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Stranger Than Fiction

Documentary Film Festival and Market 13th-16th September 2007 stf_2007 23/08/2007 11:30 Page ii

Introduction

It’s my great pleasure to welcome This year’s opening feature The of the films screening, as well as you to this year’s Stranger Than Undertaking stands out as one of the contributions from David Norris, Fiction Festival. This is the sixth most beautiful films to come out of Louis de Paor, Stephen Rea and year of the event, and the first Ireland in many years. Richard Boyd Barrett. without the indomitable Gráinne The feature-length documentary This is perhaps a golden age of Humphreys at the helm. With continues to thrive on the inter- documentary film, and for the four Gráinne’s departure, Irish Film national scene, and I have selected 14 days of Stranger Than Fiction, I’d Institute Director Mark Mulqueen films which I hope you will at turns encourage you to come to the IFI to decided to approach this year’s find provocative, entertaining, heart- meet the filmmakers, to partake in festival in a different way, opting to breaking, hilarious; and always, I the market, to engage in the discus- bring an independent film-maker on hope, deeply affecting. Truth is indeed sions, and to see the finest of docu- board as Festival Director. stranger that fiction, and documen- mentary films from Ireland as well as As a documentary-maker used to taries tap into humanity in all its from throughout the world. submitting films to such festivals, I vagaries in ways that drama can’t; was delighted to be asked to put witness the delightful and witty James Kelly together this event. It has been an Helvetica (yes, it is a documentary Festival Director honour and a privilege, as well as a about a font), or Jessica Yu’s real eye-opener, to take up a position wonderfully crafted Protagonist, or on the other side of the fence this indeed Donal McIntyre’s truly year. My first impression was just terrifying A Very British Gangster. how much good work is currently We are delighted to welcome being made in Ireland. Due in no small Roger Graef as special guest of the part to the support and commitment festival; criminologist, founding of the Irish Film Board and member of , director of the broadcasters RTÉ and TG4, this year’s The Secret Policeman’s Ball (amongst programme sees a particularly strong many others), he is a towering figure selection of Irish films exploring many in the world of documentary film. aspects of Irish life, past and present. We also welcome directors of thirteen

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A special thanks to Saidhbh Ní Dhúlaing and to all the festival volunteers, who have generously given their time to help make this festival possible. stf_2007 23/08/2007 11:30 Page 1

Stranger Than Fiction Screening Schedule Tickets & Prices

Day 1 Thursday 13th September ‘Feature Docs on the Big Screen’ Panel Discussion 10.00am-1.00pm Festival and Market reception 7.15pm The Undertaking (Opening Film) 8.45pm Day 2 Friday 14th September Market: One-On-One Meetings 9.00am-6.00pm Get Collins and Now or Never 1.00pm Exile in Hell 1.00pm The Catalpa Rescue 2.05pm Mise, Seán Ó Ríordáin 3.10pm Day 3.20pm Mosney 5.00pm Helvetica 7.00pm Flight of the Earls 9.00pm Day 3 Saturday 15th September Market: One-On-One Meetings 9.00am-6.00pm Pleasure at Her Majesty’s 11.15am Jack Doyle: A Legend Lost 11.00am Saviours 12.00pm Protagonist 1.00pm A Complaint of Rape and Murder Blues 1.25pm Forever 3.00pm Iraq in Fragments 3.30pm Roger Graef Masterclass 4.00pm Losers and Winners 5.15pm A Very British Gangster 7.00pm Manufacturing Dissent 9.00pm Day 4 Sunday 16th September Short Film Competition 12.30pm Escape from Suburbia 2.15pm A Winter’s Journey 4.00pm Our Daily Bread 5.45pm I For India 7.00pm In the Shadow of the Moon 9.00pm

Ticket prices: Prices vary from €7 up to €10 Membership is required for all films, either €1 depending on the duration of the film and the per day per person, or else €20 for the entire time it is screening. year. We thoroughly recommend the latter: it There are special package prices of €40 for opens the door to a huge number of free sneak 5 films and €70 for 10 films. previews and other benefits throughout the year.

