Reel News

The new Pat Murphy film, Nora, is set to have its world premiere as the opening presentation of the Miller Genuine Draught 15th Dublin Film Festival on April 6th. Adapted by Pat Murphy and Gerry Stembridge from the book by Brenda Maddox, the film deals with the relationship between the young James Joyce and Nora Barnacle, who are played by Ewan McGregor and Susan Lynch. Both actors will attend the premiere, along with writer-director Murphy.

Among the other titles confirmed for this year's festival, which runs until April 16th, are Vinny Murphy's Irish road movie, Accelerator; Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog, starring Forest Whitaker; the latest Takeshi Kitano film, Kikujiro; the US indie, Limp, featuring the late Michael Hutchence; Javier Fesser's surreal Spanish comedy, P. Tinto's Miracle; and Myles Connell's The Opportunists with Christopher Walken.

Confirming the unpredictability of the present awards season, there were several surprises when the Directors' Guild of America announced its nominations for best director this week. As expected, Sam Mendes and Michael Mann are on the shortlist, for American Beauty and The Insider, respectively. However, they are joined by two directors whose movies which had not figured prominently in all the many recent awards - Frank Darabont for his Stephen King adaptation, The Green Mile and M. Night Shyamalan for The Sixth Sense. The fifth slot went to Spike Jonze for his first feature, Being John Malkovich.

Among the more fancied candidates which did not make the shortlist were three of the five Golden Globe nominees, Neil Jordan (The End of the Affair), Norman Jewison (The Hurricane) and Anthony Minghella (The Talented Mr Ripley).

In the nominations for the annual Screen Actors Guild awards, announced on Tuesday, American Beauty led the field with four, while Julianne Moore pulled off a double, receiving nominations for best actress and best supporting actress - for The End of the Affair and Magnolia, respectively. The guild's 97,000 members will vote on the awards which will be announced on March 12th. The nominees are:

Best actor: Jim Carrey, Man on the Moon; Russell Crowe, The Insider; Philip Seymour Hoffman, Flawless; Kevin Spacey, American Beauty; Denzel Washington, The Hurricane.

Best actress: Annette Bening, American Beauty; Janet McTeer, Tumbleweeds; Julianne Moore, The End of the Affair; Meryl Streep, Music of the Heart; Hilary Swank, Boys Don't Cry.

Best supporting actor: Michael Caine, The Cider House Rules; Chris Cooper, American Beauty; Tom Cruise, Magnolia; Michael Clarke Duncan, The Green Mile; Haley Joel Osment, The Sixth Sense.

Best supporting actress: Cameron Diaz, Being John Malkovich; Angelina Jolie, Girl, Interrupted; Catherine Keener, Being John Malkovich; Julianne Moore, Magnolia; Chloe Sevigny, Boys Don't Cry.

Outstanding performance by a cast in a theatrical motion picture: American Beauty, Being John Malkovich, Magnolia, The Cider House Rules, The Green Mile.

Two films tie for the most nominations in the 25th Cesar awards, the French film industry's equivalent of the Oscars - Patrice Leconte's La Fille sur le Pont and Luc Besson's Jeanne d'Arc, with eight nominations each. The major French box-office hit, Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar, received just one nomination - for best production design. The Leconte film is up for best film and best director, while its stars, Daniel Auteuil and Vanessa Paradis, are candidates for best actor and best actress. Besson's film is also short-listed for best film and director. The surprise comedy hit, Venus Beaute (Institut) received seven nominations, including best film, with Tonie Marshall up for director, Nathalie Baye in for best actress and Audrey Tautou named in the young actress category.

The other nominees for best film are Jean Becker's Les Enfants du Marais and Regis Wargnier's Est-Ouest. Ca Commence Aujourd'hui). Nominated with Baye and Paradis for best actress are Sandrine Bonnaire (Est-Ouest), Catherine Frot (La Dilletante) and Karin Viard (Haut les Coeurs!). The nominees for best foreign film are Pedro Almodovar's All About My Mother, Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog, Spike Jonze's Being John Malkovich, Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut and Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line. The Cesar awards will be presented in Paris on February 19th.

Further to last Friday's feature on the burning of filmmaker John T. Davis's home, there will be a special screening of his film, The Uncle Jack, in a print from the Irish Film Archive at the Film Institute of Ireland, at the Town Hall Theatre, Galway next Sunday at 6p.m. Admission is £5 and all proceeds will go the film-maker and his family.