JANUARY 2015

FOXCATCHER

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THE IRISHFILM INSTITUTE

EXHIBITPRESERVEEDUCATE

The Irish Film Institute is Ireland’s national cultural institution for film. It aims to exhibit the finest in independent, Irish and international cinema, preserve Ireland’s moving image heritage at the IFI Irish Film Archive, and encourage engagement with film through its various educational programmes.

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The Pete Walsh Critical Writing Award is an annual award that is inspired by the late IFI programmer, Pete Walsh. The Writing Award will be granted to an exceptional piece of critical writing on any one film theatrically screened in Ireland during the previous calendar year e.g. 2014. The focus is on film appreciation and criticism rather than academic analysis. Closing date for entry is February 28th 2015, see www.ifi.ie for more details.

We are delighted to welcome actor Domhnall Gleeson and director Alex Garland to the IFI for a special preview screening of Ex_Machina (see page 10 for film notes) on January 19th at 19.00. For more information and to book visit www.ifi.ie

AWARD

Join our panel for The Critical Take on January 27th at 18.30 for discussion on the widely acclaimed Birdman (opens Jan 2nd) from Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu, the re-issue of Éric Rohmer’s terrific The Green Ray (opens Jan 2nd) and Whiplash (opens Jan 16th), the new film written and directed by Damien Chazelle. This event is FREE and open to all to attend and to take part.

THE CRITICAL TAKEOur French Film Club screening this month will be the re-issue of Éric Rohmer’s largely improvised film The Green Ray (Le Rayon Vert) (see page 6 for more details). IFI and Alliance Française members who attend the film on the evening of January 6th can avail of a discounted ticket price of €7. See www.ifi.ie for the screening time.

FRENCH FILM CLUB

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PREVIEW & GUESTS

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DIRECTOR’S NOTE

JANUARYAT THE IFI

This January the IFI programme features some of the most hotly anticipated films of the year as we gear up for the annual awards season.

We have some exciting and ambitious plans for the IFI in 2015 with initiatives planned across our three core activities of exhibition, preservation and education. In the coming weeks, we will be announcing details of the IFI 2015 Programme with details of some of your favourite events and festivals, alongside some brand new programming initiatives and strands. We hope you’ll be as excited about our ideas as we are.

IFI Education will also have a busy year in 2015. January will see the launch of the next Schools’ Programme with screenings planned nationwide until the end of the academic year. Also, keep an eye out for next month’s programme when we’ll announce details of the Spring IFI Evening Course (open to all) which will commence in early March and will be looking at an introduction to film studies.

At the time of going to print, many of our forthcoming titles have already been shortlisted for Golden Globes with Foxcatcher, The Theory of Everything and Birdman nominated for Best Motion Picture in the Drama or Comedy/ Musical categories, and Alejandro González Iñárritu in the running for Best Director for Birdman. It’s also a month of spellbinding performances with acting nominations for Steve Carell and Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher); Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything); Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams (Big Eyes); Michael Keaton, Emma Stone and Edward Norton (Birdman); Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year); Joaquin Phoenix (Inherent Vice) and J.K. Simmons (Whiplash). Be sure to catch their turns on the big screen at the IFI in January.

We will also be running our annual competition for the Pete Walsh Critical Writing Award, in memory of our late esteemed colleague, Pete Walsh, who was IFI Programmer for 18 years and who passed away in 2012. It will be awarded to the author of an outstanding piece of critical writing on any one film theatrically screened in Ireland during 2014. The winner receives a year’s free entry to films at the IFI, their piece will be included in the IFI monthly programme, and published in full on the IFI blog and website. For more details, see www.ifi.ie

2015 is certainly shaping up to be a busy one for us here at the IFI. I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all of our patrons and supporters a happy new year.

Ross KeaneDirector

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NEW RELEASES & IFI CLASSICS

SEASONS & EVENTS CALENDARDATE SCREENING TIME

3RD SAT

IFI & FIRST FORTNIGHT: ABANDONED GOODS + DISCUSSION

14.00

7TH WED

IFI CAFE BAR: PUB QUIZ (FREE EVENT) 21:30

8TH THURS

AFTERNOON TALK: CINEMA AND THE INTERNET DISCUSSION

14.00

10TH SAT

IFI & FIRST FORTNIGHT: HEAVEN ADORES YOU 16.00

11TH SUN

NATIONAL GALLERY 16.00

12TH MON

TESTAMENT OF YOUTH + SATELLITE Q&A 18.30

18TH SUN

IRELAND ON SUNDAY: DREAMS OF A CLOWN 13.00

19TH MON

EX_MACHINA: PREVIEW + SPECIAL GUESTS 19:00

20TH TUES

FEAST YOUR EYES: THE LUNCHBOX 18.30

21ST WED

FROM THE VAULTS: FRAGMENTS OF ISABELLAIFI & EXPERIMENTAL FILM CLUB: THE STARRY MESSENGER

18.3018.30

25TH SUN

IFI FAMILY: GLITTERBALL 11.00

27TH TUES

THE CRITICAL TAKE (FREE EVENT) 18.30

28TH WED

WILD STRAWBERRIES: CHEF 11.00

29TH THURS

IFI & DIGITAL BISCUIT: IS THE MAN WHO IS TALL HAPPY?

