The director of the Jameson Dublin International film festival, Grainne Humprheys, talks about her favourite movies.
Returning for her second year – Gráinne Humphreys is the director of the Dublin International Film Festival – responsible for selecting the 100 odd films screening over 11 days in Dublin city (who wouldn’t want that job!) With the festival kicking off tonight with the Irish premiere of the Oscar nominated “Doubt” – we talk to the Programme Director about her favourite flicks.
Q: How often to you get to sit down and watch a movie?
As festival director of the JDIFF, I watch movies all year round, as well as attending film festivals every two months, I watch a lot of new Irish work as well as the hundreds of films submitted to the festival each year. And then of course, I go at weekends, to keep up with current releases and check out what Dublin audiences are enjoying.
Q: Tell us about the last movie you saw? (either in cinema, video, DVD or TV)
With the festival about to start, I should be getting to bed early, but when I saw the opening frames of the classic Don’t Look Now late on Saturday night, I was hooked. It is Nicolas Roeg’s best film, Venice has never been captured so well and Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, well worth staying up until 3.30.
Q: What is your favourite Irish movie and why?
There are some fantastic films in this years festival; shorts, documentaries and some fantastic feature films. Its difficult to name a single Irish film; some films I return to again and again ; My Left Foot, The Butcher Boy, Adam and Paul, Once, but ask me tomorrow and I will have another list!
Q: What is your favourite movie of all time?
Again, this is a really hard question, I usually fluctuate between Bonnie and Clyde and La Dolce Vita, but then I love When Harry Met Sally. I did my college thesis on the films of John Cassavetes and Faces is a fantastic film, but then I’m forgetting out Once Upon a Time in the West. There are a number of films in JDIFF which I love, so I will revisit this question after the festival.
Q: What movie could you never sit through again?
There were a couple of short films I worked on in college – that are were so terrible that we couldn’t even bear to watch the footage while we were editing, never mind the finished film.
Q: Describe your ideal movie cast… (actor, actress & director)
Marcello Mastroianni, Ingrid Bergman, Thelma Ritter and Cary Grant, photographed by Jack Cardiff, score by Bernard Herrmann, directed by Hal Ashby and written by Nora Ephron
Q: Have you ever cried during a movie?
Which one? I cried at the end of the new Clint Eastwood film Gran Torino, it’s a fantastic film, with a really beautiful final sequence, it’s a thriller with a huge heart and when the music started over the final credits, the tears started down my face.
Q: Favourite movie snack?
Wine gums
Q: Favourite TV programme?
I have such a fondness for the US television programmes of my childhood, Cagney and Lacey, Moonlighting, Hart to Hart, Vegas – I love TV detectives, I can’t stand reality shows, why have real people when you can have actors ??
Q: Who would play you in the movie adaptation of your life?
People have said Debra Winger, I would love Rosalind Russell. However, as Nora Ephron has suggested if they make a movie of your life – there is only one person who can play you better than yourself and that’s Meryl Streep.
The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival launches today, for tickets visit http://www.JDiff.com