Little Women the Irish Film Institute

DECEMBER 2019 LITTLE WOMEN THE IRISH FILM INSTITUTE

The Irish Film Institute is Ireland’s EXHIBIT national cultural institution for film. It aims to exhibit the finest in independent, Irish and international cinema, preserve PRESERVE Ireland’s moving image heritage at the Irish Film Archive, and encourage EDUCATE engagement with film through its various educational programmes.

IFI MEMBERSHIP IFI FILMSHOP

IFI Membership is the perfect stocking filler! For From the best in Irish film to the top DVDs of 2019, just €35 (€20 concession), IFI Members get cheaper including Apollo 11, Marianne and Leonard, and hit TV show tickets, discounts, double loyalty points, and lots more. Chernobyl, look no further than the IFI FilmShop for the best Moreover, you also directly help support the IFI’s vital Christmas gifts. Don’t forget, if you’re an IFI Member, you’ll work in preserving and restoring Ireland’s moving automatically get 10% off purchases (excluding gift cards) image heritage, via the IFI Irish Film Archive, as well and the IFI Film Shop will be open on Christmas Eve for that as engaging young people through our national last-minute shopping! education programme.

IFI CAFÉ BAR NAME A SEAT

The IFI Café Bar’s festive fare returns on Monday 2nd with Looking for a truly special and memorable festive gift this year? a delicious and great value set menu with dishes including Naming a seat in the newly refurbished Cinema 1 is a great way Smoked Salmon Mousse, Roulade of Roast Turkey, and to celebrate a loved one’s passion for film. Each seat receives Christmas Pudding. You can also enjoy a Christmas main its own unique engraved plaque from Dublin designers course as part of our traditional Feast Your Eyes screening Snow Design, and we’d be delighted to provide a special of It’s a Wonderful Life on Tuesday 17th at 18.30. Tickets €24 certificate of naming to present on Christmas Day. – free list suspended. The only limit is 50 characters and your imagination! See www.ifi.ie/name-your-seat/ for more information.

2 DIRECTOR’S NOTE

As yet another busy year comes to a close at the IFI, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers and members for their support over the past twelve months. We’ve had a fantastic and varied year. DECEMBER

AT THE IFI Little Women A highlight of the early part of 2019 was the launch of the It is your support of our programme that helps us to continue Loopline Collection on the IFI Player following two years of the work that we do. So, this December, I would like to thank you work to document, digitise and preserve this material, and to for all of your support throughout 2019 – especially those who ultimately make it widely available to the public. Loopline Film have supported our capital fundraising drive - and would once was founded by Irish filmmaker Sé Merry Doyle in 1992, and again encourage you to keep IFI Membership, our IFI Friends this Collection captures important chapters in Irish society, scheme, and IFI Gift Cards in mind as you do your Christmas often with a focus on the everyday life, in both urban and rural shopping this year. settings, and its launch was a significant event for us at IFI. In the autumn, we began the third year of a pilot programme to Before we say goodbye to 2019, we have one last exciting bring IFI Film Clubs to classrooms around the country, and we month of events for you to enjoy. It wouldn’t be December were delighted to sign up even more schools for this next phase without bringing back our old festive favourite It’s a Wonderful of the project which allows young people to watch films in an Life and we’ll also present a Yuletide programme as part of after-school setting and encourages conversation and debate our free Archive at Lunchtime screenings. There’s also a great around film. And of course, a major milestone for us this year selection of new releases (including Little Women, Beanpole and was the total refurbishment of Cinemas 1 and 2 at our home Ordinary Love), classics, documentaries and special events to in Temple Bar, completely transforming the customer cinema keep you busy before the year draws to a close. This month we experience at the IFI. We were delighted to complete this phase also present a focus on the legendary Derek Jarman, one of the of building work, and with the overwhelmingly positive response most influential figures of 20th century British culture. to the significant changes. Finally, I would like to thank the board and staff of the IFI for all The IFI remains a not-for-profit organisation, one that of their hard work during 2019, and on behalf of everyone at the constantly invests in our film preservation and education IFI, I’d like to wish all of our patrons and supporters a very merry initiatives. It is through our Box Office, IFI Café Bar, IFI Film and peaceful Christmas. Shop, fundraising and membership that we generate our income in order to preserve over 30,000 cans of films in the vaults at the Ross Keane IFI Irish Film Archive and offer lifelong learning opportunities to Director people all over Ireland. 2020 will see the further development of our archival and educational programmes with many new initiatives about to be unveiled, and we will be continuing with the refurbishment of some of our key spaces within our 18th century home on Eustace Street; our major capital project will keep us busy well into 2020.