18:30

30TH FRI

WILD STRAWBERRIES: CHEF 11.00

31ST SAT

IFI & TRADFEST 2015: A CURIOUS LIFE 14.00

For a breakdown of times and dates of IFI New Releases & IFI Classics, check out our weekly schedule on www.ifi.ie or the IFI ads in The Irish Times on Fridays and Saturdays. You can also sign up to receive our weekly ezine by emailing admin@irishfilm.ie

Scan the QR code to take you straight to the IFI homepage on your smart phone.

TIMES

BIG EYES FROM JAN 2NDBIRDMAN OPENS JAN 2NDENEMY OPENS JAN 2ND THE GREEN RAY OPENS JAN 2NDTHE THEORY OF EVERYTHING OPENS JAN 2NDFOXCATCHER OPENS JAN 9THA TALE OF SAMURAI COOKING: A TRUE LOVE STORY OPENS JAN 9THNATIONAL GALLERY OPENS JAN 11THAPPLES OF THE GOLAN OPENS JAN 16THTESTAMENT OF YOUTH OPENS JAN 16THWHIPLASH OPENS JAN 16THEX_MACHINA OPENS JAN 23RDA MOST VIOLENT YEAR OPENS JAN 23RD AU REVOIR LES ENFANTS OPENS JAN 30TH INHERENT VICE OPENS JAN 30THTRASH OPENS JAN 30TH

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JANUARY 2015NEW RELEASES & IFI CLASSICS

FROM JAN 2ND Reunited with screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who scripted the inspired biopic Ed Wood, Tim Burton has delivered his best and most vital film for years. It tells the true story of the artists Margaret and Walter Keane, who, in the 1960s, mass produced works depicting waifs with dark, haunting eyes that were hugely popular around the world, much to the bafflement and disdain of the snobbish art world. Walter claimed responsibility for the work, but it was Margaret who

was making it. Walter, portrayed with relish by Christoph Waltz, is depicted as a gifted hawker and huckster, keen to exploit any opportunity to sell the pictures and himself, so caught up in his deceit that he loses sight of truth and decency. Amy Adams gives a wonderfully subtle performance as Margaret, initially too timid and damaged to do anything other than go along with Walter’s lie before she finds the strength to confront it.

FILM INFO:106 minutes, U.S.A., 2014, Colour, D-Cinema Notes by Michael Hayden

BIG EYES

OPENS JAN 2ND Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) is a recognised movie star, haunted by his appearances in The Birdman films, a popular super-hero franchise. Desperate to prove himself a true artist, he ambitiously attempts to launch a Raymond Carver adaptation on Broadway, a play he has written, directs and stars in. On the countdown to opening night, Thomson has to deal with an ego-driven theatre actor (Edward Norton), who is in a complicated relationship with the

play’s leading lady (Naomi Watts); his sardonic daughter (Emma Stone), recently released from rehab and employed as his personal assistant in the hope that they might find time to bond; a burgeoning affair with another cast member (Andrea Riseborough); a wilful, unforgiving newspaper critic (Lindsay Duncan); and the unrelenting voices in his head. Bristling with ideas and featuring a great cast, Iñárritu’s film is emotionally rich, technically audacious and dazzling in its ambition.

FILM INFO:119 minutes, U.S.A., 2014, Colour,D-CinemaNotes by Michael Hayden

BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)

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JANUARY 2015NEW RELEASES & IFI CLASSICS

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OPENS JAN 2ND While his girlfriend Mary (Mélanie Laurent) sleeps, solitary history professor Adam Bell (Jake Gyllenhaal) is watching a film when he suddenly notices a background extra who looks identical to him. Intrigued, Adam’s online research leads him to struggling actor Anthony Claire (Gyllenhaal again) and his pregnant wife Helen (Sarah Gadon). As the lives of the two men become entwined, their respective partners become pawns in a struggle for dominance. Released in the wake of the success of Prisoners (2013),

the excellent Enemy, which was director Denis Villeneuve’s first collaboration with Gyllenhaal, is a very different proposition. Filmed in sickly hues, its take on the doppelgänger is reminiscent of the work of David Lynch, filled with mounting tension, psychological dread, and abstract imagery, leading to what will undoubtedly prove to be one of the year’s most unexpected and striking endings.

