The story of a chameleon with an identity crisis.
Commencing with the screening of POITÍN on April 29th the IFI Evening Course will continue throughout May with films from Cathal Black, Kieran Hickey, Joe Comerford and Pat Murphy.
The challenge to create films and an industry that would, as Kieran Hickey declared, show ourselves to ourselves and to others was taken up by these filmmakers, laying the foundation stones for the endeavours of practitioners today.
Each film will be contextualized by presentations from film-makers and cultural commentators.
Details for the course are as follows:
April 29th, 6.30pm
POITÍN (dir. Bob Quinn)
The course opens with Bob Quinn’s POITÍN, a remastered 35mm version of his 1978 film with new soundtrack composed by Bill Whelan. This screening will be followed by a talk with Bob Quinn and Lelia Doolan, writer, producer and activist, former Chairwoman, Irish Film Board.
May 6th, 6.30pm
PIGS (1984) dir. Cathal Black
This early film by Cathal Black concerned itself with inner city life in Dublin. Offering an urban portrait of an alternative family who are squatting in a Georgian tenement, it was in complete contrast to the type of rural representations which had dominated Irish cinema. The film exposes the harsh realities of 1980s Dublin where the Gardai bully the citizens who are punished for not fitting in. Cathal Black will present his film.
May 13th, 6.30pm
MAEVE (1981), dir. Pat Murphy
A young woman returns from London to her Catholic home in Belfast where she confronts the male ideology of republicanism. The film seeks to portray the political situation in the North from a feminist perspective and draws on recollections, stories and myths to define an alternative form of film narrative. Pat Murphy will discuss her work with lecturer and writer, Maeve Connolly.
May 20th, 6.30pm
EXPOSURE (1978) dir. Kieran Hickey
By the time of his death in 1993, Kieran Hickey had directed a number of films which for the first time in Irish cinema explored middle class anxieties. In this his first feature, three male surveyors are staying in a small West of Ireland hotel where the only other guest is a French female photographer. Fascinated by her, the two married men raid her room but are caught. The film appears to underline their oppression of her but at the end, it is she who controls their image in developing a photo of them. Starring Bosco Hogan and TP McKenna, the film was scripted by Philip Davison.
May 27th, 6.30pm
DOWN THE CORNER (1977) dir. Joe Comerford
Joe Comerford set this film in Ballyfermot and involved local people through the Ballyfermot Community Arts project. One of the first cinematic depictions of working-class urban Dublin life, it follows the lives of two boys, Buller and Pedro, their friends and families, over a forty-eight hour period. The film?s bleak humour and naturalistic performances give us a rare glimpse of 1970s life in Dublin. Joe Comerford will present his film and participate in a follow-up panel discussion which will review issues raised throughout the course.
Tickets for the five-week course are é75 (é65 concessions) which includes tea/coffee. BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL
For more information about this course please visit their website HERE.
To sign up for the course, please call (01) 612 9415 or email: eveningcourse@irishfilm.ie
All Evening Course events take place in the Irish Film Institute, 6 Eustace Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2