3 NEW RELEASES, IFI SEASONS & DOCS & IFI CLASSICS EVENTS CALENDAR

SHOOTING THE MAFIA OPENS NOV 29TH DATE SCREENING TIME THE CAVE OPENS FRI 6TH 2ND IRISH FOCUS: SEAMUS HEANEY AND THE MUSIC 18.30 ORDINARY LOVE OPENS FRI 6TH MON OF WHAT HAPPENS + Q&A SO LONG, MY SON OPENS FRI 6TH 3RD IFI & IMMA: DEREK JARMAN: SEBASTIANE 18.30 TUES PREVIEW: ORDINARY LOVE + Q&A 20.30 BEANPOLE OPENS FRI 13TH 4TH IFI & AEMI: SYMBIOPSYCHOTAXIPLASM: TAKE ONE 18.30 CITIZEN K OPENS FRI 13TH WED IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE OPENS FRI 13TH 5TH EUROPEAN CINEMA NIGHT: COLD WAR 18.20 THE KINGMAKER OPENS FRI 13TH THUR IFI & IMMA: DEREK JARMAN: JUBILEE 18.30 7TH IFI & IMMA: DEREK JARMAN: 13.30 BAIT OPENS FRI 20TH SAT THE ANGELIC CONVERSATION BUDDIES OPENS FRI 20TH 8TH OPEN CAPTIONED SCREENING: ORDINARY LOVE 13.00 MILES DAVIS: SUN IFI & IMMA: DEREK JARMAN: CARAVAGGIO 13.30 BIRTH OF THE COOL OPENS FRI 20TH 10TH IFI & IMMA: DEREK JARMAN: 18.30 THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG OPENS FRI 20TH TUES THE LAST OF ENGLAND 12TH IFI & IMMA: DEREK JARMAN: THE GARDEN 18.30 LITTLE WOMEN OPENS FRI 27TH THUR OPEN CAPTIONED SCREENING: ORDINARY LOVE 19.00 LONG DAY’S JOURNEY 14TH IFI & IMMA: DEREK JARMAN: EDWARD II 13.30 INTO NIGHT (3D) OPENS FRI 27TH SAT 15TH IFI & IMMA: DEREK JARMAN: WITTGENSTEIN 13.30 SUN 16TH IFI & HORRRORTHON PRESENTS: DEATHCEMBER 20.10 MON 17TH THE SCIENCE OF GHOSTS + Q&A 18.20 TUES FEAST YOUR EYES: IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE 18.30 Films not classified by IFCO, including festival, one-off, and special screenings, are exhibited under Club rules and are restricted to persons 18 18TH WILD STRAWBERRIES: SOMETIMES ALWAYS NEVER 11.00 years and over. If you are not an IFI member, a daily membership (€1.50) is WED required for unclassified films, and this will be added to your transaction. 22ND IFI FAMILY: THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS 11.00 † The exclusivity of films is correct at the time of print. All films exclusive SUN to the IFI are kindly supported by the Arts Council. 24TH CINEMAS CLOSED TUES 25TH CINEMAS CLOSED linkedin.com/company/irishfilminstitute WED 26TH CINEMAS CLOSED @IrishFilmInstitute @IFI_Dub THUR 27TH WILD STRAWBERRIES: SOMETIMES ALWAYS NEVER 11.00 @IrishFilmInstitute FRI 29TH OPEN CAPTIONED SCREENING: LITTLE WOMEN 13.00 For bookings and film information, please see our SUN FROM THE VAULTS & IFI FAMILY: DARBY O’GILL 14.00 AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE website, www.ifi.ie, or contact the IFI Box Office on 01-6793477 (open 12.30 to 21.00 daily). 30TH OPEN CAPTIONED SCREENING: LITTLE WOMEN 18.10 MON

Open Captioned screening

Audio Described screening

The F-rating is a classification reserved for any film which is directed and/or written by a woman.

4 DECEMBER 2019 SHOOTING THE MAFIA DOC IFI

OPENS NOV 29TH Sicilian Letizia Battaglia began a lifelong Much-admired documentarian Kim battle with the Mafia when she first Longinotto adds this vivid portrait to FILM INFO: pointed her camera at a brutally slain her gallery of empowered and inspiring 94 mins, Ireland, 2019, Digital victim. A woman whose passions led women. Juxtaposing glimpses of Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn her to eschew traditional family life and Battaglia’s colourful personal life with become a photojournalist, she found her unflinching photographs, archival herself on the frontlines of one of the footage, classic Italian films, and the bloodiest chapters in Italy’s recent now 84-year-old’s own memories, she history. She fearlessly and artfully presents a remarkable woman whose captured Sicilian life – from weddings bravery helped expose the stark reality and funerals to the grisly murders of life and death, under the oppressive of ordinary citizens – to record the yoke of the Corleonesi Mafia. experience of the community she loved. THE CAVE FERAS DOC IFI FAYYAD