FILM INFO:90 minutes, Canada-Spain, 2013, Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Kevin Coyne

ENEMY

It is summer and Delphine is stranded in Paris just when everybody else is leaving the city for their holidays. She has just ended a relationship and she is desperate for an escape. A number of pitying invitations result in unsatisfying trips to Cherbourg, to the Alps and to the beach. Her parents try and persuade her to travel to Ireland, but she doesn’t want to spend time with them. Delphine appears desperate for love, for romance or just for a connection, but her manner

insists that she wants those things on her own terms. Rohmer’s acute, earnest observation on relationships and feminine behaviour remains fascinating and relevant, in no small part because of Marie Rivière’s irresistible performance as Delphine. In a largely improvised film, her presence is believable, precious, honest and beautiful, affording The Green Ray a disarming daringness.

OPENS JAN 2ND

(LE RAYON VERT)IFI CLASSICFILM INFO:98 minutes, France, 1986, Colour, D-Cinema, SubtitledNotes by Michael Hayden

THE GREEN RAY

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IFI FRENCH FILM CLUB IFI French Film Club screening will take place on January 6th. Tickets €7 for IFI or Alliance Française members. See www.ifi.ie for screening time.

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OPENS JAN 9TH Bennett Miller follows the acclaimed films Capote and Moneyball with this great, brooding true crime saga. The story centres on John Eleuthère du Pont, an eccentric millionaire who, in the late 1980s, sought to establish himself as a benevolent sponsor of American wrestling, setting up a programme at Villanova University. Du Pont looked to recruit the brothers Mark and Dave Shultz, who had both won world and Olympic championships, and had become the biggest names in

the sport. The Schultz brothers were not in a position to turn down du Pont’s money, yet his peculiar behaviour and the power his wealth afforded him led to tragedy. Presenting this story with patience and intelligence, Foxcatcher is a tense and involving affair, its drama measured out sparingly. Featuring a terrific cast, there are career-defining performances for Channing Tatum and for Steve Carell, the latter startling and brilliant as du Pont.

FILM INFO:134 minutes, U.S.A., 2014, Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Michael Hayden

FOXCATCHER

OPENS JAN 2ND Stephen Hawking’s life story involves more drama than one film might be expected to contain. By the time his genius was popularly celebrated with the publication of the modern classic A Brief History of Time in 1988, in which he sought to help non-scientists understand fundamental questions of physics and our existence, Hawking had been coping with the debilitating illness ALS, a form of Motor Neurone Disease, for 25 years. Adapting the memoir written by Hawking’s ex-wife

Jane Wilde Hawking, Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen, Oscar-winning filmmaker James Marsh (Man on Wire, Shadow Dancer) presents a handsome, deeply moving biopic with an endearing love affair at its centre. It’s an effective approach to the Hawkings’ story and the two lead actors are superb. Felicity Jones gives a tender, sympathetic performance as Jane, while Eddie Redmayne’s portrayal of Stephen is as brilliant as it is uncanny.

FILM INFO:123 minutes, U.K.-U.S.A., 2014, Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Michael Hayden

THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

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JANUARY 2015NEW RELEASES & IFI CLASSICS

A TALE OF SAMURAI COOKING: A TRUE LOVE STORY

OPENS JAN 9TH In Edo period Japan, Haru is an impetuous divorcée working as a maid. Her sense of taste and declarations at dinner parties serve to embarrass her mistress, but impress Dennai Funaki, a head chef for a warlord’s clan from Kaga. The chef proposes that Haru marries his son and heir, so that the Dennai family might provide a lineage to serve delicacies to future generations of the powerful elite. But when she does agree to marry Dennai Yasunobu, she finds he has no skills

in the kitchen and is only distracted by dreams of fighting like a proper warrior. Haru is charged with showing Yasunobu the nobility of his position and improving the food he serves. It’s a difficult place to build a relationship from, but Haru takes on the challenge. Based on historical events, A Tale of Samurai Cooking: A True Love Story is a sumptuous delight.

