JULY 2014

BOYHOOD

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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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Join us for cinematic adventures in music, family, friendship and 'foosball' in this year’s IFI Family Festival (July 17th – 20th). Our specially selected films from around the world include animation, live action, Irish premieres, special guests, puzzling quests, Wildernuts and sheep! Learn lots of new skills in our workshops, and meet our Young Media Explorers and RTÉ Young People’s Diana Bunici on opening night. For more information and booking, see www.ifi.ie/familyfest

FAMILYJoin us on the terrace every Friday throughout July from 18.00 to 20.30 for mouth-watering barbequed burgers for just €5! You can also enjoy a burger with a pint of Bavaria for just €9 in our special deal, or why not indulge in a refreshing jug of Pimm’s for €15? Perfect for al fresco dining before or after your film! Don’t forget you can reserve your table by calling 01 679 8712 or asking at the Café Bar.

BBQ!

Screenings of Finding Vivian Maier (see page 8 for notes) will be preceded by the IFB-funded short animation, Coda, by Alan Holly. Coda won Best Animated Short Film at the prestigious South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival this year. A lost soul stumbles drunkenly through the city. In a park, Death finds him and shows him many things. (9 minutes, Ireland, 2013.)

IRISH SHORTIFI National, which curates programmes from the IFI Irish Film Archive to make cultural cinema available throughout Ireland, returns to the Galway Film Fleadh (July 8th – 13th) with a programme of sound and silent films made in and about Galway from the 1920s to the ‘70s. Part of the IFI Local Films for Local People Project, these films document life, leisure and livelihoods, and will appeal to all interested in the heritage and history of Galway.

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DIRECTOR’S NOTE

JULYAT THE IFI

The IFI’s July programme has, at its centre, a focus on women in (and on) film.

One of the key strategic priorities of the IFI’s exhibition programme is to develop a space for critical engagement and discussion. Over the past few months, we have seen focuses on Irish film and television (IFI Spotlight in April) and the ethics involved in documentary and factual programme making (States of Fear – 15 Years On in May). Following on from these highly relevant and important seminars, this month we present a focus on the work of women in film and the representation of women on film.

This month’s season takes the Bechdel Test as its starting point – the examination of a film to see if it passes by having two women talk to each other about a subject other than a man. In Beyond the Bechdel Test we present a selection of films by both male and female directors which explore complex portrayals of women, and the relationships between women, on screen. The entire season aims to encourage conversation and debate and, with this in mind, the topic permeates throughout the rest of the programme this July. A number of the screenings will be introduced by special guests, while many of our ongoing programming strands will also further explore the theme including From the Vaults (with a screening of Pat Murphy’s Maeve), Wild Strawberries (with female friendship explored in Fried Green Tomatoes), Archive at Lunchtime (which looks at the changing role of women in Irish society) and The Critical Take (looking at representations of gender). In addition, this month’s Afternoon Talk will be presented by Professor Diane Negra addressing A History of the ‘Chick Flick’, while a special panel discussion, Presence and Absence: Women in Contemporary Cinema, will be chaired by Sinéad Gleeson alongside critic Roe McDermott, filmmaker Pat Murphy, producer Rachel Lysaght, and Trinity lecturer Ruth Barton.

This July we are delighted to welcome back our annual IFI Family Festival, offering four days of films and workshops for young people. With a programme representing a broad geographic spread from countries far and wide, including Japan, Belgium, Canada and Ireland, this year’s themes range from music to ‘foosball’, and from family to friendship. Our opening night will feature magic tricks for everyone, while other special events will include penalty shoot-outs, a nature trail and a mobile farm! Our workshops programme has a variety of offerings for those aged 8 to 13 and, tying in with Beyond the Bechdel Test, The Irish Times film critic Tara Brady will explore some of film’s coolest female characters. So bring your young film fans in for this truly unique festival, as this will be your only opportunity to ever see many of these remarkable films on the big screen in Ireland.

All of this alongside our regular programme of new releases (including Richard Linklater’s Boyhood and winner of Best Irish Feature at JDIFF, Love Eternal) and IFI Classics (including Billy Wilder’s Some Like it Hot and Orson Welles’ The Lady from Shanghai). So July at the IFI has plenty on offer to lure you away from the summer sun!

Ross KeaneDirector

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A HARD DAY'S NIGHT OPENS JULY 4THCYCLING WITH MOLIÈRE OPENS JULY 4THLOVE ETERNAL OPENS JULY 4THTHE 100-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOWAND DISAPPEARED OPENS JULY 4THBOYHOOD OPENS JULY 11THGOLTZIUS AND THEPELICAN COMPANY OPENS JULY 11THFINDING VIVIAN MAIER OPENS JULY 18THGRAND CENTRAL OPENS JULY 18THSOME LIKE IT HOT OPENS JULY 18THSUPERMENSCH: THE LEGENDOF SHEP GORDON OPENS JULY 18THBRANDED TO KILL OPENS JULY 25THJOE OPENS JULY 25THTHE LADY FROM SHANGHAI OPENS JULY 25THNORTE, THE END OF HISTORY OPENS JULY 25TH

NEW RELEASES & IFI CLASSICS

SEASONS & EVENTS CALENDARDATE SCREENING TIME

3RD THUR

BEYOND THE BECHDEL TEST: BORN IN FLAMES + AGAINST THE REALM OF THE ABSOLUTE (SHORT)LOVE ETERNAL (PREVIEW + Q&A)

18.30

20:30

6TH SUN

BEYOND THE BECHDEL TEST: PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK

16:05

8TH TUES

BEYOND THE BECHDEL TEST: CINEMATIC VOICES (SHORTS PROGRAMME)