OPENS FRI 6TH Syrian filmmaker Feras Fayyad has hospital known as ‘The Cave’. Managed followed up Last Men in Aleppo, his by thirty-year-old Dr Amani, her EXCLUSIVELY AT IFI† Oscar-nominated 2017 documentary resourceful team try to cope with the about the volunteer organisation endless line of wounded civilians. FILM INFO: The White Helmets who save lives on Operating the makeshift facility with 95 mins, Syria-Denmark- Germany-Qatar-USA, 2019, the streets of the besieged city, with great resilience and humour, Dr Amani Digital, Subtitled another urgent and necessarily shocking must contend not only with the ever- Notes by David O’Mahony depiction of life during the ongoing present threat of bombing, but also with conflict. This time he has turned his the chauvinistic attitudes of men who focus towards Eastern Ghouta, a suburb feel that a woman should be at home, of Damascus that has been under siege not running a hospital. for five years, and the subterranean

5 DECEMBER 2019 ORDINARY LOVE NEW RELEASE

OPENS FRI 6TH Retired Belfast couple Joan (Lesley in their relationship, Tom finds himself Manville) and Tom (Liam Neeson) have, isolated. ‘We’re both going through this FILM INFO: over the years, learned to live with together’, he angrily protests, to which 92 mins, UK, 2019, Digital the death of their teenage daughter. Joan responds, ‘no, we’re not’. Notes by David O’Mahony Their existence is comfortable if unremarkable, filled with the There will be a special preview of affectionate bickering that comes Ordinary Love, followed by a Q&A with from a lifetime together. When Joan is the directors and producer Brian J. diagnosed with cancer and undergoes Falconer, at 20.30 on Tuesday 3rd. surgery and chemotherapy, she bonds with the terminally ill Peter (David Open Captioned screenings will take Wilmot), who has chosen to stop his place at 13.00 on Sunday 8th and treatment. As the illness exposes cracks 19.00 on Thursday 12th. SO LONG, MY SON NEW RELEASE

OPENS FRI 6TH A complex family drama spanning more what we think we know about these than four decades of Chinese history, characters. The startling twists and (DI JIU TIAN CHANG) So Long, My Son explores the cultural revelations continue into the deeply and psychological repercussions of moving last act, when the two families, EXCLUSIVELY AT IFI† the country’s national one-child policy now much older and living in FILM INFO: for two young couples, one of whom is a progressive China far removed from 185 mins, China, 2019, devastated by the loss of their 12-year- the oppressive country of their youth, Digital, Subtitled Notes by David O’Mahony old son in a swimming accident at the meet again to reflect upon their outset of the film. Novelistic in scope, shared histories. the film shuffles the chronology of events, fluidly moving from the Cultural Revolution to the capitalist present in a manner which repeatedly confounds

6 BEANPOLE RELEASE NEW

OPENS FRI 13TH 1945, in the immediate aftermath of the Perelygina), a soldier who returns from siege of Leningrad. Two women form a the frontline to discover further tragedy (DYLDA) mutually destructive bond in an attempt awaits her at home. Kantemir Balagov to create a future life from the ruins has, with his second feature at the age EXCLUSIVELY AT IFI† of war. Iya (Viktoria Miroshnichenko), of just 28, delivered a near masterpiece. FILM INFO: whose imposing height has led to her Uncompromisingly bleak, yet poised, 137 mins, Russia, 2019, titular nickname, is a nurse in an over- elegant, and, at times, strikingly beautiful, Digital, Subtitled Notes by David O’Mahony crowded veterans’ hospital. Suffering it is a work of impeccable cinematic craft, from Post-traumatic stress disorder, she with vivid central performances. experiences occasional bouts of full-body paralysis that render her catatonic. Iya has acted as a caregiver to Pashka, the infant son of her friend Masha (Vasilisa CITIZEN K IFI DOC IFI

OPENS FRI 13TH The latest documentary from the assets seized, and was he ultimately extraordinarily prolific Alex Gibney sentenced to ten years in prison. FILM INFO: (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room; Today, as an exile living in London, he 128 mins, UK-USA, 2019, Digital Taxi to the Dark Side) is an expansive continues to speak out against Putin’s Notes by David O’Mahony exposé of post-Soviet Russia, told from two-decade stranglehold on power. the perspective of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Expertly researched and photographed, a former oligarch turned political Gibney uses Khodorkovsky’s story as a dissident. Benefitting from the chaos means to explore the complex interplay that ensued after the dissolution of the between oligarchy and government, and USSR, Khodorkovsky swiftly became its destructive effect on democracy. the richest man in the country. However when he accused the new Putin regime of corruption, he was arrested, his