(BUSHI NO KONDATE)

EXCLUSIVELY AT IFI†

FILM INFO:122 minutes, Japan, 2013, Subtitled, Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Michael Hayden

OPENS JAN 11TH Now well into his 80s, master documentarian Frederick Wiseman continues to be as prolific as he is brilliant. The latest focus for his intense observation is the National Gallery in London, the Trafalgar Square institution that displays some of the greatest artwork in the world, housing 2,400 paintings created from the 13th to the end of the 19th century. Wiseman’s camera lingers on the work and also covers the activities of the Gallery, bearing witness to

the education programmes, the preservation efforts, the curatorial expertise and the marketing and sponsorship planning that go into big exhibitions. National Gallery is a film about how art is appreciated in the 21st century and the formidable power it can still have. It is a work of art in itself, a true wonder and an absolute delight, matchless documentary filmmaking that has a rare and noble purity at its heart.

FILM INFO:180 minutes, France-U.S.A., 2014, Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Michael Hayden

NATIONAL GALLERY

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OPENS JAN 16TH This documentary tells the epic story of Majdal Shams, one of five remaining Arab villages in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Before the occupation there were 136 such villages, which have now mostly been destroyed. Cut off from their homeland since the events of the Six Day War, the villagers fight to maintain their national identity amid political uncertainty, border disputes and the Syrian civil war. They are all connected to, and owe their existence to, the apples which grow

all around the village. In many ways, as their resistance to occupation is generally peaceful, the apples are their bombs.FILM INFO:

82 minutes, Ireland, 2013, Colour, D-Cinema, SubtitledNotes by Wild Card Distribution

APPLES OFTHE GOLAN

OPENS JAN 16TH Based on the celebrated WWI memoir by Vera Brittain, Testament of Youth is a bold adaptation of a cherished text that features an eye-catching lead performance from rising star Alicia Vikander (also seen at the IFI this month in Ex_Machina, see page 10). Vera comes of age during the early years of the 20th century, fighting to convince others that she is worthy of a place at Oxford University, falling for a friend of her brother’s who shares her literary interests and then having her dreams

shattered when war is declared. As she sees the men around her go off to fight, she is determined to make her own contribution and signs on as a nurse, where she bears witness to the desperate state those fighting men return in. Testament of Youth serves as an unflinching depiction of the horrors of the war and an acknowledgement of the vital role women played in it.

FILM INFO:118 minutes, U.K.-Norway-Denmark-Germany-Sweden, 2012, Colour, D-Cinema Notes by Michael Hayden

TESTAMENT OF YOUTH

PREVIEW + SATELLITE Q&A There will be a preview screening of Testament of Youth on Monday 12th at 18.30. Following the screening a satellite Q&A will take place.

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JANUARY 2015NEW RELEASES & IFI CLASSICS

OPENS JAN 16TH Tipped to figure prominently in the upcoming awards season, Damien Chazelle’s sophomore effort follows a dedicated 19-year-old jazz drummer Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller), student at an elite New York music conservatory, as he strives to become one of the all-time greats under the tutelage of Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons). Eschewing a traditional, nurturing student-teacher dynamic, Whiplash instead pits the two as adversaries, with Fletcher relentlessly and remorselessly pushing his charge

physically and psychologically, often with a borderline cruelty that, despite causing simmering resentment, is nevertheless accepted by Andrew as essential to his development as a musician. The film itself is however, far from an endurance test: the mesmerising Simmons’ diatribes are laced with savage wit; a budding relationship with shy cinema employee Melissa Benoist provides some touching moments; and the soundtrack, naturally, is outstanding, while the film builds to a genuinely exhilarating climax.

FILM INFO:107 minutes, U.S.A., 2014, Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Kevin Coyne

WHIPLASH

OPENS JAN 23RD

FILM INFO:108 minutes, U.S.A.-U.K., 2015, Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Kevin Coyne

Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) is working for the world’s largest internet company, headed by the enigmatic and reclusive Nathan (Oscar Isaac, A Most Violent Year, see page 11), when he wins an organisation-wide competition to spend a week with the CEO at his home. On his arrival, he is tantalised by Nathan’s offer of inclusion in something truly world-changing; Caleb is to be the human component in a variant of the Turing test, where he will judge the performance of a supposedly sentient

artificial intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful woman (Alicia Vikander, also seen in Testament of Youth, see page 9), in passing for human in its interactions with him.

The stage is set for an unsettling chamber piece in which novelist and screenwriter Alex Garland, directing for the first time, investigates ideas of consciousness and humanity while roles within the group shift in frequently surprising ways.

EX_MACHINA

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PREVIEW + SPECIAL GUESTSThere will be a preview screening of Ex_Machina on January 19th at 19.00, with special guests Domhnall Gleeson and Alex Garland.

