Reel news

DONALD CLARKEwith the other news stories from both the big and small screen...

McQueen plans second film

Last year, while promoting Hunger, one of the films of the decade, Steve McQueen, till then best known for gallery-based art, cheekily commented that he wasn't sure he would ever direct another feature. Rejoice. It has now been announced that McQueen is to helm a film on the incomparable Nigerian musician Fela Kuti.

Elsewhere in Gossip Gulch, news has emerged that Paul Thomas Anderson is to direct Philip Seymour Hoffman as a huckster who invents a religion in 1950s America. Sound familiar I wonder if John Travolta or Tom Cruise will be auditioning (if you get my drift).

Bowie’s boy wins indie Brit award

When we first heard that Duncan Jones was set to direct a film called Moon, it seemed likely that Duncan would have trouble escaping dad David Bowie's shadow. Such fears were finally laid to rest last week, when his fine film won best picture at the British Independent Film Awards. Andrea Arnold picked up best director for the searing Fish Tank, while Let the Right One Intriumphed as best foreign-language picture.

Other winners in the impressively well-judged event included Tom Hardy as best actor for Bronsonand Carey Mulligan as best actress for An Education. One report dragged out the old "pointer to the Oscars" baloney, but if any of those winners other than Mulligan even receives a nomination we'll eat our hat.

Seeing what’s on beyond the Pale

Gerry Hough, a reader from Thurles writes to complain about the continuing difficulty of locating less mainstream films in cinemas outside Dublin. A few weeks back Gerry had to travel to from Tipperary to the Big Smoke to catch both The White Ribbonand (more surprisingly) the Coen brothers' A Serious Man. It is, indeed, a strange world in which the Coens' latest can open in just three screens while a low-budget Irish comedy such as Situations Vacant can debut in 19.

Anyway, the good news is that, following old-school distribution patterns, A Serious Manhas now expanded to 15 screens nationwide. It's a bit late for Gerry, mind.

The Germans are here

The excellent German Film Festival continues at the Irish Film Institute this weekend. Delights include a new take on Effi Briest, the novel filmed so memorably by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and a desperately moving documentary on the Holocaust called Gerdas Silence. Check out www.irishfilm.ie for details.

Rising star Robert in Berlin

Young Robert Sheehan, star of Song for a Raggy Boyand the excellent Red Ridingtrilogy, has been named as Ireland's representative at the Berlin International Film Festival's Shooting Stars scheme. The enterprise seeks to highlight the freshest talent from around Europe. Other participants include, from the UK, Edward Hogg, star of the recent Bunny and the Bull, and, from Romania, Dragos Bucur, who appears in the superb drama Police, Adjective.