7 DECEMBER 2019 IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE IFI CLASSIC

OPENS FRI 13TH It’s A Wonderful Life has become town, George finds himself considering required viewing during the Christmas drastic action. However, Angel (Second FILM INFO: period, and we’re pleased to present Class) Clarence Odbody (played by 130 mins, USA, 1946, Digital this perennial IFI favourite in a 4K Henry Travers) intervenes and shows Notes by Kevin Coyne digital restoration. James Stewart George what life in Bedford Falls would is George Bailey, loyal family man have been like had he never been born. and friend whose selfless nature has resulted in him spending his whole life Despite its lack of commercial success in hometown Bedford Falls, despite his when first released, this heart-warming ardent desire for travel and adventure. story has grown in popularity over the FEAST YOUR EYES Enjoy a specially created main When local despot Mr. Potter seizes an decades, rediscovered and beloved by course in the IFI Café Bar opportunity to ruin George, and thus successive generations. following the 18.30 screening consolidate his own control over the on Tuesday 17th. THE KINGMAKER IFI DOC

OPENS FRI 13TH Acclaimed director Lauren Greenfield power via her son Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ has built a successful career through Marcos, whom she is helping in his bid FILM INFO: documenting the extremes of wealth to win the vice-presidency. To this end, 101 mins, Denmark-USA, in such films as The Queen of Versailles she confidently rewrites her family’s 2019, Digital, Subtitled (2012) and Generation Wealth (2018). scandalous history, replacing it with a Notes by David O’Mahony In The Kingmaker, she turns her attention narrative of a matriarch’s extravagant to Filipino politician and former First love for her country. Enlightening as Lady Imelda Marcos, whose extravagant much as it is enraging, The Kingmaker tastes while married to the dictator is a damning portrait of entitlement, Ferdinand have become the stuff of opulence and corruption. legend. Greenfield begins her story in 2014, when Imelda is in her eighties, and embarking upon an improbable return to

8 BAIT RELEASE NEW

OPENS FRI 20TH Following a number of sold out harbour. He struggles to restore the screenings in October, Mark Jenkin’s family to their traditional place amid FILM INFO: Bait returns for a limited run. increasing friction with tourists and 89 mins, UK, 2019, Digital locals alike, until a tragedy at the heart Martin Ward (Edward Rowe) is a of the family changes his world. modern-day cove fisherman whose brother has re-purposed their father’s Stunningly shot on a vintage 16mm vessel as a tourist tripper, catering for camera using monochrome Kodak the influx of London money and stag stock, Mark Jenkin’s Bait is a timely parties to his harbour village. With and funny, yet poignant new film that their childhood home now a get-away gets to the heart of a community facing for holidaymakers, Martin is displaced unwelcome change. to the estate above the picturesque

BUDDIES CLASSIC IFI

OPENS FRI 20TH First clinically reported in 1981, the Parting Glances (Bill Sherwood, 1986), early years of the AIDS pandemic and Buddies, acknowledged as the first FILM INFO: were characterised by a fear and film on the subject, from director Arthur 79 mins, USA, 1985, Digital stigmatisation of sufferers akin to J. Bressan Jr., who himself died of AIDS- Notes by Kevin Coyne hysteria. It wasn’t until the 1990s that related complications in 1987. Here, timid mainstream American cinema moved to David (David Schachter) volunteers to be sympathetic portrayals such as Longtime a ‘buddy’ to former outspoken activist Companion (Norman René, 1990) and Robert (Geoff Edholm), abandoned Philadelphia (Jonathan Demme, 1993). by friends and family as he lies dying. While Hollywood procrastinated, laudable Political, personal, and deeply moving, early work to humanise those living this is a remarkable document of with the illness included TV movie An darker times. Early Frost (1985), starring Aidan Quinn,

9 DECEMBER 2019 MILES DAVIS: BIRTH OF THE COOL IFI DOC

OPENS FRI 20TH In music and in life, again and again Featuring never-before-seen archival Miles Davis broke with convention – footage, studio outtakes, and rare FILM INFO: and when he thought his work came to photos, Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool 115 mins, USA, 2019, Digital represent a new convention, he changed returns after two sold out screenings Notes by Kevin Coyne it again. His disregard for tradition, his in October, telling the story of a truly clarity of vision, his relentless drive and singular talent and unpacking the man thirst for new experiences made him an behind the horn. inspiring collaborator to fellow musicians and a cultural icon to generations of listeners. It made him an innovator in music — from bebop to “cool jazz,” modern quintets, orchestral music, jazz fusion, rock ’n’ roll, and even hip-hop. THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG IFI CLASSIC

OPENS FRI 20TH Jacques Demy’s Palme d’Or-winning is pregnant. When she receives few The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, the middle replies to her letters, she allows herself (LES PARAPLUIES film in a loose trilogy of romances, along to be courted by wealthy Roland (Marc DE CHERBOURG) with Lola (1961) and Les Demoiselles de Michel), leaving Guy devastated on Rochefort (1967), was the first musical his return. FILM INFO: in which the dialogue was entirely sung. 91 mins, France-West Germany, 1964, Digital, Subtitled In her breakthrough role, Catherine Told in a riot of rich, beautiful Notes by Kevin Coyne Deneuve plays Geneviève, a young pastels, and set to Michel Legrand’s woman deeply in love with Guy (Nino magnificently memorable score, the Castelnuovo), despite the disapproval film is a rare treat, from what critic of her mother (Anne Vernon). After Geoff Andrew calls its 'bauble-bright Guy is drafted to fight in the Algerian start to bittersweet end'. War, Geneviève discovers that she