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OPENS JAN 23RD

FILM INFO:125 minutes, U.S.A., 2014, Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Michael Hayden

1981 is on record as being worst year for violent crime in the history of New York City. J.C. Chandor (Margin Call, All is Lost) sets his latest drama then and there, is an atmosphere of cheap hoodlums, corrupt teamsters, shady lawyers, ambitious entrepreneurs, crime syndicates, ineffective law enforcement and men out for all they can get. Trying to rise above all this is Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac), an ex-truck driver who has built up a heating company after marrying his former boss’ daughter,

Anna (Jessica Chastain). While his father-in-law was mobbed up, Morales resists such corruption, going to great lengths to protect his family and business as malicious forces conspire to drag him down.

With a sharp script and an excellent cast, A Most Violent Year is a brilliantly realised period piece that resonates in depicting a brutal, tainted take on The American Dream.

A MOST VIOLENT YEAR

OPENS JAN 30TH Based on the director’s own experiences at a Catholic boarding school in occupied France, Au revoir les enfants depicts a dark and complex period in history as seen through the eyes of two young boys who form an unlikely but deeply important friendship. Son of a wealthy industrialist and doting mother, Julien is unhappily settling back in at school after the holidays when Père Jean, the benevolent headmaster, introduces new student Jean Bonnet to the class.

Solitary and intelligent, Jean arouses suspicion from the others, but Julien is intrigued by him and the pair gradually begin to spend time together, playing piano, reading passages from Arabian Nights and getting into scraps in the yard. When Julien discovers that Jean is Jewish, he doesn’t fully understand the significance of this but knows it must be kept secret, particularly from the troops of German soldiers living close by.

IFI CLASSIC

FILM INFO:104 minutes, France-West Germany, 1987, Colour, D-Cinema, SubtitledNotes by Alice Butler

AU REVOIR LES ENFANTS

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JANUARY 2015NEW RELEASES & IFI CLASSICS

OPENS JAN 30TH Given the sprawling and complex style of Thomas Pynchon’s novels, with their numerous digressions and huge casts of characters, it may not be particularly surprising that Inherent Vice is the first film adaptation of his writing, but it’s surely less surprising that the task has been entrusted to Paul Thomas Anderson, whose own work could be similarly described. This film may prove to be the best point of entry to either man’s oeuvre, an immensely entertaining, very funny, shaggy dog

noir in which Joaquin Phoenix’s Doc, a perpetually stoned private investigator in 1970 Los Angeles, becomes embroiled in a labyrinthine plot when his ex-girlfriend (Katherine Waterson) comes to him for help.

Subsequent story threads and scene-stealing turns (including a prescient Joanna Newsom and a truculent Josh Brolin) meander in and out of focus in this magnificently tumbledown triumph.

FILM INFO:148 minutes, U.S.A., 2014, Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Kevin Coyne

INHERENT VICE

TRASH

OPENS JAN 30TH Fourteen-year-old Raphael Fernandez is one of many favela dwelling kids trying to make a living by foraging in the landfills around Rio. He fortuitously finds a wallet containing a wad of cash in amongst the rubbish, though he is immediately intrigued by its other contents; photos of a little girl and the key to a locker at a train station. Raphael’s curiosity is peaked when untrustworthy cops start sniffing around, desperate to uncover the wallet. Roping in his best friend Gardo and a local

homeless kid called Rato, Raphael leads the trio on a mission to solve the mystery his discovery has thrown up.

With an incisive script by Richard Curtis, a committed energy, and heart-pounding tension, Trash combines genuine thrills with sincere social concerns. Rooney Mara and Martin Sheen feature to support a terrific young cast who had no previous acting experience before appearing here.

FILM INFO:115 minutes, U.K.- Brazil, 2014, Subtitled, Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Michael Hayden

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IFI EVENTS

IFI EVENTS

IRELAND ON SUNDAYWILD STRAWBERRIESARCHIVE AT LUNCHTIMEIFI FAMILYIFI & FIRST FORTNIGHTIFI & DIGITAL BISCUITIFI & TRADFEST 2015AFTERNOON TALKFEAST YOUR EYESFROM THE VAULTSIFI & EXPERIMENTAL FILM CLUB

Wild Strawberries is our bi-monthly film club for over 55s.

If your new-year resolution involved being more adventurous with your cooking, then this joyous comedy will help. Writer and director Jon Favreau,

stars as Carl, a talented and creative chef in an upmarket Californian restaurant. Following a row with a food critic he gets fired and is forced to rethink his life, career and relationships, particularly with his son. Favreau, who directed the Iron Man trilogy, brings together a great cast, including Robert Downey Jr., Dustin Hoffman and Scarlett Johansson, for this story of food, family and life.

