Irish films on parade

The next three months will see an unprecedented wave of Irish or Irish-related feature films hitting screens around the country…

The next three months will see an unprecedented wave of Irish or Irish-related feature films hitting screens around the country, with no fewer than 11 titles due for release. Next Friday, the IFC opens two low-budget movies, The Book That Wrote Itself and Beyond the Pale, before closing down for much-needed renovations (as reported in last week's Reel News). Following its reopening on August 18th, the IFC will be showing Nicola Bruce's acclaimed I Could Read the Sky. September 1st sees the long-delayed The Closer You Get, a Donegal-set romantic comedy marking the first outing for producer Uberto Pasolini since he made The Full Monty. One week later comes Fintan Connolly's stylish study of Dublin lowlife, Flick, while playwright and screenwriter Conor McPherson's directorial debut, Saltwater, opens on September 15th and Kevin Liddy's rural family drama, Country, is on September 29th. Scheduled for October are Vinny Murphy's modern road movie, Accelerator and Gerry Stembridge's comedy of sexual manners, About Adam, along with the surreal Dublin fantasy, Rat, and Peter Sheridan's version of Brendan Behan's Borstal Boy.

Most of these new Irish films, along with Pat Murphy's Nora, Anjelica Huston's Agnes Browne and some others, will be eligible for this year's Irish Film and Television Awards, to be held at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast in December. The awards are open to any film screening at an Irish festival or receiving an Irish release between August 1st, 1999 and July 31st, 2000. "The objective is to make the awards as inclusive as possible, and as up-to-date," says Fionnuala Sweeney of IFTA. "Where films haven't had a commercial release or festival showing, we will be notifying producers that they are eligible, and only excluding them if they request it." While some imminent releases, such as I Could Read the Sky, are excluded because they were eligible in 1999, only one - About Adam - falls outside the IFTA rules by opening too late in the year - unlike the others, it has not had an Irish festival screening. Also ineligible are films made by Irish directors outside the country, which rules out Neil Jordan's The End of the Affair, Damien O'Donnell's East is East and Paddy Breathnach's upcoming Blow Dry. "We have to draw the line somewhere," says Sweeney. "And the awards are there to promote and celebrate film-making in Ireland and the Irish film industry."

It's not just feature film drama that's on the up here at the moment. The focus on documentary at the Galway Film Fleadh revealed a steady increase in the volume of Irish-made documentaries, although whether broadcasters are doing enough to support this work was a hotly-debated point. Some of those discussions are likely to continue at Doclands, the first dedicated Irish documentary festival and market, which will take place in Temple Bar from October 24th-26th. Organised by Ion Entertainment in conjunction with the Irish Film Board, Doclands will include three days of public screenings of Irish and international work, along with a two-day market event for industry professionals from around the world.

There's an unusual mixing of media activities at Meeting House Square in Temple Bar next Friday with a screening of Buster Keaton's first full-length feature, the 1923 Romeo and Juliet hillbilly tale, Our Hospitality. In keeping with the film's antebellum Deep South setting, there will be live bluegrass musical accompaniment from Australian punk cabaret five-piece, The Blue Grassy Knoll, which will be "matching wits with Keaton by citing modern musical references that bring the show alive and make it relevant for today's audience". The event continues a tradition of live soundtracks accompanying films on Meeting House Square, following previous screenings of Willie Reilly and his Colleen Bawn in 1999, Battleship Potemkin in 1998 and Metropolis in 1995. The Blue Grassy Knoll will also launch the OCEAN Thursday Night Classics programme next Thursday at 9.30 p.m. with a live score accompaniment to Keaton's short film, Cops, prior to the feature presentation of The Philadelphia Story. OCEAN Thursday Night Classics will run for four consecutive weeks in August at 10 p.m. with screenings of Key Largo, Jezebel and On the Waterfront. Admission to all Meeting House Square events is free, but tickets must be booked in advance through Temple Bar Properties, 18 Eustace Steet, Temple Bar, Dublin 2. Tel: 01-6772255. E-mail: info@temple-bar.ie

Hugh Linehan

Hugh Linehan

Hugh Linehan is an Irish Times writer and Duty Editor. He also presents the weekly Inside Politics podcast