Tickets are available from Box Office, 01 - 679 3477 IFI, 6 Eustace Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, Online bookings www.irishfilm.ie

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Stranger Than Fiction Documentary Market

The Stranger Than Fiction Market Guests participating in these Michéal Ó Meallaigh runs parallel to the festival and meetings include TG4, Head of Programmes Department provides independent Irish Michéal O Meallaigh is Head of Programmes documentary producers with a Ann Baumann for TG4. TG4’s primary role as broadcaster unique opportunity to meet with and ARTE, GEIE, Acquisitions is to commission programmes in the Irish pitch potential projects to leading Anne Baumann, Commissioning Editor for language and to co-produce programmes Commissioning Editors, Sales Agents, ARTE has worked with the company since that have a particular relevance for an Irish 1992. Previous to this she worked for ZDF, audience. Distributors and Buyers from around SWF, SR and as a Production Manager the world. It is an opportunity for facilitating co-production projects between Alan Maher Independent Irish documentary Germany and France. ARTE (G.E.I.E.) was Production Executive, Irish Film Board producers to gain finance, knowledge, founded on April 30 1991 by ARTE France Alan Maher joined the Irish Film Board in and expert advice from professionals and ARTE Deutschland TV GmbH. July of 2006. Previously, he was Head of in the documentary broadcast world Development at Element Pictures and a with international financing and Kate Beetham creative director of Vinegar Hill commissioning power. BBC, Series Producer Productions. As Production Executive at the Kate Beetham is Executive Producer for docu- IFB, Alan is responsible for funding projects mentaries on the BBC commissioning team. and managing them through financing, She works for BBC 1, BBC 2 and BBC 4 and production, sales and distribution. One-On-One Meetings has a background in production. The BBC The key aspect of the Market is commissions around 300 hours per year cov- Martin Morgan one-on-one meetings that are ering observational documentary, construct- The History Channel, The Biography Channel scheduled over two days, giving ed documentary, docu-soaps and series. and the Crime and Investigation Network independent Irish producers the Martin Morgan began his career in feature opportunity to pitch ideas to Kevin Dawson film cutting rooms before migrating to Commissioning Editors and Sales RTÉ, Commissioning Editor documentary production, and becoming Kevin Dawson has been Commissioning Head of Production for British Pathé News. Agents, secure funding, make links Editor for Factual Programmes at RTÉ He then moved to The History Channel. As and forge relationships for the future. Television since 1999 and is responsible Deputy Channels Director, he now oversees The market this year will host for the key output in History, Arts and 162 hours of history programming daily. decision-makers from the top contemporary documentaries. Most is channels, sales agents as well as commissioned independently and Factual Margaret Murphy international distributors. output runs to about 120 peaktime hours Commissioning Editor, Factual Entertainment Deadline for applications is the per year. He was formerly a staff producer for SBS Independent, Australia 29th August and all independent and reporter at RTÉ and previously worked Margaret has many years of experience in in the print media as a newspaper writer television production, in Australia and the UK, producers who wish to participate and executive. spanning production of documentaries, must be a member of Screen magazine, arts and entertainment programs. Producers Ireland or have a pro- Laurène Mansuy Her interests lie in half-hour documentary gramme screening in the festival. ARTE, Acquisitions in The Discovery and and factual series, including formats, and Knowledge Unit international co-productions and low-budget Laurène Mansuy has been Commissioning original entertainment series. Editor since 2005 for the Discovery and Knowledge Unit at Arte France. She over- sees acquisitions for the documentary slot "Faraway places”, which is broadcast on dig- ital terrestrial television.

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This year’s Market is supported Information by the Irish Film Board and For further information the Irish Film Institute and is run please contact: by Screen Producers Ireland. Emer Mullarkey Stranger Than Fiction Market Director Screen Producers Ireland. 01 662 1114 [email protected]