10 LITTLE RELEASE NEW WOMEN

OPENS FRI 27TH Writer-director Greta Gerwig (Lady Portraying Jo, Meg, Amy, and Bird) has crafted a Little Women that Beth March, the film stars Saoirse FILM INFO: draws on both the classic novel and Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, 135 mins, USA, 2019, Digital the writings of Louisa May Alcott, and Eliza Scanlen, with Timothée Chalamet Notes by David O’Mahony unfolds as the author’s alter ego, Jo as their wealthy, foppish neighbour March, reflects back and forth on her Laurie, Laura Dern as their endlessly fictional life. In Gerwig’s adaptation, generous mother, and Meryl Streep the beloved story of the March sisters as sharp-tongued Aunt March. takes on a self-reflexive tone, as she wryly interrogates some of the more There will be Open Captioned screenings traditional aspects of the story, offering at 13.00 on Sunday 29th and 18.10 on a contemporary, feminist commentary Monday 30th. on proceedings.

LONG DAY’S RELEASE NEW JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (3D)

OPENS FRI 27TH Luo Hongwu returns to his hometown long 3D sequence shot in a single take, of Kaili in search for Wan Quiwen, the exploring notions of space, dreams and (DIQIU ZUIHOU DE YEWAN) woman he loved and has never been memories. Bi Gan remarks, '3D images able to forget. Chinese filmmaker resemble our memories… the three- FILM INFO: Bi Gan’s second feature is a marvel, dimensional feeling recalls that of our 133 mins, China-France, 2018, Digital 3D a nocturnal dream addressing issues recollections of the past… like a mirror Notes by Marie-Pierre Richard of time and memory, divided into two that turns our memories into tactile distinct parts. The first, shot in 2D, sensations.' exploits voice-over and popular songs to evoke memories, while the camera A supplement of €1 applies to glides through scenes filled with colour 3D screenings. and an atmosphere reminiscent of the cinema of Wong Kar-Wai. Part two is a

11 IFI & IMMA: DEREK JARMAN

One of the most significant figures in 20th century A highly visible public figure, Jarman made no secret British culture, Derek Jarman was a provocative, of his diagnosis with the HIV virus in 1986, at the multi-hyphenate maverick who produced prodigious time an untreatable disease, branded a plague by quantities of work, in a variety of mediums, the media. This coincided with his move to Prospect throughout the late 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. Cottage in Dungeness, Kent, overshadowed by a An artist of many dimensions, Jarman was a poet, nuclear power station. He continued to work as a painter, a scriptwriter, a director, a cinematographer, his health declined, creating an internationally a set designer, and an author of autobiographical recognised garden, and made some of the most journals. This retrospective season of eight of his formally daring films of his career. most significant films is presented in parallel to the PROTEST! exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Introduction and film notes by David O’Mahony. Art (15th November 2019 - 23rd February 2020), Multi-film pass available directly from the which focuses on Jarman’s wider practices as a IFI Box Office: 5 films for €50. gardener and political activist. Jarman designed the expressive sets for Ken Russell’s The Devils (1971) before directing his feature debut Sebastiane (1976), a distinctly queer interpretation of the martyrdom of St Sebastian. A fiercely outspoken advocate for gay rights, Jarman’s work is provocative and defiantly anti-establishment; his scathing attacks on British politics, and oppressive religious conservatism, coupled with his radical use of aesthetic forms, evident in excoriating works such as Jubilee (1978) and The Last of England (1987), saw him cast as the enfant terrible of the contemporary art world, and made him a heroic figure for marginalised communities.

12 Caravaggio IFI & IMMA: DEREK JARMAN SEBASTIANE

TUES 3RD (18.30) Having made numerous experimental in gay iconography from the 19th short works on Super 8mm, Jarman century. Jarman evocatively captures FILM INFO: made his narrative feature debut, the scorching heat of the Sardinian 86 mins, UK, 1976, Digital, co-directed with Paul Humfress, with locations, and the evident effect it has Subtitled this controversial, proudly homo-erotic, on his cast, while Brian Eno’s typically Latin-language treatment of the life atmospheric score complements the and martyrdom of Saint Sebastian. director’s superb framing, pacing and Sebastian was a member of Emperor ethereal slow-motion sequences. Diocletian’s Praetorian Guard in the 4th century who was persecuted This screening will be introduced by Sean on account of his Christianity, and Kissane, Curator of Exhibitions at IMMA, whose image was appropriated and curator of Derek Jarman: PROTEST! JUBILEE