18:30

10TH THUR

BEYOND THE BECHDEL TEST: TEN 18:30

12TH SAT

AFTERNOON TALK: A HISTORY OF THE ‘CHICK FLICK’ (FREE EVENT)BEYOND THE BECHDEL TEST: LOVELY & AMAZING

12:00

14:00

13TH SUN

BEYOND THE BECHDEL TEST: CLÉO FROM 5 TO 7

16:10

15TH TUES

BEYOND THE BECHDEL TEST: ARTIST FILM SCREENING: BETE & DEISE + SOMETHING FROM NOTHING

18.30

16TH WED

FROM THE VAULTS: MAEVE 18.30

17TH THUR

IFI FAMILY FESTIVAL (JULY 17TH - 20TH):SEE SEPARATE PROGRAMMEBEYOND THE BECHDEL TEST: GIRLFRIENDS 18:30

22ND TUES

FEAST YOUR EYES: ALICE DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE

18.15

23RD WED

BEYOND THE BECHDEL TEST: WIVES 18:30

24TH THUR

BEYOND THE BECHDEL TEST: OBVIOUS CHILD (PREVIEW & DUBLIN PREMIERE)

18:30

25TH FRI

WILD STRAWBERRIES: FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

11:00

26TH SAT

BEYOND THE BECHDEL TEST: PANEL DISCUSSION: PRESENCE AND ABSENCE: WOMEN IN CONTEMPORARY CINEMA (FREE EVENT)

12:00

27TH SUN

IRELAND ON SUNDAY: MAIRÉAD FARRELL: COMHRÁ NÁR CHRÍOCHNAIGHBEYOND THE BECHDEL TEST: ALL ABOUT EVE

13:00

16:00

28TH MON

THE CRITICAL TAKE (FREE EVENT) 18:30

29TH TUES

BEYOND THE BECHDEL TEST: YIELD TO THE NIGHT

18:30

30TH WED

WILD STRAWBERRIES: FRIED GREEN TOMATOESIFI & EXPERIMENTAL FILM CLUB: RIDDLES OF THE SPHINX

11.00

18.30

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

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JULY 2014NEW RELEASES & IFI CLASSICS

OPENS JULY 4TH

OPENS JULY 4TH

Gauthier Valence (Lambert Wilson) is a star, having become a readily recognised heartthrob after playing a brain surgeon on a hit TV show. Yet he yearns to be taken seriously as an actor, and ventures out of Paris to track down his friend Serge Tanneur (Fabrice Luchini), a precious recluse who has edged away from the stage some years before. Valence finds Tanneur living frugally on Île de Ré, and proposes that they stage a production of Molière’s

The Misanthrope. The pair eagerly begin rehearsals, verbally jousting about the play, its themes and its language, while occasionally the outside world intrudes on their sessions. A sharp, witty chamber piece which allows for moments of slapstick comedy amid its literary references, Cycling with Molière contains wonderfully contrasting performances from Wilson and Luchini, while the windswept landscapes of its island location are alluringly presented.

Capturing the mobbing, sobbing, throbbing craziness of Beatlemania, the first film the Fab Four made stands as a precious document of the band well on their way to becoming icons and as a landmark release which reinvented the rock movie; the likes of Tommy Steele or Cliff Richard, for example, had never made films anywhere close to appearing this uncontrived, or, for that matter, this much fun. Reissued to mark the 50th anniversary of the film’s premiere in London, the plot of A Hard

Day's Night follows The Beatles as they travel from Liverpool to London for a TV appearance, and features Paul dealing with his mischievous grandfather (Wilfrid Brambell), the disappearance of Ringo, John playing with his toys in the bath, and George’s chiming 12-string guitar introducing a soundtrack which includes hits such as I Should Have Known Better and Can't Buy Me Love.

(ALCESTE À BICYCLETTE)EXCLUSIVELY AT IFI †

FILM INFO:104 minutes, France, 2013, Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Michael Hayden

IFI CLASSIC

EXCLUSIVELY AT IFI †

FILM INFO:87 minutes, U.K., 1964, Black and White, D-CinemaNotes by Michael Hayden

CYCLING WITH MOLIÈRE

A HARD DAY'S NIGHT

There will be a French Film Club screening of this film on July 8th when IFI and Alliance Française members pay just €7 a ticket. Please ask at the IFI Box Office.

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JULY 2014NEW RELEASES & IFI CLASSICS

OPENS JULY 4TH Jonas Jonasson’s bestselling novel retains its picaresque flavour in this film adaptation, which begins with Allan Karlsson (Robert Gustafsson) slipping away from the centenary celebrations being thrown in his honour, and taking to the road with a dubiously acquired suitcase full of cash. Its original owners, a criminal gang, set off in pursuit while themselves being chased by police. Allan meanwhile, is making friends along the way, and telling them the incredible story of his life; falling

somewhere between Forrest Gump, Zelig, and Harry Flashman, he has had a knack for being in the right place at the right time, leading to encounters with world leaders including Stalin, Truman, and Churchill, as well as notable figures such as Robert Oppenheimer.

This highly entertaining shaggy dog story breezes along with a fine sense of the absurd and a pleasing undercurrent of black humour.