Mairéad Ní Nuadháin Feature Docs on the Big Screen Screen Training Ireland RTÉ Commissioning Editor for Irish Panel Discussions hosted Masterclass with language, Science and Multicultural, by the Irish Film Board Roger Graef, OBE Mairéad’s brief covers a wide range of programming for RTÉ. Her department also supplies RTÉ’s provision of programming to Thursday 13th Sept., 10.00am-1.00pm Saturday 15th Sept., 3.30pm-6.30pm TG4, a range which covers entertainment, Aimed at industry professionals with factual and children’s programmes. Before As Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the experience of documentary film- that she had been originator and series Irish Film Board continues to fund making, this is a chance to hear producer of Léargas, as well as documentaries creative, feature documentaries, the how one of the world’s leading and entertainment programmes. She is on market will include panel discussions Documentary film-makers gets the the Executive Committee of the Celtic focusing on the production, financing job done. Media Festival. and distribution of feature length docs. The Masterclass will focus on the Ian Russell The event will be introduced by skills and aesthetics of film directing Five TV, Deputy Controller for News, Current Simon Perry, Chief Executive of the in the documentary genre, illustrated Affairs & Documentaries Irish Film Board. by clips from Graef’s work. Covering Ian Russell has been Deputy Controller for Panelists will include guests from his own particular style and pioneer- News, Currrent Affairs and Documentaries Storyville, SBS Factual and First Hand ing methods (esp fly-on-the-wall, at Five TV since August 2002. In addition to Films as well as other commissioning inside access), it will cover his duties as Deputy for the broadcasters editors, distribution companies and his approach to protagonists and news and current affairs output, he looks key decision-makers from RTÉ and subjects, production design, use of after a wide range of other programming – the IFB. voiceover and music, and his commissioning, co-producing and acquiring well over 100 hours of television a year. These events are an ideal opportu- approach to the editing process. It will nity to find out more about how Irish also touch on his considerable work as Jessie Ward documentaries find a way to the big a producer and executive producer Wildlight Channel, Head of Content screen. Producers are encouraged to (His current documentary projects are Acquisitions & Programming attend these panel discussions in Race for the Beach and Stealing Jessie Ward studied film production at addition to attending their one-on-one Klimt). This will be a fascinating and, NYU’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. meetings above all, instructive event. She move to Dublin for a Masters degree in Expert speakers will be added Kevin Dawson from RTE will chair the Interactive Media at DIT. She has worked with Wildwave and the Darklight Festival, to the panels and SPI members will Masterclass. and is now the Head of Content Acquisitions be updated by email as they are & Programming for the Wildlight Channel. confirmed. Applications for this masterclass Check www.irishfilm.ie should email [email protected] Greg Sanderson for updates. by 7th September, including their Storyville, BBC, Strand Executive industry credentials. The fee to Greg Sanderson is Commissioning Editor for These panel discussions will take participate is €50. Storyville which first ran six films on BBC 2 place in the Meeting Room of the IFI. in 1997. It now shows more than 40 films a This Masterclass will take place in the year, split between BBC 4 and BBC 2. Films shown on Storyville come from anywhere in Meeting Room of the IFI. the world, and deal with a wide range of subjects.

Check the IFI web page for updates.

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The Undertaking Exile in Hell The Catalpa Rescue OPENING FILM

Date Thursday 13th September Date Friday 14th September Date Friday 14th September Time 8.45pm Time 1.00pm Time 2.05pm Director Cathal Black Director Barrie Dowdall Director Lisa Sabina-Harney Country Ireland Country Ireland Country Ireland

The Lynch family has been in the mor- In the early 1800s Sarah Island in In 1868, the HMS Hougemont tuary business since 1948. They are Maquarie Harbour, Tasmania, was embarked on its final voyage as a funeral directors operating in the sub- considered the most notorious and British convict ship. In its hold, 329 of urbs of Detroit, Michigan. Thomas brutal penal colony in the British Britains ‘most depraved’ criminals and Lynch – an undertaker for over 30 Empire. In 1822, seven convicts made 63 ‘Fenian’ prisoners. They could only years – has arranged perhaps 6,000 an escape attempt through terrain expect a slow and painful death in the funerals. When not an American that to this day remains unexplored; Western Australian prison of undertaker, he is an Irishman who lives the men resorted to killing and eating Fremantle, held secure on one side by in Moveen, County Clare (from where their companions in order to survive. the shark infested Indian Ocean and his grandparents emigrated) – and a After forty-nine days only one man the impassable desert on the other. poet and essayist of immense repute. emerged from the wilderness – an The Catalpa Rescue is as much Drawing on his work, this film is an Alexander Pearce, native of a thriller as a riveting record of a engaging and inspiring journey into Monaghan. little-known episode in Irish history. his unusual world, viewing life and In this film, through the use of a The extraordinary escape plan death through his eyes. One might series of dramatic reconstructions, involved conspiracies in three expect the morose and melancholy, director Barrie Dowdall (who brought continents, infiltration of the British but Lynch is rich in passion and us The Ned Kelly: The True Story) Army, the theft of sailing charts, the humour, and wise with an undeniable explores both the humanity and the disguise of a Fenian hero as a wealthy logic: for him, it is only through deal- depravity of this character, and in American businessman fit to dine with ing with death that we can truly get doing so brings this dark story to Irish the Governor of Fremantle, and the on with the business of living. screens for the first time. purchase of the 200-ton whaling ship With Lynch’s evocative poetry and This documentary is a re-enact- from Massachusetts. essays always at it's core, director ment of a gruesome tale: it contains This vessel took on the might of the Cathal Black has crafted a film that is scene some viewers may not find to British Navy, got caught in the act, sensitive, beautiful and, in it’s own their taste. and still made good its escape. It is right, a finely crafted piece of poetic 2007 • 55 minutes preserved as one of the greatest coups film-making. Irish with subtitles in Irish political history and one of the 2007 • 70 mins Director Barrie Dowdall will attend greatest embarrassments to the Director Cathal Black will attend the screening. British crown. the screening. 2007 • 56 mins If you can’t see this, try An edited version of this film was Flight of the Earls Friday 9pm If you can’t see this, try screened on RTÉ’s ‘Arts Lives’. Our Daily Bread Sunday 5.45pm Jack Doyle: A Legend Lost Sat. 11am Flight of the Earls Friday 9pm The Catalpa Rescue will be broadcast on RTÉ in October.