THUR 5TH (18.30) Queen Elizabeth I (Jenny Runacre) pop culture icons of the era, including is transported into the future by her Toyah Willcox, Adam Ant and FILM INFO: mysterious occult aide Dr John Dee Vivienne Westwood. 106 mins, UK, 1978, Digital (Richard O'Brien), and the pair finds themselves in the anarchic Britain of the Bravely anti-establishment in its 1970s, where crime and disorder plague haunting vision of a social wasteland, the streets, and Queen Elizabeth II has Jubilee rails against the monarchy, been killed in an arbitrary mugging. moral corruption and big-business- As they move through the social and obsessed Britain. physical decay of London, Elizabeth and Dee observe the activities of a group of young punks memorably played by

13 IFI & IMMA: DEREK JARMAN

The Angelic Conversation is THE ANGELIC representative. The film, which Jarman CONVERSATION himself described as, ‘a dream world, a world of magic and ritual’, takes the form of a poetic montage of imagery depicting gay male desire, accompanied by a selection of Shakespeare’s sonnets, SAT 7TH (13.30) beautifully intoned by Judi Dench, with an evocative soundtrack composed and performed by English experimental FILM INFO: Jarman continued to work with the 77 mins, UK, 1985, Digital group Coil. Super 8mm format throughout his career, creating short films which were later edited together and blown up for theatrical presentation. This was his most prominent mode of artistic practice in the early 1980s, of which

the film was also his most beautiful CARAVAGGIO and accessible work, and proved to be a modest commercial success.

Sean Bean and Tilda Swinton, in the first of her many roles for Jarman, deliver fine performances SUN 8TH (13.30) as the model and partner caught up in a complex love triangle with the painter (Nigel Terry). The film brings FILM INFO: With the advent of new funding 93 mins, UK, 1986, Digital together Jarman’s quintessential streams from Channel 4, Jarman was themes: the plight of the artist, able to realise his long-gestating, homosexual love and the hypocrisy fictionalised biopic of the Baroque of religious authority. painter Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio. While being as imaginative and experimental as expected,

The film is an assault of images, some THE LAST ugly, some perversely beautiful. In the OF ENGLAND most unforgettable sequence, Tilda Swinton’s Bride tears off her wedding dress in a fit of despair and grief, before leaving the country for a better world, in emulation of the emigrating couple TUES 10TH (18.30) depicted in Ford Madox Brown’s famous painting of the same name, which inspired Jarman to make the film. FILM INFO: Jarman’s angriest film, a striking collage 92 mins, UK, 1987, Digital of Super 8mm, home video footage, and new material, is a distressing, nightmarish vision of a country which had under Thatcher’s rule in the 1980s, as the director saw it, become a homophobic, repressive state.

14 director’s sparsely furnished home THE GARDEN close to a nuclear power plant on the barren, windswept Dungeness coastline, The Garden offers insight into Jarman’s interior world, shifting from the personal to the political in its consideration of his recurring themes, utilising a cast of THUR 12TH (18.30) religious figures including Jesus, Judas and the Madonna, played by frequent muse Tilda Swinton. FILM INFO: Diagnosed with HIV in the mid-1980s, 92 mins, UK-Germany-Japan, 1990, Digital Jarman’s health was in decline when he came to create this contemplative, self- reflexive reverie on sexual repression, religious iconography and mortality. Filmed on delicate Super 8mm in the environs of Prospect Cottage, the

Jarman takes the plot, which revolves EDWARD II around the King’s (Steven Waddington) infatuation with Piers Gaveston (Andrew Tiernan) that proved to be his downfall, and renders it thrillingly modern – at one point Edward’s army are depicted as the contemporary gay SAT 14TH (13.30) rights activist group, OutRage! Edward II is often cited a key film of the FILM INFO: In adapting Christopher Marlowe’s 91 mins, UK-Japan, 1991, Digital New Queer Cinema cycle of the early Elizabethan drama for the screen, 1990s, alongside My Own Private Idaho, Jarman forefronts the play’s Young Soul Rebels and Poison. homosexual themes, adding relevance through pointed anachronisms in the staging, mixing contemporary and medieval props and clothing.

so often had to, Wittgenstein is full of WITTGENSTEIN arresting visuals and bold performances from Tilda Swinton, Michael Gough and Karl Johnson, who brilliantly captures the troubled, homosexual philosopher in all of his torment and drama. The film was to be Jarman’s final narrative SUN 15TH (13.30) feature before complications with AIDS rendered him partially blind. FILM INFO: Derek Jarman’s penultimate film was a 72 mins, UK-Japan, 1993, Digital theatrical, highly imaginative biopic of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, based on a screenplay by the radical literary theorist Terry Eagleton. Commissioned by Channel 4, and working from a meagre budget as he