(HUNDRAÅRINGEN SOMKLEV UT GENOM FÖNSTRET OCH FÖRSVANN)

FILM INFO:114 minutes, Sweden, 2013, Subtitled, Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Kevin Coyne

THE 100-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED

OPENS JULY 4TH Winner of the Best Irish Feature Award at this year’s JDIFF, this dark, tender romance introduces us to Ian (Robert de Hoog), an isolated young man intent on taking his own life. Chance encounters however, send him on a different path and he begins to experience the world first through interactions with the dead and later through an uneasy friendship with the alive but anguished Naomi (Pollyanna McIntosh). Director Brendan Muldowney creates an exciting fusion of styles, using absurdist black comedy

and gothic horror elements in tandem with probing character study. Adapted from Kei Oishi’s novel In Love with the Dead, Love Eternal is a beguiling fairy-tale about people rediscovering their zest for life.

FILM INFO:94 minutes, Ireland-Netherlands-Luxemburg-Japan, 2013, Colour, D-Cinema Notes by Conor Dowling

LOVE ETERNAL

PREVIEW + Q&A We’re delighted to host a preview of this film on Thursday, July 3rd (20.30) with director Brendan Muldowney and actor Pollyanna McIntosh taking part in a post-screening Q&A.

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OPENS JULY 11TH Boyhood follows Texas native Mason (Ellar Coltrane) from the age of seven, as he goes from being a carefree kid, through awkward adolescence to the start of his adult life. Over time, he learns to appreciate his older sister Samantha (Lorelei Linklater), and adapts to the whims and wants of their divorced parents, Mason Sr. and Olivia (Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette). Centred around Coltrane’s evolving presence and organic performances, Linklater’s ambitious project was

filmed over a 12-year period and is a remarkable achievement, amounting to something more than the story of one boy’s life. As it traces the story of pop culture, from Oops! . . . I Did it Again to Get Lucky, and portrays the political transition of a country from the tail-end of the divisive Bush Jnr. years beyond the “Yes We Can!” promise of Obama’s election victory, Boyhood presents itself as a film of genuine substance and significance, an immediate American classic.

FILM INFO:164 minutes, U.S.A., 2014, Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Michael Hayden

BOYHOOD SHARE YOUR VIEWS AT

THE CRITICAL TAKE! P20

OPENS JULY 11TH Following 2007’s portrayal of Rembrandt in Nightwatching, the second entry in director Peter Greenaway’s Dutch Masters series focuses on 16th century engraver Hendrick Goltzius. Leader of the Pelican Company, a troupe of actors and artists whose activities support both themselves and Goltzius’ printing work, he strikes a deal with the Margrave of Alsace (an imperious F. Murray Abraham) whereby funding will be received for a new press and

publications in return for the company acting out six sexual taboos recounted in the Bible, including incest (Lot and his daughters) and adultery (David and Bathsheba). These performances offer copious and explicit nudity and violence, and the episodic nature of the narrative provides scope for numerous digressions on free speech and censorship, morality, art history, and philosophy in a film as ravishingly beautiful and visually textured as one would expect from Greenaway.

FILM INFO:128 minutes, U.K.-Netherlands-France-Croatia, 2012, Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Kevin Coyne

GOLTZIUS AND THE PELICAN COMPANY

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JULY 2014NEW RELEASES & IFI CLASSICS

OPENS JULY 18TH An unskilled labourer desperate for cash, Gary Manda (Tahar Rahim, unforgettable in 2009’s A Prophet) signs up for perilous maintenance work at a nuclear power plant at the beginning of this slow-burning drama. While settling into the employees’ trailer park situated behind the smokestacks, Gary meets and quickly becomes infatuated with Karole (Blue is the Warmest Colour’s Léa Seydoux), a seductive co-worker who is engaged to Toni (Denis Ménochet), one of the close-knit community’s

most valued members. As Gary gets to grips with his hazardous new job, and its potentially drastic effects, he embarks on a relationship with Karole, but neither of them is careful enough to keep this concealed from the watchful eyes of those around them. Combining a threatening environment with illicit attraction to great effect, and benefitting from a brilliant pulsating score, director Rebecca Zlotowski evokes an unsettling and absorbing affair.

FILM INFO:95 minutes, France, 2013, Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Alice Butler

GRAND CENTRAL

OPENS JULY 18TH Vivian Maier was born in New York in 1926, and spent most of her youth in France. She returned to America to work as a nanny, and took photographs. Over the next five decades, Maier would accumulate over 100,000 negatives, most of them shot in Chicago and New York City. This massive body of work would only be revealed to the world when a box was bought at a thrift auction in Chicago in 2007, a discovery that would lead to Maier being celebrated as an artist who

could stand comparisons to Berenice Abbott or Weegee, a significant chronicler of American life in the second half of the 20th century.

John Maloof and Charlie Siskel’s involving documentary questions why it was that Maier’s genius was not recognised sooner, piecing together a biography from fragments left behind. It’s an intense dream of a life, a provocative insight into loneliness, mental illness and creativity.

FILM INFO:83 minutes, U.S.A., 2014, Black and White and Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Michael Hayden

FINDING VIVIAN MAIER

IFI IRISH SHORT These screenings will be preceded by the IFB-funded short animation, Coda, by Alan Holly. See page 2 for details.

SHARE YOUR VIEWS AT

THE CRITICAL TAKE! P20

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SOME LIKE IT HOT

OPENS JULY 18TH Billy Wilder’s cross-dressing caper had a troubled gestation. Marilyn Monroe was reportedly pregnant during filming, and, too distracted to remember her lines, she was indulged with cue cards and multiple retakes. She got little sympathy from the vain, spiteful Tony Curtis, who would declare that love scenes with Monroe were like “kissing Hitler”, though he would latterly seek to tone down that comment. Jack Lemmon only landed the role of Jerry/Daphne after Jerry

Lewis baulked at the notion of wearing a frock. The film played badly to test audiences and was condemned by the Catholic Church, and yet it has survived to be celebrated as one of Hollywood’s greatest comedies and a crowning achievement for all concerned. Indeed, it is a film that rewards with repeated viewing, with a sense of humour that is more sophisticated than initially apparent and a killer pay-off that gets funnier every time.