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Get Collins Now or Never Mise, Seán Ó Ríordáin

Date Friday 14th September Date Friday 14th September Date Friday 14th September Time 1.00pm Time 1.00pm Time 3.10pm Director Steve Carson Director Jenny Morris Director Traolach Ó Buachalla Country Ireland Country Ireland Country Ireland

The popular image of the ‘Tan War’ is It is 2.00 am on the 8th December, Sean Ó Ríordáin (1916-77) is the of Flying Columns battling it out with 1941. Eamon de Valera and Winston greatest Irish language poet and one British troops in the hills of Cork and Churchill are locked in a bitter argu- of our leading poets in any tongue. His Tipperary. In truth, however, the deci- ment over Ireland’s determined neu- work stands as a testament to his sive battles of that time were fought in trality in war-torn Europe. Finally, genius and extraordinary ability with the streets of Dublin. It was a murky Churchill sends de Valera a telegram language. He is also a man we know struggle involving deception and that appears to contain an astonish- very little about. betrayal, as each side raced to identify ing offer: give up your neutrality and On the 30th anniversary of their opponents – and kill them. you can have a united Ireland. The Ó Ríordáin’s death, this documentary Now, recently uncovered testi- offer, adds Churchill, is available now sets out to celebrate his story and to monies from those at the centre of the or never. provide a monument to a fiercely intelligence war shine light on a world Taking this intense and momen- private figure whose work commands in which no-one could be trusted and tous exchange as its starting point, our respect but whose character has nothing was what it seemed. Now or Never: The Bitter Feud of never been explored. Extensively dramatised, Get Collins Eamon de Valera and Winston Poet Louis de Paor takes us on a reveals this network of ‘backchannels’: Churchilllis an ambitious documen- journey to trace the story of Seán how, at the height of the war, secret tary which sets out to explore this key Ó Ríordáin the man and writer – contacts were made between British episode in modern Irish history. a very lonely and isolated man who officials and Michael Collins himself. Featuring revealing interviews with a somehow found inspiration for some This is a gripping film, one of the wide range of leading Irish and British of the most beautiful verse ever darker and more intriguing storylines historians, including Brian Girvin, written. He explores the wealth of his of his leadership during the War of Diarmid Ferriter and Martin Gilbert, it poetry, visits the sources of his inspi- Independence: the ruthless and ulti- examines the fraught relationship ration, and talks to other key figures mately bloody cat-and-mouse relation- between de Valera and Churchill, from to unearth the real story of the man. ship with the colonial authorities. the War of Independence to their high- 2007 • 52 mins 2007 • 52 mins profile speeches at the end of World Irish with subtitles Director Steve Carson will attend War Two. Louis de Paor will give a short talk on the screening. 2007 • 53 mins Seán Ó Ríordáin before the screening Director Jenny Morris will attend and read some of his poetry. If you can’t see this, try the screening Seán Ó Ríordáin Friday 3.10pm If you can’t see this, try Flight of the Earls Friday 9.00pm If you can’t see this, try The Undertaking Thursday 8.30pm Get Collins will be broadcast on Flight of the Earls Friday 9.00pm Forever Saturday 3.00pm RTÉ in October. Now or Never will be broadcast on RTÉ in October.