15 ARCHIVE AT IRISH LUNCHTIME FOCUS Small Change Small

CHRISTMAS CRACKERS SEAMUS HEANEY AND THE Take a break from shopping and enjoy FREE MUSIC OF WHAT HAPPENS screenings from the IFI Irish Film Archive every MON 2ND (18:30) Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Simply collect tickets at IFI Box Office – please see Six years after his unexpected death, Seamus www.ifi.ie for more information. Heaney’s wife Marie and their three children talk intimately about their family life and read the PROGRAMME ONE poems he wrote for them. His surviving brothers AMHARC ÉIREANN: AN NOLLAIG remember their childhood and the shared Christmas stories from Gael Linn’s newsreels. experiences that inspired many of his finest poems. FILM INFO: 8 mins, Ireland, 1956–1963, Digital, Black and White Heaney’s unique gifts as a poet and his personal NOT A BAD CHRISTMAS response to the complexity and violence of the Troubles in Northern Ireland are discussed by poets Enda Walsh’s first film bears all the hallmarks of Paul Muldoon and Michael Longley. His students his dark domestic humour as Santa chokes and is in Harvard, Tracy K Smith (US Poet Laureate), and buried in the garden pond. Kevin Young (poetry editor of The New Yorker) FILM INFO: 13 mins, Ireland, 1999, Digital consider the worldwide resonances of his work.

PROGRAMME TWO The film conjures the people and landscapes of CANON HAYES COMMUNITY Heaney’s childhood through a bounty of film and YOUTH CENTRE audio archive featuring Heaney’s own voice and his The Tipperary Parish Guild Film Unit made this film powerful, inimitable poetry. about the Canon Hayes Community Youth Centre between 1962 and 1965. Activities include amateur DIRECTOR: Adam Low theatrics, outings, carolling and bringing Christmas FILM INFO: 88 mins, UK, 2019, Digital fare to the needy. FILM INFO: 8 mins, Ireland, 1965, Digital, Silent, Black and White Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn SMALL CHANGE In Cathy Brady’s award-winning short film, a young, Q&A This screening will be followed by Q&A with Adam Low and single mother Karen (Nora-Jane Noone) is bored by Catherine and Marie Heaney, hosted by Dr Margaret Kelleher routine. Slot machines have become her secret thrill of UCD. and addiction. With Christmas looming, a desperate hope for a big win sees her life spiral out of control as her young daughter stands helplessly by. FILM INFO: 17 mins, Ireland, 2010, Digital

Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn

16 in his packed family home, who goes IFI FAMILY for a wander around London, trying THE MAN WHO to complete and publish a story in time for Christmas. Interacting with INVENTED potential characters, including a terrific CHRISTMAS Christopher Plummer as Scrooge, the film hints at what may have been the workings of the great writer, while SUN 22ND (11:00) showing us Victorian London in all its chaotic, seasonal glory. DIRECTOR: For this unusual adaptation of Bharat Nalluri A Christmas Carol, we go behind Tickets: €5.50 per person, €16.50 FILM INFO: the scenes of Charles Dickens’s family ticket (2 adults + 2 children, 104 mins, Ireland-Canada, imagination, to see how he might have 1 adult + 3 children). 2017, Digital Notes by Alicia McGivern come up with the characters of his much-loved tale. Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) plays Dickens, much put upon

(Jimmy O’Dea) who grants him three FROM THE VAULTS wishes. Although some picketed the & IFI FAMILY film’s launch for what they felt was its ridiculous stereotyping of Irish people, DARBY O’GILL AND this boisterous romp remains eminently THE LITTLE PEOPLE watchable, even 60 years after its release. The film has some wonderful scenes of merriment and horseplay SUN 29TH (14:00) between O’Dea and Sharpe, a sparkling performance by a strapping young DIRECTOR: Generations of Irish people hold fond Sean Connery, and breathtaking Robert Stevenson or fearful childhood memories of this special effects. FILM INFO: Disney fantasy which mixes whimsy with 93 mins, USA, 1959, 35mm magic, folklore and gothic. When Darby Tickets for children under 12 cost €5.50. This 60th anniversary screening O’Gill (Albert Sharpe), a wily caretaker will be introduced by Conor falls down a well, he is held captive Doyle, godson of Jimmy O’Dea. by Brian, King of the Leprechauns

number of years, while his elder son Peter, WILD frets about never being good enough. STRAWBERRIES Penned by Frank Cottrell Boyce, this is a tender, articulate exploration of family SOMETIMES communication and the impact of pride ALWAYS NEVER and stubbornness. WED 18TH & Wild Strawberries is our film club for FRI 27TH (11:00) over 55s. Tickets: €5.50 including regular tea/coffee before the event. If you happen DIRECTOR: The droll, elegant performance style of to look younger, please don’t take offence Carl Hunter Bill Nighy complements this study of if we ask your age. FILM INFO: retired reclusive Merseyside tailor Alan, 91 mins, UK, 2018, Digital who directs the fastidiousness of his Notes by Alicia McGivern working life into Scrabble games. When his favourite son departs in a row, Alan finds himself searching for him over a

