Neil Jordan puts Liv Ullmann in the hotseat

Michael Dwyeron film

Director Neil Jordan tonight takes on the role of interviewer at Dublin's Irish Film Institute. Norwegian actor-director Liv Ullmann will respond to questions about her work following a 7.30pm screening of her emotionally raw drama Faithless(2000), which she directed from a screenplay by Ingmar Bergman.

The event begins a busy schedule as the Federation of European Directors, of which Ullmann is president, holds its annual general assembly in Dublin this weekend.

"Our vision is to represent directors in a very constructive way," Ullmann says. "Not only for what we are and what we aspire to be, but also to enable us to embrace the new media, new ways of expression and for us to reach our audiences. I very much look forward to discussing these topics and others with fellow European directors in Dublin."

Tomorrow's programme includes an afternoon discussion on the creative and financial opportunities offered by the internet. Guests will attend an evening screening of Edenat the new Light House Cinema, followed by a discussion with director Declan Recks and screenwriter Eugene O'Brien.

The assembly, which concludes on Sunday, is hosted by the Screen Directors Guild of Ireland. The many visiting film- makers will include leading Hungarian director István Szabó, who succeeds Ullmann as federation president this weekend.

Ireland's special effects guru

Gerry Johnston, Ireland's leading special effects expert, recalls his many adventures in the screen trade in Lights, Camera, Dynamite, which was published this week by Liberties Press.

Affectionately known as Boom-Boom in the film industry, Johnston has spent more than 40 years blowing up planes, bombing trains, setting fire to ancient castles and killing aliens, as one does in his profession. His book is replete with anecdotes about working with, among many others, David Lean, Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, Jim Sheridan, Neil Jordan, Helen Mirren, Daniel Day-Lewis, Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Farrell.

Bright future for film grad

Vincent Gallagher, who graduated last year from the National Film School (NFS) at IADT in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, has won the overall Undergraduate Drama Award at the Royal Television Society Student Awards. Gallagher took the prize for his graduation film, which he wrote and directed. Bright Ideawas produced by his classmate, Angela Senior. The award was presented at the Barbican Centre in London. Gallagher is now working on two short film projects.

Hef has found his player

Playboy founder and publisher Hugh Hefner wants Robert Downey Jr. to play him in an imminent biopic. The veteran lothario apparently was impressed with the actor's portrayal of a billionaire playboy in current release Iron Man.

Belgians make their mark

Last year, Romanian cinema created much buzz at Cannes. This year it was Belgium's turn. Two-time Palme d'Or winners Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne collected the festival's best screenplay prize for Lorna's Silence. Eldorado, an offbeat road movie from Boulli Lanner, won the prize from the Europa Cinemas jury, of which Maeve Cooke of Irish network Access Cinema was a member. Eldoradoalso won a prize from the international critics' jury and the French government's Regards Jeunes award. Christophe Van Rompaey's love-triangle tale Moscow, Belgiumshared the prize for best film in the Critics' Week sidebar and took the best screenplay award in the section.

Belgian export Jean-Claude Van Damme also turned up in the Cannes market as the star of JCVD, which takes its title from his initials. The aging Euro muscles plays a thinly disguised version of himself - an international action star involved in a bruising child custody battle.

Variety described JCVDas "a meta-movie parody par excellence" that reveals a heretofore hidden third dimension to Van Damme's "monosyllabic persona".

'Niko' makers seeing stars

One of the biggest successes in the market at Cannes this year has been the animated feature Niko and the Way to the Stars. "The film has now been sold for distribution in over 100 countries, and Harvey Weinstein bought the US rights in Cannes," executive producer Ralph Christians of Galway-based Magma Films told Reel News.

A co-production between Finland, Denmark, Germany and Ireland, Nikorelates the tale of a reindeer who dreams of flying like his father, whom he has never met. Despite suffering from vertigo, Niko takes lessons from a family of flying squirrels.

From space Nazis to ghost chickens

The longest tagline in the crowded Cannes market was for I Can't Think Straight: "Just another British, Indian, Muslim, Arab, Christian, lesbian romantic comedy." As ever, this year's market offered plenty of resistible titles, among them There Are Nazis on the Moon, Super High Me, Sex & Breakfast, Run for Your Life: From Junkie to Ironmanand Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.

He was really one of the first great rock stars, and he did it in the 1920s and 1930s- Iron Maiden lead singer Bruce Dickinson on his screenplay about bisexual British occultist Aleister Crowley.

$4m - The amount Barack Obama has raised from Hollywood supporters. Hillary Clinton amassed $3.4m. John McCain trails with $630,000