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photograph Sarah FitzGerald

Dublin Day Mosney Helvetica

Date Friday 14th September Date Friday 14th September Date Friday 14th September Time 3.20pm Time 5.00pm Time 7.00pm Director George Morrison Directors Nicky Gogan, Paul Rowley Director Gary Hustwit Country Ireland Country Ireland Country USA

It has been over 40 years since George Thirty miles north of Dublin lies a col- Typography, graphic design and global Morrison’s Mise Eire and Saoirse lit up lection of rundown chalets and rusting visual culture find their home in this our screens, and over 30 years since fairground rides. This is Mosney, for witty and intelligent film. The prolifera- he last made a film. Dublin Day is a fifty years a family holiday destination, tion of a typeface – which celebrates lifelong work that celebrates James which at its peak could accommodate its 50th birthday this year – feeds a Joyce’s Dublin in all its aspects. It is 2800 campers and 4000 day visitors. larger conversation about the way type also an exploration of the city today Today, it is a holding centre for affects our lives. It explores urban and as it was at the turn of the century. asylum seekers: in this surreal global spaces in major cities and the type that Joycean scholar and man of many village people wait years for decisions inhabits them, providing a fluid discus- words David Norris takes us on this on their asylum claims. There are sion with renowned designers about 24-hour journey through Ulysses, children who were born here. Mosney, their work, the creative process, and beginning and ending in the vicinity of a crumbling relic of a pleasure centre, the choices and aesthetics behind their Martello tower overlooking Dublin Bay. is the only world they know. use of type. He got involved because, as he puts it, Over three years, the filmmakers Helvetica encompasses the worlds ‘George Morrison is one of the great lived in Mosney, gaining the trust of the of design, advertising, psychology and masters of Irish cinema, a genius as a residents and an unprecedented communication, and invites us to take film-maker, with a profound and insight into lives spent in constant fear a second look at the thousands of intimate knowledge of both Dublin and of deportation. From Congo, Kurdistan, words we see every day. James Joyce.’ Nigeria, Somalia, Sri Lanka and count- The film was shot in high-definition Now 83, Morrison began collecting less other countries, we hear why on location in the , and cataloguing images in 1952. Using people have been forced to leave every- England, the Netherlands, Germany, an extraordinary collection of restored thing and move to a country full of Switzerland, France and Belgium. It is a photographs and original footage, this strangers. We learn about the trauma sharp and amusing documentary that magnum opus breathes life into of waiting in this bizarre processing has picked up an astonishing following Ulysses as no one has done since the centre, and the disintegration of aspi- worldwide, and is undoubtedly one of author himself. rations, ambitions and mental health the festival highlights. 2007 • 52 mins while the slow wheels of our adminis- 2006, 80 mins David Norris will interview George tration ponder their lives. www.helveticafilm.com Morrison following this screening. 2007 • 96 mins Directors Nicky Gogan and Paul If you can’t see this, try If you can’t see this, try Rowley will attend the screening. Protagonist Saturday 1pm The Undertaking Thursday 8.45pm Manufacturing Dissent Sat. 9pm Jack Doyle: A Legend Lost Sat. 11am If you can’t see this, try Forever Saturday 3pm Iraq in Fragments Saturday 1.25pm

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Flight of the Earls Jack Doyle – Saviours [Imeacht na n-Iarlaí] A Legend Lost

Date Friday 14th September Date Saturday 15th September Date Saturday 15th September Time 9.00pm Time 11.00am Time 12.00pm Director Paul Larkin Director Gerry Nelson Director R. Whitaker and L. Nolan Country Ireland Country Ireland Country Ireland

On the 14th September 1607, Hugh Ó Jack Doyle was the real deal: a heavy- Saviours centres on a boxing club in Néill, Earl of Tyrone, one of Ireland’s weight boxing champion from the Dublin’s north inner city, St Saviour’s most charismatic political leaders who mean streets of Cobh, blessed with a Olympic Boxing Academy. It’s not a led the Nine Years War against pure tenor voice and rugged good pretty club (are they ever?), but for England, along with most of Ulster’s looks. ‘The Gorgeous Gael’ hung three hopeful boxers from different political elite and their families left around with Errol Flynn and Clark backgrounds who yearn to make it as Ireland suddenly in a ship bound for Gable in Hollywood, marrying fighters, it is home. This observational Europe. Little did they know they Hollywood starlet Movita Castaneda documentary captures the rough and would never see Ireland again and end before she moved on to wed Marlon tumble, riveting and often humorous their days in Rome. Brando. He sold out concert halls with real-life story of three young lads. The Flight of the Earls marked the tearful renditions of ‘Mother Macree’. We meet Abdul, from Ghana, end of an ancient Gaelic Order and In the depressed and impoverished whose fights in the ring are mirrored made way for the Plantation of Ulster. Ireland of the 30s and 40s, Jack Doyle by his battles outside it for refugee It also became a key event in the seemed unbelievably glamorous. status. Local lad Dean wants to break establishment of the Irish Diaspora But Doyle was doing his pre-fight out of his poverty-stricken upbringing across the globe. Four hundred years warm ups in the bar beside the stadi- and land Olympic gold. And half- ago to the day of this screening, histo- um, more and more frequently step- Caribbean boxer Darren – perhaps the ry changed forever. ping into the ring inebriated. He was most talented of the three – wants to This documentary focusses on the brought down by a combination of jack it all in. reasons for the 'Flight'; the journey ‘fast women and slow horses’, dying a Over two years the directors made across Europe; and the period of exile penniless drunk in a hospital in this film with zero funding, finding of Hugh Ó Néill in Rome. It was 1978. Abandoned by his showbiz time between jobs to shoot the pro- filmed in Ireland, Belgium, France, friends, it was left to his former boxing tagonists. Switzerland and Italy. It stars club in Cobh to bring home the body of Saviours paints a vivid portrait of a Stephen Rea as Hugh Ó Néill. their prodigal son. small inner-city boxing club and the 2007 • 52 mins Jack Doyle: A Legend Lost features lives of three of its fighters. Irish with subtitles extensive dramatic reconstruction, 2007 • 78 mins Stephen Rea will be present for a Q&A rare archive footage and contributions The directors and the boxers featured following the screening, alongside from key friends and family members. will be present at the screening. many of the cast and crew. 2007 • 53 mins www.myspace.com/savioursfilm