17 Director Niall McCann further explores the THE SCIENCE playful territory he mapped out in his first OF GHOSTS two films, Art Will Save The World and Lost In France, reimagining the parameters of + Q&A the musical film form and the nature of documentary itself. The film is filled with the sonorous vocals and beautiful melodies of Crowley, snapshots of family life and TUES 17TH (18.20) lush landscapes, and includes stunning performances from Radie Peat of Lankum, DIRECTOR: Can a film ever truly reflect who you are? Brigid Mae Power, the Crash Ensemble, Niall McCann Irish singer/songwriter Adrian Crowley and words from writer Kevin Barry. FILM INFO: becomes a ghost visiting his own life, 79 mins, Ireland, 2018, Digital imagining what a documentary about The screening will be followed by a Q&A Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn himself would be like, blurring the lines with Niall McCann and Adrian Crowley, between documentary and fiction, reality hosted by Matthew Nolan, and a short and imagination, subject and director. musical performance.

impressive roster of international cast IFI and crew featuring some of horror’s big HORRORTHON names and most familiar faces, including Ruggero Deodato, Lucky McKee, Polyanna PRESENTS McIntosh, Julian Richards, Barbara DEATHCEMBER Crampton, Richard Glover, Irish actor Johnny Vivash, and many, many more. MON 16TH (20.10) Covering a wide range of genres and styles, from animation to splatter and DIRECTORS: Following this year’s hugely successful all points between, it’s the perfect Various edition of IFI Horrorthon, we’re delighted Christmas gift for the horror fan in FILM INFO: to offer audiences a seasonal chance your life. 145 minutes, Germany, 2019, Digital, Subtitled to see Deathcember, a cinematic advent Notes by Kevin Coyne calendar taking a look at the darker side of Christmas. Producers Ivo Scheloske and Dominic Saxl have assembled an

He becomes captivated by a young EUROPEAN singer, who is the star attraction of CINEMA NIGHT what will eventually become the real-life Mazowsze folk ensemble. They are COLD WAR separated when Wiktor defects to the West, but their paths are destined to cross again. THUR 5TH (18.20) Admission to this screening is free and there will be a reception in the IFI foyer (ZIMNA WOJNA) In Pawel Pawlikowski’s entrancing, following the film. Booking is essential. DIRECTOR: Oscar-nominated film, Wiktor (Tomasz Pawel Pawlikowski Kot) is tasked to record Poland’s traditional folk music for a morale- FILM INFO: 85 mins, Poland-France-UK, 2018, boosting statement of national pride in Digital, Subtitled, Black and White the aftermath of World War II.

18 IFI & AEMI SYMBIOPSYCHOTAXIPLASM: TAKE ONE

WED 4TH (18.30)

DIRECTOR: Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One is Filmed in 1968, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm William Greaves a one-of-a kind documentary fiction was a visionary experiment that FILM INFO: hybrid. Directed by and featuring William remained unknown until the 1990s. 75 mins, USA, 1968, Digital Greaves, the film records Greaves as he Yet this wildly innovative, counter- loosely leads an increasingly perplexed culture landmark remains one of the film crew in New York’s Central Park as most insightful films ever made they try to ascertain what kind of film about filmmaking. they’re making. A couple repeatedly enacts a break-up for a screen test, a aemi is an Arts Council-funded documentary crew films a crew filming organisation that supports and This screening will be the crew, locals wander casually in exhibits moving image work by artists introduced by comedian and and out of frame: Greaves’s film defies & experimental filmmakers. For more theatre maker James Moran. easy description. information visit www.aemi.ie

The IFI would like to thank all IFI Members, Friends, and the following individuals in particular for their valued THANK YOU! support throughout the year.

AVANT-GARDE FRIENDS CLASSIC FRIENDS IFI Members, Friends, Corporate Nurdan Colleran Margaret Kelleher Members, and Luminaries are vital Shane J. Collins Patrick Kelly to the IFI’s continued success in Peter Cullivan Terence O’Rourke developing our unique work – Catherine Hynes Sargeant-Genovese Trust from our exhibition programme, to Patricia Kavanagh preserving Ireland’s moving image Brian Prunty IFI FOUNDING LUMINARIES heritage in our national archive, to David Tarrant Jim and Terri-Ann Adrian introducing young people to the Anonymous fantastic world of film. EPIC FRIENDS Michael and Jane Collins Thomas Bryant Core Media For information on more Adrian Crawford Gleeson Family ways to support the IFI please Beatriz Koptschitz Bastos go to www.ifi.ie/support or call IFI CORPORATE MEMBERS Sean and Sarah Reynolds (01) 679 5744. Airbus Jim Sheridan Axonista

19 15 Nov 2019 — 23 Feb 2020 / Admission Free Derek Jarman PROTEST! A retrospective by acclaimed British artist and filmmaker Derek Jarman, the first in over 20 years.

IMAGE: Derek Jarman / Fuck me blind (detail) / 1993 oil on canvas / 251 x 179 cm Courtesy Amanda Wilkinson Gallery, London