IFI CLASSIC

FILM INFO:120 minutes, U.S.A., 1959, Black and White, D-CinemaNotes by Michael Hayden

SHARE YOUR VIEWS AT

THE CRITICAL TAKE! P20

OPENS JULY 18TH In the late 1960s, Shep Gordon chanced on a career in show business after walking out on his job as a parole officer and checking into a hotel that was home to Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. He first managed Alice Cooper, with whom he would share the indulgent excesses of rock’n’roll. He would go on to have a guiding influence on the careers of Blondie, Teddy Pendergrass and Anne Murray, while also helping out Groucho Marx, creating the concept of the celebrity

chef and cooking for the Dalai Lama. Supermensch is the story of a life lived well, while ever conscious of karmic consequence. Actor and first-time director Mike Myers’ affectionate, fascinating documentary depicts a faithful Hollywood insider inspiring loyalty from the likes of Michael Douglas, Tom Arnold and Sylvester Stallone, who are among those appearing here to pay tribute.

FILM INFO:85 minutes, U.S.A., 2014,Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Michael Hayden

SUPERMENSCH: THE LEGEND OF SHEP GORDON

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JULY 2014NEW RELEASES & IFI CLASSICS

OPENS JULY 25TH When Branded to Kill was released in 1967, the president of Nikkatsu, the production company who financed the film, branded it ‘incomprehensible’. It was withdrawn from distribution after just a few screenings and Seijun Suzuki was sacked from the company within months. After the Japan Directors Guild and student groups lodged protests about Suzuki’s treatment, a lengthy court battle ensued, with Suzuki claiming breach of contract, wrongful dismissal and personal damages.

The director won the case, and the film survived to be regarded as one of the most inspired genre movies ever made in Japan, an influential touchstone for American directors such as Scorsese, Jarmusch and Tarantino. Branded to Kill is mad, sexy and brilliant, a breathtaking yakuza thriller about a hitman marked for execution having to battle beautiful women and murderous gangsters in order to become ‘Number One Killer’ and possibly save his own life.

IFI CLASSIC

FILM INFO:91 minutes, Japan, 1967, Black and White, D-CinemaNotes by Michael Hayden

BRANDED TO KILL

OPENS JULY 25TH After flirting with the mainstream in a number of stoner comedies, David Gordon Green returns here to the more personal feel of his earlier films (George Washington, All the Real Girls). Making a parallel return to form is Nicolas Cage as an ex-con who, although often good-spirited and kind-hearted, must also control a hair-trigger temper, his fear of which has caused him to keep a degree of detachment from others. He employs Gary (Tye Sheridan, Mud), a 15-year-old trying

to look after his mother and sister financially while protecting them from his shiftless, violent, alcoholic father (the outstanding Gary Poulter, a local homeless man who had neveracted before).

While events subsequent to the bond that forms between the two may seem familiar, Green and his leads handle the material in a deft and sensitive way that keeps the viewer invested and fully engaged.

FILM INFO:117 minutes, U.S.A., 2013, Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Kevin Coyne

JOE

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OPENS JULY 25TH Fabian (Sid Lucero) is a jaded intellectual, a law school dropout who spends his time drinking with friends and decrying the state of his country, of society and of the world. Appalled by the betrayal and apathy he interprets around him, he finds no comfort in ideologies and is driven to act on dark impulses. This has consequences for family man Joaquin (Archie Alemania), who is blamed and sent to prison for Fabian’s crimes. Joaquin’s wife Eliza (Angeli Bayani) is left in despair,

desperately struggling to provide for her young family.

Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz has emerged as a fearless, uncompromising auteur of significance, and his latest film is an epic exploration of guilt, justice, morality and faith alluding to Dostoevsky, which, in spite of its lengthy running time and intellectual rigour, remains accessible and engaging.

(NORTE, HANGGANAN NG KASAYSAYAN)

EXCLUSIVELY AT IFI †

FILM INFO:250 minutes, Philippines, 2013, Colour, D-CinemaNotes by Michael Hayden

NORTE, THE END OF HISTORY

OPENS JULY 25TH The biographer Peter Noble pronounced that The Lady from Shanghai had “cost a fortune, lost a fortune and finished Welles’ career at any of the big Hollywood studios.” At the time of its release, it was viewed as such a disaster that there was a rumour it was a vengeful attempt by Welles to sabotage the career of Rita Hayworth, his then wife from whom he divorced soon after shooting the film. It’s been thankfully reappraised since, and this newly restored version illustrates why it is now

justly regarded as a classic of film noir.Featuring Hayworth as coolly seductive femme fatale Elsa Bannister luring lonely Irishman Michael O’Hara (Welles) into a murder plot, the basic storyline suggests a standard template of the genre. Yet its narrative tricks and enthralling strangeness mean The Lady from Shanghai is anything but typical.

IFI CLASSIC

FILM INFO:87 minutes, U.S.A., 1947, Black and White, D-CinemaNotes by Michael Hayden

THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI

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Named after American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, who introduced the idea in her 1985 comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, the Bechdel Test requires that a film include at least two female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man. Since cinemas in Sweden started rating films against this test last year, debate has emerged with regard to how few films of merit succeed in meeting its criteria and with this, renewed concern has developed around how women are portrayed on screen, with specific attention devoted to the alarming shortage of films that investigate compelling relationships between women – as friends, as rivals, as relatives or as allies. In fact, in the nearly 40 years since the publication of Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975), in which Laura Mulvey identified a pattern whereby female characters were typically used as ‘the bearers of meaning’, too little has changed in this respect. This season presents a selection of films from a range of directors who have explored complex, nuanced ties between women that are not merely a feature of one

This season continues across several programming strands at the IFI in July. See pages 17 – 20 for information on all these events.