If you can’t see this, try If you can’t see this, try If you can’t see this, try The Catulpa Rescue Friday 1pm Saviours Saturday 12.00pm Jack Doyle: A Legend Lost Sat. 11am Get Collins Friday 1pm A Winter’s Journey Sunday 4.00pm A Winter’s Journey Sunday 4pm In the Shadow of the Moon Sun.9pm

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Festival Guest of Honour Roger Graef OBE

Protagonist Iraq in Fragments Roger Graef is a writer, filmmaker, broadcaster and criminologist. In 2004 he was awarded the prestigious Date Saturday 15th September Date Saturday 15th September Fellowship to the British Academy of Time 1.00pm Time 3.30pm Film and Television. Last year he was Director Jessica Yu Director James Longley awarded an OBE. Roger was a found- Country USA Country USA/Iraq ing board member of Channel Four and a governor of the British Film ® Academy Award -winning director This prize-winning documentary is a Institute, and he has served on the Jessica Yu examines the essence of genuinely awe-inspiring work of cinéma board of the ICA where he created and human drama: extremism. vérité filmmaking. Longley spent more chaired the ICA Architectural Forum. Her film features four individuals than two years filming in Iraq, often Among his more than eighty films, who have been devoted to personal under extraordinary duress, to create he is best known for his pioneering work odysseys – a cause, a quest, an ideal – this stunningly photographed, poeti- in gaining access to hitherto closed to the point of total consumption. At cally rendered vision of post-War Iraq institutions ranging from ministries and first glance the characters appear dis- as seen through the eyes of Sunnis, boardrooms to police, courts, prisons, connected: a former German terrorist, Shiites and Kurds. This unforgettable probation and social work. an “ex-gay” evangelist, a bank robber film opens a window on the world of and a martial arts student. But as the war’s casualties that is profoundly Saturday 15th September, 11.15am their stories unfold, parallels emerge. haunting and often ravishing. Pleasure at Her Majesty’s Each character embarks on a journey An opus in three parts, Iraq in Roger’s Graef’s first documentary for valid reasons, only to find himself Fragments offers a portrait of the dif- with Monty Python member John so deeply embedded in the cause that ferent faces of war: a fatherless boy is Cleese was an he becomes the opposite of what he apprenticed to the owner of a Baghdad comedy benefit gala, the forerunner had intended. garage; Sadr followers in two Shiite of Comic Relief. Cleese, along with The film boldly marries theatre cities rally for regional elections while Amnesty’s Assistant Director Peter with reality, structuring interviews enforcing Islamic law at gunpoint; and Luff and Transatlantic Records execu- and vérité with puppetry and a family of Kurdish farmers welcomes tive Martin Lewis put together an Aristotelian chapters of drama as the US presence, which has allowed evening of some of the best British each man hurtles towards an them freedom previously denied. comedians of the 60s and 70s, inevitable moment of dark epiphany. Despite the disparity of the stories, including Monthy Python, Pete Cook, This daring study reveals the time- the film flows with a wholeness that is The Goodies, Dame Edna, Elenor lessness of the men’s struggles, and both grand and intimate in scale. Bron, Alan Bennett, Dudley Moore offers an engaging portrait of mas- ‘What this movie shows, you will and Neil Innes. For Python fans, it culinity, morality and fate. never see on the evening news’ offers a chance to see where the Thoroughly original. – . Pythons drew much of their style and 2006 • 90 mins 2006 • 94 mins inspiration from. www.protagonistthemovie.com Richard Boyd-Barrett of the UK • 1976 • 74 mins People Before Profit Alliance will If you can’t see this, try introduce the film. Roger Graef will introduce this Manufacturing Dissent Sat. 9.00pm www.iraqinfragments.com screening and talk about the influ- A Winter’s Journey Sunday 4.00pm ence it – as well as his other films Crazy Love Sunday 7.15pm If you can’t see this, try such as The Secret Policeman’s Ball – Losers and Winners Sat 7.00pm had on Comic Relief and Live Aid.