€3.85 including regular tea/coffee before the screening. Wild Strawberries is our film club for over 55s. If you are lucky enough to look younger please don't take offense if we ask your age.

JAN 28TH AND 30TH (11.00)

DIRECTOR:Jon Favreau

FILM INFO:114 minutes, U.S.A, 2014, Comedy

DIRECTOR:Dieter Auner

FILM INFO:84 minutes, 2014, D-Cinema

Ireland on Sunday is our monthly showcase for new Irish film.

Galway-based director Dieter Auner turns his attention from central Europe (Leaving Transylvania, Off the Beaten Track) to Ireland following the fortunes

of the Gerbola family as they fight to keep their small family circus on the road. For nine months of the year the tightly knit crew exist outside the bounds of “normal” life with Mikey Gerbola - eccentric clown, generous husband, and determined small-business man - battling at the helm. As he and Tara struggle with budgets and the demands of the show, their two young sons juggle their love of the circus and their need for formal education.

Auner’s unhurried gaze creates an exact and moving record of these memorable characters.

IRELAND ON SUNDAYDREAMS OF A CLOWN JAN 18TH (13.00)

DIRECTOR Q&ADirector Dieter Auner will participate in a post-screening Q&A.

WILDSTRAWBERRIESCHEF

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ARCHIVE AT LUNCHTIME

Join us for FREE lunchtime screenings of films from the IFI Irish Film Archive. Simply collect your tickets at the IFI Box Office. Please see www.ifi.ie for dates and times.SHOP 'TIL YOU DROP

PROGRAMME 1: AMHARC ÉIREANN: EAGRÁN 240 New Year’s sale fever in Dublin FILM INFO: 3 minutes, 1964, Black and White

CÁ N-IMÍONN AN T'AIRGEAD/ WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO? Thrifty shopping habits for young men and women. FILM INFO: 10 minutes, 1954, Black and White

CIALL CHEANNAIGH Guinness Film Society’s minutely observed day in the life of Cornelscourt Shopping Centre FILM INFO: 11 minutes, 1970, Black and White

PROGRAMME 2: CLERY’S DEPARTMENT STORE Early days of Clery’s with its life-sized model zoo, bargain basement and delightful tea rooms. FILM INFO: 3 minutes, 1932, Black and White

OUR COUNTRY A party political broadcast for Clann na Poblachta in which director Liam O Laoghaire plays an apologetic shop-keeper. FILM INFO: 7 minutes, 1948, Black and White

THE END OF THE COUNTER It’s 1965 and it’s out with the over-the-counter and in with the self-service in Matt Melia’s shop.FILM INFO: 11 minutes, 2013, Colour

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THE GLITTERBALL JAN 25TH (11.00)

Classic sci-fi film from The British Children’s Film and TV Foundation. Established in the 1950s by Lord Rank to make films for matinée and schools showings, the Foundation produced a whole range of work for cinema and later TV, including Danny Champion of the World and the TV Series, The Borrowers. The Glitterball was one of a number of sci-fi films made.

In comparison to Hollywood spectacles, the budget was relatively small but, nevertheless, it won the hearts of young viewers with its story of a mysterious silver ball which gets stranded on earth. Some local kids befriend it and set about concealing it from the authorities, the airforce and a small-time crook. Despite the relatively simple special effects, the film’s naivety and imagination just add to its charm.

DIRECTOR: Harley Cokeliss

FILM INFO: 56 minutes, U.K., 1977, Family/Sci-Fi, D-Cinema

Tickets: €4.80 per person, €14.40 family ticket (2 adults + 2 children /1 adult + 3 children)

IFI FAMILY

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Digital Biscuit and Animation Skillset are delighted to present this exclusive screening following Michel Gondry’s talk at Digital Biscuit in the Science Gallery on the afternoon of January 29th. Through a series of interviews, Michel Gondry illustrates Noam

Chomsky’s theories in an animated documentary, where Gondry’s creativity and imagination serve Chomsky’s intellectual rigour.

The lively, sometimes intricate, often touching and always very humane dialogue with Chomsky is depicted naturally by the stream of Gondry’s subjective animation. Using animated drawings, Michel Gondry brings to light Noam Chomsky both as an eminent professor and as a man.

FILM INFO:88 minutes, France, 2013, Colour

JAN 29TH (18.30)

IFI & DIGITAL BISCUIT IS THE MAN WHO IS TALL HAPPY?