BEYOND THE BECHDEL TEST

scene, but an integral aspect of the films’ narratives. The season aims to encourage conversation around films – a number of which have been neglected or unfairly overlooked – that offer challenging portrayals of interactions between female characters and that stand out by engaging female protagonists as the creators or makers of meaning within these contexts. The selection also highlights those relationships between women defined by difference: in age, in race, in sexuality, in class and in perspective, thus underlining the absence of a universal female identity and drawing focus on the varying, often contradictory relationships and roles that women can fulfil on screen. Introduction and film notes (unless otherwise indicated) by Alice Butler.

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BORN IN FLAMES

Set in a future New York, ten years after an alternative socialist democracy promised to end inequality, women, workers and ethnic groups are still suffering oppression. Born in Flames focuses on various feminist factions, in

disagreement about how to instigate change: Pat Murphy and Kathryn Bigelow play left-wing journalists; lesbian no wave singer Adele Bertei calls for radical action; and African-American Honey is the temperate mouthpiece for Phoenix Radio. These groups unite when the chief of the women’s army is arrested and dies suspiciously in prison. An exhilarating sci-fi, Born in Flames still makes for clamorous viewing. Showing with Jesse Jones’ Against the Realm of the Absolute (12 minutes, Ireland-Scotland, 2011, Colour, Blu-ray).

A diverse cross-section of Irish shorts, this programme utilises female subjectivity as a vibrant cinematic voice. Connecting a range of differing filmmaking disciplines are themes of fractured relationships, loss, renewal

and unexpected discoveries. Featuring films from new and established practitioners, the programme presents the work of filmmakers who are distinct in style but who each echo a thoughtful engagement with gender as an evocative cinematic voice.

The programme includes: Joy (Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy); The Visit (Orla Walsh); Loose End (Louise Bagnall); Small Change (Cathy Brady); and London Suite (Vivienne Dick).

JULY 8TH (18.30)

Faithfully adapted from Joan Lindsay’s 1967 mystery novel of the same name, this female-centric film was one of the key titles of the Australian New Wave and was both a critical and box-office sensation on

release. Opening on Valentine’s Day in 1900 at the fictional Appleyard Private Girls’ school in Victoria, pallid Sara looks on as everyone else excitedly prepares to go out for a picnic at an ancient geological formation called Hanging Rock.

When four of the girls, led by the virginal Miranda, go off to explore and inexplicably fail to return, Sara becomes severely withdrawn and hysteria quickly spreads throughout the local settler community.

JULY 6TH (16.05)

JULY 3RD (18.30)

FILM INFO:80 minutes, U.S.A., 1983, Colour, DVD

FILM INFO:115 minutes, Australia, 1975, Colour, Blu-ray

FILM INFO:Joy: 10 minutes, 2007, ColourThe Visit: 22 minutes, 2013, ColourLoose End: 3 minutes, 2013, ColourSmall Change: 17 minutes, 2010, ColourLondon Suite: 28 minutes, 1989, ColourNotes by Michael Ryan

PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK

CINEMATIC VOICES(SHORTS PROGRAMME)

Lond

on S

uite

We are delighted that filmmaker Pat Murphy will introduce this screening, and that Jesse Jones will introduce her short film.

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TEN

Shot on two digital cameras placed on the dashboard of a car, Ten is considerably more complex than its simple set-up suggests. Driven by artist and writer Mania Akbari, the film records her conversations with

several passengers as she takes them around Tehran.

Except for her young son Amin, with whom she has a combative relationship as a result of her recent divorce from his father, all of Mania’s passengers are women, some of whom she knows, some of whom she appears to have picked up en route. Consequently, as they journey through the city, the film becomes document and testimony of the experiences of women who live there.

Under-acknowledged as a key figure of the French New Wave, masterful director Agnès Varda was more specifically part of its Left Bank movement, an innovative contingent which included Chris Marker,

Alain Resnais and Marguerite Duras. Cléo from 5 to 7, Varda’s second feature, is a sublime study of a pop singer played by Corinne Marchand who we accompany around Paris as she restlessly awaits the results of a critical medical test. In this time, we see the city from Cléo’s unique perspective, and bear witness to her fleeting encounters, often with women who, in contrast to our protagonist’s capricious behaviour, seem characterised by composure and resilience.

JULY 13TH (16.10)

In all her films, writer and director Nicole Holofcener has demonstrated a knack for crisp, quick-witted dialogue that her ensemble casts clearly relish, and Lovely & Amazing is no different in this respect.

Here, Brenda Blethyn plays a well-off single mother to irascible failed artist Michelle (Catherine Keener, who features in all of Holofcener’s films), self-conscious actress Elizabeth (Emily Mortimer), and recently adopted ten-year-old Annie, who, as the only black member of the family, is struggling to find ways to fit in.

Insightful, dark and funny, Lovely & Amazing is, as critic Kenneth Turan described, “both marvelously observed and completely individual.”

JULY 12TH (14.00)

BEYOND THE BECHDEL TEST

JULY 10TH (18.30)

FILM INFO:89 minutes, Iran, 2002, Colour, 35mm

FILM INFO:91 minutes, U.S.A., 2001, Colour, 35mm

FILM INFO:90 minutes, France-Italy, 1962, Subtitled, Colour and Black and White, 35mm

LOVELY & AMAZING

CLÉO FROM 5 TO 7

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ARTIST FILM SCREENING:BETE & DEISE SOMETHING FROM NOTHING

Co-curated with Maeve Connolly,the IFI presents the Irish premiere screening of Bete & Deise, with Sarah Browne’s Something from nothing.