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His most influential films include the Forever Losers & Winners Thames Valley Police series, In Search of Law and Order, which investigated groundbreaking ways Date Saturday 15th September Date Saturday 15th September of changing juvenile rehabilitation, Time 3.00pm Time 5.15pm and, The Secret Policeman's Ball – Director Heddi Honigman Directors U. Franke & M. Loeken a film that influenced a generation Country The Netherlands Country Germany of comedians and musicians to try and change the World through The Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, German efficiency and Chinese Comic Relief and Live Aid. perhaps the most beautiful graveyard industriousness pass each other on From investigative journalist to in the world, is a landmark devoted to globalization's economic ladder in this criminologist to pioneer of comedy art, love and death. As the final rest- revealing, candid and wryly documentaries (he has made nine ing-place of a gifted group of artists humourous look at the efforts of 400 films), Roger Graef is a from all eras and corners of the world Chinese workers, supervised by 30 unique and distinguished film-maker – such as Piaf, Proust, Wilde, Jim German foremen (“The Shutdown and we are delighted he is able to Morrison and Chopin – it is visited by Department”), to cut apart a virtually visit Dublin for the Festival. hundreds of admirers everyday, most brand new coking plant so it can be of them strangers. Other gravestones rebuilt in China. Saturday 15th September, 1.25pm are visited occasionally by relatives, While the German foremen lament A Complaint of Rape lovers, and friends, or perhaps have the loss of jobs and fret over what This fly-on-the-wall documentary on fallen into oblivion altogether. they perceive as unsafe working the Thames Valley Police captured a In Forever we see the mysterious, practices, the Chinese workers group of male detectives persuading calming and consoling beauty of this struggle to support their families a woman to drop her rape accusation, unique place through the eyes of those back home and wonder why the by being relentlessly – grotesquely – who come to visit the cemetery. Many Germans always leave for the day dismissive to her plea. This is one of come for their ‘own’ beloved: hus- when the real work is just beginning. the most astonishing and significant bands, wives, family and friends. With intimate access to an pieces of film-making ever made: it Others honour their chosen artist by industrial marvel, and to subjects pioneered changes in British law, and leaving behind a note or a flower. who are decidedly frank in their heralded a new style in documentary. Death offers little in the way of admonition of each other, directors UK • 1981 • 45 mins consolation except for the passing of Ulrike Franke and Michael Loeken followed by time, the melancholy of a moss-cov- explore the dicey cultural dynamics Murder Blues ered tomb, and the beauty and power between two countries facing very A slick, gritty documentary in which of a piece of music, a poem or a paint- different futures. – adapted from Hot film-makers follow Trident’s North ing left behind. Père-Lachaise gradual- Docs Festival Programme. London murder team as they investi- ly reveals itself as a powerful source of 2006 • 96 mins gate a sudden and alarming presence inspiration for the living. German with subtitles of firearms on London’s streets, this 2006 • 95 mins www.losers-and-winners.net series utilizes highly stylized factual French with subtitles film-making for impact. If you can’t see this, try UK • 2005 • 60 mins If you can’t see this, try Mosney Friday 5.00pm The Undertaking Thursday 8.45pm Following this double bill Roger Graef Dublin Day Friday 3.20pm will be give a public interview.

