fiona  Glascott and Andrew Scott.

Launching the festival programme, in a packed Tripod venue on 25th January in Dublin, were award-winning actors Maura Tierney (ER, Liar Liar), who is currently in Dublin for rehearsals of God of Carnage at The Gate Theatre, and Charlene McKenna (Raw, Dorothy Mills). “I’m incredibly honoured to unveil this years’ film festival programme – It’s a world class line up,” said Festival Dirtector Grainne Humphreys at the launch. Tickets for the festival are available via the website at www.jdiff.com, or from the ticket office in Filmbase in Temple Bar 01 687 7974, or download the new iPhone and Android App for full programme information.

Opening on a high with Richard Ayoade’s (The IT Crowd, The Mighty Boosh) eagerly awaited directorial debut Submarine, festival audiences will be treated to a succession of Irish premieres, including: George Nolfi’s action-packed The Adjustment Bureau starring Matt Damon; Emilio Estevez’s second film starring Martin Sheen, The Way; the tense thriller Unknown, starring Liam Neeson and Aidan Quinn; the visually stunningly Anton Checkov’s The Duel starring Fiona Glascott and Andrew Scott; the new Woody Allen film You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger; Irish film Wake Wood from the legendary Hammer Films starring Aidan Gillen, Eva Birthistle and Timothy Spall; Ken Loach’s thriller Route Irish, set on the most dangerous road in Iraq, and his son Jim Loach’s first feature Oranges and Sunshine as well as two of the shortlisted films for best foreign language Oscar, Incendies (Canada) and Life, Above All (South Africa).

This year Jameson will launch their Jameson Cult Film Club in Ireland, welcoming Oscar winning actor Kevin Spacey to Dublin for a special interactive screening of The Usual Suspects. “This is our ninth year as sponsor and we look forward to a great festival in 2011.” Said Emma Donnellan, Marketing Director with Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard. “We will showcase Jameson Cult Film Club – a  series of special screenings which take place in unexpected non-cinema locations – for the first time in Ireland. We kick off the series at the festival with The Usual Suspects and we are delighted to welcome the Oscar winning actor and star Kevin Spacey who will discuss the film after the screening.” The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival will be supported by a fully integrated €1.5 million marketing campaign, including TV, on-line, cinema, print and outdoor advertising, experiential marketing as well as an intensive PR campaign.

Commenting on the programme, Festival Director Grainne Humphreys said: “I’m incredibly honoured to unveil this years’ film festival programme – It’s a world class line up, with premieres of the best of international cinema, seasons of new work from Romania and Latin America, a fantastic line up of new Irish cinema, some classic films back on the big screen and a very special line up of guests.

One of the hallmarks of the festival has been the discovery of new talent and this year, an expanded world cinema section, which will showcase provocative new features from new and emerging filmmakers from around the world. Our opening film Richard Ayoade’s Submarine is one such discovery, and it’s a packed programme of films, panels and special events, over the 11 days until our final film François Ozon’s wonderful new comedy Potiche, my advice to all Irish film fans – book early and often.”

Each year Grainne Humphreys spotlights a number of international seasons. This February the focus is emerging Romanian cinema, highlights including the fascinating The  Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu and the bittersweet comedy Hello, How Are You? The hugely anticipated Latin Cinema Season includes Diego Luna’s (Y Tu Mamá También, Milk) skillful directorial debut, Abel, and the extraordinary Preludio, shot in a single take and exploring the development of love. French cinema is also well represented, with a screening of Little White Lies, directed by the multi-talented Guillaume Canet (The Beach, Tell No One) and François Ozon’s multi- Cesar nominated sparkling comedy-of-manners Potiche, starring Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu as the Closing Gala.

Supporting Irish film is an integral part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, and this year the Irish programme includes 18 new features and documentaries and 20 short films. The  

2011 Irish Talent Spotlight casts its gaze on the work of director Juanita Wilson, animator David O’Reilly and actor Aiden Gillen. There will also be a focus behind the scenes of the industry with a number of events: Screentest is a series of careers related panel discussions; a Screenwriting Panel discussion held in association with Dublin City Libraries, and the new screenwriting competition Untitled. Exploring the blurring boundaries between cinema and computer games, the Off The Grid event will also bring gaming ‘industry legend’ Charles Cecil to Dublin for a masterclass in interactive storytelling.

The festival celebrates the intrinsic role of music in many films with a captivating 90th anniversary screening of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse accompanied by a live score by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in the National Concert Hall. Many documentaries  in the festival will also turn the lens on music, with Upside Down,  the story of Creation Records, the label that brought us The Jesus and Mary Chain and Oasis; Good Cake Bad Cake: The Story of LiR, the band  tipped to succeed U2; Kinshasa Symphony, a stereotype dispelling view of the Congo through the eyes of L’Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste and Ballymun Lullaby, the inspirational account of Ron Cooney’s  Ballymun Music Programme.

The Discovery strand of the programme showcases fresh new work from emerging  

filmmakers from around the world, these screenings often being the only opportunity Irish audiences will have to see them. The series features films to suit every mood, including the striking Circus Fantasticus, a tale of life after war, told deftly without words; Russian psychological drama How I Ended This Summer, which won Best Film winner at the BFI London Film Festival; Johnny O’Reilly’s highly anticipated The Weather Station and the multi-award-winning Polish drama Erratum.

Paying tribute to some of the best in classic cinema, the Out of the Past season promises to be a firm favourite during the festival. The season will showcase re-issues and restorations, including a 50th anniversary screening of West Side Story; a spine chilling interactive experience of the The Tingler; Ocean’s Twelve with a post screening Q&A with Scriptwriter George Nolfi, and The African Queen, with Script Supervisor Angela Allen in attendance with anecdotes and the inside track on the making of the film!

 

Documentary afficionadoes will be spoilt for choice with the fantastic array of films on offer, many with attending guests: Mark Cousins with his innovative film The First Movie, in which children on the Iraqi/Kurdish border were given cameras with which to create their own films; The Simpson’s Harry Shearer with his exposé of the reaction to Hurricane Katrina The Big Uneasy and the new 3D documentary, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, from maverick Werner Herzog with a post-screening satellite Q&A. The festival will also host the Irish  premieres of Turner Prize winning artist Gillian Wearing’s Self Made, and Steven Marshall’s thought-provoking Holy Wars, which explores the  conflict between Islam and Christianity, through the eyes of Irish Islamic convert Khalid Kelly and American Christian Aaron D. Taylor.

If all of that were not enough (and there are many more films in the programme that are not mentioned here!), the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival are bringing the festival to the streets, with actors from the Gaiety School of Acting re-enacting famous movie scenes on the streets of Dublin; to your pockets, with a brand new dedicated iPhone and Android app, and to your hearts.

Commenting on the Festival CEO Joanne O’Hagan said: “Once again the festival is going to be one of the highlights of Dublin’s cultural landscapes.  We are very pleased that all of our funders have continued to support us in these difficult times, and we are delighted to welcome new sponsors and supporters to what is Ireland’s biggest and best film event.  We know that the festival will be a great foil to the constant political media coverage, and bucking the current trends both domestically and internationally we have a good news story to tell – Ireland is awash with film talent and the festival is where to be this February.”