DIRECTORS:Pia Borg, Edward Lawrenson

FILM INFO:37 minutes, U.K, 2014

DIRECTOR:Nickolas Rossi

FILM INFO:104 minutes, U.S.A, 2014, Colour

PROGRAMME 1:ABANDONED GOODSAbandoned Goods is a short essay film that tells the story of the journey of the Adamson Collection. Recently rediscovered, the collection is one of the major bodies of British ‘asylum art’. It contains around 5,500 objects created between 1946 and 1981 by patients in Netherne psychiatric hospital in Surrey, England. Blending archive, reconstruction, 35mm rostrum photography, interviews and observational footage, the film explores the transformation of the objects in the Adamson Collection, from clinical material to revered art objects, examining the lives of the creators and the changing contexts in which the objects were produced and displayed. It was narrated by an unseen cataloguer, voiced by Iain Sinclair, who comments on key works in the Collection and provides glimpses into the lives of their creators.

ABANDONED GOODSJAN 3RD (14.00)

HEAVEN ADORES YOUJAN 10TH (16.00)

PROGRAMME 2:HEAVEN ADORES YOUHeaven Adores You is an intimate inquiry into the life and music of Elliott Smith. In this documentary, we journey through the life of Steven Paul “Elliott” Smith, a musician whose rise to prominence in the 1990s and early 2000s was cut short by his untimely death at the age of 34 in 2003. The film – which receives its Irish premiere as part of First Fortnight – opens in 1998, a year in which Elliott receives an Oscar nomination. Since his death in 2003, many have attempted to tell the story of his creative “sadsack” genius, often through the lens of struggle, heartache and addiction. Director Nickolas Rossi employs a different lens, placing music centre-stage, creating a framework for Elliott to narrate the story of his life himself, through the filter of recorded conversations and interviews.

Tickets for each programme are €9. Each screening will be followed bya post-show Q&A and panel discussion.

IFI & FIRST FORTNIGHT

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InConversation is a series of podcasts that have been profiling figures from the Irish film industry in collaboration with Film Ireland. Join the podcasters for a recorded roundtable discussion about the internet’s impact on the film industry and cinema, from sourcing

new talent and building a personal creative profile to raising funds and attracting audiences.

A panel of industry workers including Alan Fitzpatrick (Managing Director of Filmbase), Marie Caffrey (Director of web series Cuckoo), Thryza Ging (Louise Kiely Casting) and Patrick Stewart (IFI Public Relations Officer) will discuss the challenges and opportunities that the internet offers in their differing working lives.

JAN 8TH (14.00)

AFTERNOON TALKCINEMA AND THE INTERNET DISCUSSION

DIRECTOR:Dunstan Bruce

FILM INFO:78 minutes, 2014, D-Cinema

DIRECTORS:Pete and Toshi Seeger

FILM INFO:90 minutes, Live Performance and D-Cinema

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PROGRAMME 1:A CURIOUS LIFEThis year’s TradFest screening sees the Irish premiere of Dunstan Bruce’s new documentary chronicling the rise and fall of anarcho-punk-folk band The Levellers. A product of Thatcher’s Britain, the band rose to fame in the early '90s before disappearing into a chaotic mire of drink, drugs and creative drought. The film explores the machinations of a group that took their inspira-tion from bands such as Crass and Chumbawamba. A Curious Life is a poignant and hilarious film as told by their eccentric bassist Jeremy Cunningham. As Jeremy states a ”journey through 25 years of subsidised dysfunctionalism”.

Director Dunstan Bruce will be present at the screening.

IFI &TRADFEST2015

A CURIOUS LIFEJAN 31ST (14.00)

THE LONG ROADTO GLENTIESFEB 1ST (14.00)

PROGRAMME 2:THE LONG ROAD TO GLENTIESIn 1964 world renowned folk singer and civil rights activist Pete Seeger (1919 – 2014) travelled with his wife Toshi to Co. Donegal to spend a day in the company of elusive folk music legend John Doherty. Doherty (1900 – 1980), a fiddle player, was passing his time as a tinsmith travelling from house to house and playing a form of traditional music of which he was one of the last custodians. For the past 50 years Toshi’s extraordinary film of their meeting has been preserved in Washington’s Library of Congress. It is now revealed to a cinema audience for the first time.

The film introduction by Dr. Conor Caldwell (QUB) and Danny Diamond (Irish Traditional Music Archive), both fiddlers, will incorporate short musical performances.

We are delighted to once more present two programmes of films as part of our annual collaboration with TradFest.

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Our monthly gastronomic feature followed by a meal in the IFI Café Bar.