Bete & Deise records a conversation between actress and activist Bete

Mendes and funk singer Deise Tigrona. The film explores how these Brazilian women, from different backgrounds and generations, have used their voices in the public sphere. In Something from nothing, Browne uses a smartphone as a kind of ‘participant-observer’ filming device to portray a number of women currently working in the Shetland Islands. Writer, researcher and lecturer Maeve Connolly (IADT) will introduce the event and take part in a Q&A with Sarah Browne after the screenings.

Made as a riposte to Cassavetes’ Husbands (1970) and adopting a similarly improvisational approach, Wives is both riotously funny and tender in its depiction of an unruly friendship between three women in

their 30s. Meeting again at a school reunion, Mie, Heidrun and heavily pregnant Kaja decide afterwards to abandon all family responsibilities and spend the next few days together, drifting around the streets and bars of Oslo and describing their differing views – as mothers, as workers, as wives. One of Norway’s most celebrated directors, whose award-winning work has screened at Cannes, Berlin and Venice, Breien is a significant voice and Wives is her most brilliant film.

JULY 23RD (18.30)

Having just moved in together, Susan (a brilliant, self-deprecating Melanie Mayron) is baffled when her best friend and aspiring writer Anne (Anita Skinner) announces she’s leaving New York to marry

hair-splitting bore Martin (Bob Balaban). While Anne settles down, Susan ekes out a more offbeat lifestyle as a photographer and entertains brief affairs, including one with a married Rabbi. Since Lena Dunham screened Girlfriends at the BAMCinematek in 2012, resemblances have been drawn between it and the candid humour in Dunham’s own work, as well as with Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha, but this undervalued film has an appeal all of its own that urgently requires more widespread acclaim.

JULY 17TH (18.30)

JULY 15TH (18.30)

Bete & DeiseDIRECTOR: Wendelien van OldenborghFILM INFO: 40 minutes, Brazil, 2012, Colour, Blu-ray

Something from nothingDIRECTOR: Sarah Browne FILM INFO: 19 minutes, Ireland, 2014, HD Video

FILM INFO:86 minutes, U.S.A., 1978, Colour, 16mm

(HUSTRUER)

FILM INFO:83 minutes, Norway, 1975, Subtitled, Colour, 35mm

GIRLFRIENDS

WIVES

Bete

& D

eise

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Understandably aggrieved when she gets ‘dumped up with’ and then fired in quick succession, comedian Donna (the hilarious Jenny Slate) divulges all in a fairly solemn stand-up routine and then ends up drinking, followed by

sleeping with a chap she meets at the bar. When she realises she’s pregnant and not ready to be a mother, her friend (Gaby Hoffman) supports her decision to get an abortion but insists it’s unnecessary to tell the unwitting father, something about which Donna is less convinced. A refreshing take on a difficult subject matter and subverting a genre that’s long been in need of an overhaul, Obvious Child is a superb romantic comedy that has been lauded since its premiere at this year’s Sundance.

Nominated for the Palme d’Or in 1956 and considered significant enough upon release as to merit a screening for the members of the House of Lords, Yield to the Night has been unfairly neglected since. Featuring Diana Dors

in by far her most nuanced role as a convicted murderer, the film, a powerful anti-death penalty statement, chronicles her time in prison, awaiting the final verdict on her execution. In this time, extraordinary relationships develop between Mary and her all-female prison wardens, particularly with Yvonne Mitchell’s Hilda MacFarlane, a woman who has no frame of reference for understanding Mary’s experiences but who devotes everything in an effort to contest that limitation.

JULY 29TH (18.30)

Released the same year as Sunset Boulevard, the plot of which also hinged on the ordeals of an aging actress, All About Eve is based on Mary Orr’s 1946 short story, The Wisdom of Eve. Opening at

a ceremony where Anne Baxter’s scheming Eve Harrington is being honoured for achievement in the theatre, Bette Davis’ venerable broadway star Margot Channing looks on with disdain. As we learn in the subsequent flashback, Eve has only triumphed by making every effort to destroy Margot’s career. Still the only film to receive four female acting nominations at the Oscars, All About Eve is, as Time Magazine described, “a needle sharp study of bitchery”, and an enduring classic.

JULY 27TH (16.00)

BEYOND THE BECHDEL TEST

JULY 24TH (18.30)

FILM INFO:83 minutes, U.S.A., 2014, Colour, D-Cinema

FILM INFO:138 minutes, U.S.A., 1950, Black and White, D-Cinema

FILM INFO:99 minutes, U.K., 1956, Black and White, 35mmNotes by Alice Butler

ALL ABOUT EVE

YIELD TO THE NIGHT

OBVIOUS CHILD

We are pleased to have journalist and broadcaster Una Mullally at the IFI to introduce this screening.

This screening will be introduced by Alicia McGivern, IFI Head of Education.

PREVIEW AND DUBLIN PREMIERE

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IFI EVENTSIRELAND ON SUNDAYWILD STRAWBERRIESARCHIVE AT LUNCHTIMEFROM THE VAULTSFEAST YOUR EYESIFI & EXPERIMENTAL FILM CLUBAFTERNOON TALK (FREE EVENT)PANEL DISCUSSION (FREE EVENT)THE CRITICAL TAKE (FREE EVENT)

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

This month's IFI season, featuring films in the context of the Bechdel Test (see page 12), gives us a chance to revisit this consistently popular

story that focuses on women and their friendship during a time of social challenge. With brilliant performances, the film uses a flashback structure and the storytelling of nursing home resident Jessica Tandy, whose visitor (Kathy Bates) becomes empowered by the friendship to change her life. There are tear-jerking moments but it's not all soft, as the women past and present talk life, love and friendship.

€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 offence if we ask your age.

DIRECTOR:Jon Avnet

FILM INFO:130 minutes, U.S.A., 1991, Drama/Comedy

JULY 25TH & 30TH (11.00)

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

This new documentary from Loopline Film investigates the life and death of Mairéad Farrell who in 1988 was shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar along with two other unarmed members of the

IRA. Due to her youth, her gender and her stature within the IRA, Farrell was quickly subsumed into the pantheon of Irish republican martyrs. But behind the mythologising and demonisation of the time, there was also a real person who was prepared to kill and die for her beliefs. Directed by Martina Durac and produced by Vanessa Gildea, this documentary is a conscious act of memory as historian Bríona Nic Dhiarmada (co-producer) revisits her memories in an attempt to make sense of her life and death.

Martina Durac, Vanessa Gildea and Bríona Nic Dhiarmada will participate in a post-screening Q&A.

JULY 27TH (13.00)

DIRECTOR:Martina Durac

FILM INFO:52 minutes, Ireland, 2014, Digi-beta

(MAIRÉAD FARRELL: AN UNFINISHED CONVERSATION)

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WILDSTRAWBERRIESFRIED GREEN TOMATOES

IRELAND ON SUNDAYMAIRÉAD FARRELL: COMHRÁ NÁR CHRÍOCHNAIGH

Imag

e: D

erek

Spe

irs

Our season, Beyond the Bechdel Test, continues across the IFI's regular programming strands this month.

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ARCHIVE AT LUNCHTIME

MAEVEJULY 16TH (18.30)

Pat Murphy’s first and most experimental feature film was informed by feminist debates on the objectification of women and by the unresolved questions of the relationship between feminism and nationalism, and between history and myth.

Set during the Troubles, Maeve (Mary Jackson) returns to Belfast after a long absence in London. She spends time with her sister Roisín (Bríd Brennan) who still lives with their father Martin (Mark Mulholland), and with her old boyfriend Liam (John Keegan).

Much of the film is structured around conversations between Maeve and these characters, who in turn represent varying political viewpoints, interspersed with flashbacks to Maeve’s time in London. The film is careful to avoid the conventions of mainstream filmmaking.

DIRECTOR: Pat Murphy

FILM INFO: 115 minutes, U.K.-Ireland, 1982, Colour, 16mmNotes by Ruth Barton

FROM THE VAULTS

Join us for FREE lunchtime screenings of films from the IFI Irish Film Archive.

This month’s series, which looks at the changing role of women in Irish society, provides a rich factual counterpoint to the feature films in our Beyond the Bechdel Test season (see page 12).

HOODWINKEDHoodwinked is Trish McAdam’s three-part documentary which appeared originally on RTÉ in 1998.

Through extensive use of archive footage (much of it from the IFI Irish Film Archive collection) and interviews with over 30 Irish women, including Garry Hynes, Sinead O'Connor, Louie O'Brien, Catriona Crowe, Ruth Riddick and Mary O'Rourke, the series presents a coherent and enlightening picture of a complex, sometimes humorous and often hidden story.

FILM INFO: 40 minutes (each part), 1998, Black and White, Digi-beta

The three parts will screen at consecutive lunchtimes throughout July. Please checkwww.ifi.ie or the IFI Box Office for dates and times.

1919

DIRECTOR:Martin Scorsese

FILM INFO:112 minutes, U.S.A., 1974, Colour, DVDNotes by Alice Butler

JULY 22ND (18.15) Our monthly gastronomic feature followed by a meal in the IFI Café Bar.

Leaving town with her precocious 11-year-old son Tommy after her husband dies suddenly in a road accident, Alice (Ellen Burstyn) hopes to trade in her old domestic life to finally make it as a singer. After a short stint performing at a dingy lounge bar in Phoenix, which ends

abruptly because of a misjudged fling with a volatile Harvey Keitel, Alice and Tommy move to Tucson where the only job going involves serving cheeseburgers at Mel and Ruby’s rowdy diner. Working alongside Alice is brazen Flo (Diane Ladd), who Alice initially loathes and Vera (Valerie Curtin), a strange, wan character who also happens to be a disastrous waitress.

Tickets €20. Free list suspended.

In conjunction with this month’s season exploring representations of women on screen, the IFI and EFC present Riddles of the Sphinx (1977). Made two years after the publication of Laura Mulvey’s Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, the film represents what she describes as a ‘transfer’ of both her own and Peter Wollen’s theoretical ideas ‘into a visual form’. With spellbinding music from Soft Machine’s Mike Ratledge

and adopting techniques like the 360-degree pan to undermine the notion of a single point of view, Riddles of the Sphinx is key to the British avant-garde filmmovement of the ‘70s and remains a mesmerising, intellectually stimulating piece of work.

This screening will be introduced by writer, lecturer and researcher Maeve Connolly (IADT).

DIRECTORS:Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen

FILM INFO:92 minutes, U.K., 1977, Colour, Blu-rayNotes by Alice Butler

JULY 30TH (18.30)

RIDDLES OF THE SPHINX

ALICE DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE

2020

Although the term 'chick flick' (nearly always with a pejorative connotation) is a contemporary one, it can be seen to have many historical derivations. The films called up by the term often fall into well-recognised generic categories such as the romantic

comedy or the melodrama, and always operate within a broader framework of gender politics.