Rather than eat out every day, workers in Mumbai depend on a complicated delivery system for their mid-day meal,

whereby cooked lunches are prepared at home, picked up in a tiffin box by dabbawalas and dropped off to offices and factories all over the city. When soon-to-be retired accountant and widower Saajan receives someone else’s lunch at work one day, he devours it all and decides against correcting the mistake when it happens again the next day. Housewife and young mother Ila soon realises the lunch pail is going to the wrong person, however, and sends a genial note with the food which Saajan feels compelled to answer.

JAN 20TH (18.30)

DIRECTOR:Ritesh Batra

FILM INFO:105 minutes, India-France-Germany, 2013, Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Declan Sheehan

FEAST YOUR EYES THE LUNCHBOX

DIRECTOR:Ronan O’Leary

FILM INFO:79 minutes, 1989, Black and White and Colour, 35mm

This screening is in memory of actor Gabrielle Reidy (1960-2014), who adapted the book by Isabella Leitner for the stage with director Michael Scott. She performed it from 1985 to '89, bringing to the role of

Isabella the conviction, intensity and luminosity for which she was known.

This film adaptation from director Ronan O’Leary foregrounds this remarkable solo performance which chronicles the experience of Leitner, a young Hungarian girl who survived the Auschwitz concentration camp to become the first survivor of the Holocaust to reach the sanctuary of the United States where she struggled for many years to rebuild the fragments of her shattered life. This powerful narrative is subtly amplified by Carl Davis’ fine score.

FROM THE VAULTS FRAGMENTS OF ISABELLA JAN 21ST (18.30)

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“I only screen The Starry Messenger publicly on 16mm so that the black is the actual absence of light, as opposed to the projected black of video.”- Marika Borgeson

The Starry Messenger was initially an exhibition curated by Declan Sheehan for Derry’s Void Gallery in 2014, a project engaging with the materiality of film as a manifestly analogue physical and chemical process. Seven artist filmmakers engage with the materiality of the film medium through physical and digital manipulation of celluloid, the use of alternative processes, whilst also engaging with film as a trace of time, of site, and of memory.

JAN 21ST (18.30)

IFI & EXPERIMENTAL FILM CLUB THE STARRY MESSENGER

FILM INFO: Full programme: 98 minutesNotes by Alice Butler

See www.ifi.ie for full details on all short films in our programme

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19TH - 29TH MAR 2015

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PUBLIC & CLUB SCREENINGSAround half of our films are classified by the Irish Film Classification Office, are open to the general public and do not require membership. Unclassified films require membership. You have two options: annual membership (€25 or €15 concessions) or daily membership (€1 per person each time you visit the cinema). For further details on membership, please go to www.ifi.ie or call our Box Office.

†The exclusivity status of films is correct at time of going to print

LOYALTY & MEMBERSHIPThe IFI Loyalty Card is free and allows you to earn points that you can later exchange for free cinema tickets. Membership gives you the chance to attend a free preview screening every single month and discounts when you spend at the IFI. Go to www.ifi.ie or call our Box Office for details. Please remember: no card, no points!

PARKINGOn presentation of your IFI cinema ticket, the Fleet Street Car Park will offer IFI patrons a special rate of €5.00 for 3 hours’ parking. Simply present the cinema ticket along with the parking ticket when you pay at the cash desk, prior to collecting your car.

BOX OFFICE & PRICESADMISSION FEESThese apply to regular IFI screenings and do not necessarily apply to special events or festivals. Reduced admission fees for annual members and their guests are detailed in brackets. Prices stated below effective January 5th 2015.

MONDAY – FRIDAY12.30pm to 6pm €7.60 (€7) Conc. €5.90 (€5.50)6pm to 10pm €9.00 (€8) Conc. €7.60 (€7)

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All cinema screens at the IFI are wheelchair accessible. If you are a wheelchair user, please let the IFI Box Office know at least 30 minutes in advance of a screening (01 679 5744 /boxoffice@irishfilm.ie). To enable us to determine your requirements and assist you fully, we regret that we are unable to offer wheelchair bookings online.

YOUR VISITTO THE IFI

Films start at the times stated in this programme. Latecomers may be refused admission after the start of the feature.

LATECOMERS POLICY

IFI BOARDPatron: Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland Board Members: Lenny Abrahamson, Paddy Breathnach, Michael Collins, Maeve Connolly, Sheila de Courcy, Garry Hynes, Neil Jordan, Margaret Kelleher (Chairperson), Trish Long, Kevin Moriarty, Patsy Murphy, Dr. Harvey O’Brien, Dearbhla Walsh.

CONTACTIrish Film Institute, 6 Eustace Street,Temple Bar, Dublin 2

Box Office: (01) 679 3477, Web: www.ifi.ie

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