This talk, presented by Professor Diane Negra, Head of Film Studies at UCD, will survey the wide range of films made for and marketed to women and will look at some of the ways that Hollywood has conceptualised the interests and desires of its female audience.

This event is FREE but ticketed. Please book your seat with the IFI Box Office.

JULY 12TH (12.00)

AFTERNOONTALKA HISTORY OF THE 'CHICK FLICK'

FREEEVENT

This panel-led event focusing on women in film will comprise of four short presentations followed by an open discussion, chaired by arts journalist, broadcaster for RTÉ and co-founder of The Anti Room,Sinéad Gleeson.

Critic and writer Roe McDermott will present on the female voice in film criticism; Pat Murphy will relate her experiences as a feminist filmmaker; film producer Rachel Lysaght will provide insight on the representation of professional women working within the film industry; and Ruth Barton, Head of Film Studies at TCD, will explore roles for older women in film, both in Ireland and further afield.

This event is FREE but ticketed. Please book your seat with the IFI Box Office.

JULY 26TH (12.00)

PANELDISCUSSIONPRESENCE AND ABSENCE: WOMEN INCONTEMPORARY CINEMA

FREEEVENT

The Critical Take is a free event that takes place at the end of every month when a panel of three invited speakers initiate an open discussion about three films from the IFI programme.

Join our panel, which includes Eithne Shortall (chief arts writer for The Sunday Times Ireland) and Kate McCullough (director of photography), to discuss representations of gender in Richard Linklater’s astonishing new film Boyhood (opens July 11th); the riveting photo documentary Finding Vivian Maier (opens July 18th); and Billy Wilder’s most celebrated film, Some Like it Hot (opens July 18th) starring Marilyn Monroe. This event is FREE but ticketed. Please book your seat with the IFI Box Office.

JULY 28TH (18.30)

THE CRITICAL TAKE

FREEEVENT

Som

e Li

ke It

Hot

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JULY17–202014

4 Days of Films and Workshops for ChildrenFor full details and bookings, see www.ifi.ie/familyfest

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IFI MEMBERSHIPSCHEMEFree tickets, discounts on tickets, free screenings and much more.As an IFI Member, you not only save money on tickets, but you directly help support the IFI’s vital work in preserving and restoring Ireland's unique and precious moving image heritage, and in engaging young people through our national education programme. Thank you for your support.

To join the IFI Membership Scheme, visit www.ifi.ie/membership, call the membership office on 01 679 5744, or sign up in person at the IFI Box Office.

All the member benefits plus greater access to the IFI:— Special invitation to the Annual Members’ Evening

with an exclusive free screening, private programme review by the IFI Director and drinks reception

— Invitation for you and a guest to one Festival Opening Night per annum, which includes cinema tickets plus access to the drinks reception

— Free membership of the Tiernan MacBride Library at the IFI (worth €20)

— Annual tours to the IFI Irish Film Archive— Listing on the IFI website as a Best Member— Listing in one monthly programme per annum as a

Best Member

— One free preview screening every month*— Free cinema ticket (off peak use)— Double loyalty points to redeem against

more free tickets— Discount on tickets

(approx. 15% cheaper evening tickets) — Discounts on tickets for up to

3 accompanying friends— Monthly programme posted to your home— 10% discount in the IFI Film Shop— 10% discount on food at the IFI Café Bar

(over €10)** — Dedicated Members’ area on the IFI website— Weekly ezine with the latest releases and news

* Places are limited. Members are notified by email to apply for tickets and winners are then chosen randomly.

** Maximum two diners per membership can avail of discount.

MEMBERS (€25, €15 CONCESSIONS)

BEST MEMBERS (€99)

If you are a cultural, community, voluntary or not-for-profit organisation you can avail of the new IFI Group Membership opportunity. You and your group (minimum 10 people) will receive all standard IFI Members’ benefits, plus for every ten memberships, one is free. Become an organiser and join today. (Memberships must be purchased together, renewals or new memberships are included. Minimum 10 memberships must be purchased.)

The IFI Corporate Membership packages provide bespoke opportunities for companies to engage staff, build brand awareness and entertain clients, whilst aligning with a successful, contemporary and innovative cultural organisation in a unique central Dublin setting.

Please contact the Development Office on 01 679 5744 or Fiona Clark (fclark@irishfilm.ie) for more details and to discuss your customised corporate package.

The IFI is a registered charity no: CHY8628.

GROUP MEMBERSHIP (10% SAVING)

CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP

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JERVIS STR

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LOWER ORMOND QUAY

BACHELOR’S WALK

WELLINGTON QUAY

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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.

MONDAY – FRIDAY12.30pm to 6pm €7.60 (€6.90) Conc. €5.90 (€5.40)6pm to 10pm €9.00 (€7.90) Conc. €7.60 (€6.90)

SATURDAY – SUNDAY*12.30pm to 4pm €7.60 (€6.90) Conc. €5.90 (€5.40)4pm to 10pm €9.00 (€7.90) Conc. €7.60 (€6.90)

*including Bank Holidays

Credit card bookings can be taken between 12.30pm and 9.00pm on (01) 679 3477 or 24-hours at www.ifibooking.ie. Online and telephone bookings are subject to a booking fee of 50c per ticket to a maximum of €1 per transaction. There are no booking fees on any ticket purchase made in person at the IFI Box Office.Please be advised that tickets cannot be exchanged or refunded.

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

Facebook.com/irishfilminstitute Facebook.com/IFICafe

@IFI_Dub@IFI_Filmshop

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