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The Stranger Than Fiction Documentary Film Festival Short Sunday 16th September 12.30pm

Losing Myself: Stewart A Very British Gangster Manufacturing Dissent Director: Alice Nelson Uncovering Michael Moore Country: Scotland. Duration: 7 mins. Stewart Lee (80) is Date Saturday 15th September Date Saturday 15th September a life-long artist; Time 7.00pm Time 9.00pm this film explores Director Donal Macintyre Directors R. Caine & D. Melnyk how his passion for Country UK Country Canada art and creativity persists through profound dementia. Donal MacIntyre is Britain’s best Manufacturing Dissent – Uncovering known investigative journalist. He first Michael Moore is an exposé documen- No Regrets in the West met Dominic Noonan, the head of the tary on film-maker and polemicist Director: Colm Quinn Country: Ireland. Duration: 7 mins. Noonan crime dynasty, in Britain's Michael Moore. It chronicles the high security Belmarsh Crown Court. supercharged climate in America that A personal film about father-son “Everybody I know wants to kill you. has fuelled Moore’s transition from relationships My brother was asked to whack you - I struggling filmmaker to icon of the across the can see the job isn’t done”, he said. It's political left. The film seeks to sepa- generations. a chat-up line MacIntyre remembers. rate fact, fiction and legend, as the This is a gangster movie, first and directors Caine & Melnyk track Moore Donnacha Dennehy – Patterns foremost, and one that has access to on tour during the release of the Director: Garry Keane all the activities of one of Britain’s explosive Fahrenheit 9/11, his sensa- Country: Ireland. Duration: 6 mins. most dangerous criminal families. It tional documentary that spoke out A film exploring follows Dominic Noonan over three against the integrity of the Bush influences in years as he lurches from criminal trial Administration. the music of contemporary to criminal trial. The head of a second- Interestingly, both Caine and Irish composer generation family of Irish stock, Melynk admit to being supporters of Donnacha Dennehy. Dominic legally changed his last Moore. Then they began looking at the Big Massive Protest name to ‘Lattlay Fottfoy’, an acronym methods Moore employs in his films, Director: Nick Murphy for the family motto: ‘Look after those and the deeper they dug, the more Country: Ireland. Duration: 3 mins. that look after you. Fuck off those that they began to question these process- A short, comic film fuck off you.’ es. The result is a controversial, well- about protesting. Rarely does a film deliver such a rounded portrait of Michael Moore the close-up view of a world of kidnapping, man, and an engrossing indictment of torture, drugs and murder. And behind his shady, manipulative tactics as a the bravado, the film also manages to documentary maker. capture a community struggling with ‘Intelligent and provocative, this Miraslava poverty and violence. film is not an assault by right-wing Director: Roberto Santaguida 2007 • 97 mins ideologues but a dissection by two Country: Canada. Duration: 8 mins. Director Donal MacIntyre will attend ‘progressive liberals,’ and has all the A young man, his the screening. more impact for it.’ Variety life in tatters, seeks redemption by www.averybritishgangster.com 2007 • 97 mins fleeing the city. www.manufacturingdissentmovie.com If you can’t see this, try Saviours Saturday 12.00pm If you can’t see this, try The winning selection, made by the audience in Crazy Love Sunday 7.15 Our Daily Bread Sunday 5.45pm attendance at the screening, will be announced on Sunday before the Festival’s closing film. 10 Stranger Than Fiction 2007 stf_2007 23/08/2007 11:30 Page 11

Documentary Audience Award

FIPA 2007 Directors: Sarah Lynch, Genna Patterson, Escape From Suburbia A Winter’s Journey Richard O’Connor & Paul O’Halloran. [Talvinen Matka] Country: Ireland. Duration: 10 mins. Director of the Date Sunday 16th September Date Sunday 16th September Festival Time 2.15pm Time 4.00pm International de Director Gregory Greene Director Visa Koiso-Kanttila Programmes Country Canada Country Finland Audiovisuels explains why film festivals exist. In Escape from Suburbia: Beyond the As the film opens, Kalle Koiso-Kanttila American Dream, Canadian documen- is at a dead end, devoid of self-esteem, The Memory Box tary film-maker Gregory Greene, direc- burdened by the past, unable to sup- Director: Siobhán Twomey Country: Ireland 2007. Duration: 5 mins. tor of the hugely successful The End of port himself and his family. His career Suburbia (2004), takes us on a journey is overshadowed by his fading faith in Documentary of discovery – a sobering, vital and his own talent. His talent? He is a and animation combine in this ultimately positive exploration of what young tenor who hopes to become a docu-mation which the second half of the Oil Age has in soloist in Opera, having studied singing explores issues store for us. for ten years and graduated from a facing those new The film explores the notion that the German Music Academy. However, the to life in Ireland. American Dream of an idealized subur- competition is ruthless, and even his A Wolf in the Bookcase ban life is based on the availability of singing instructor begins to wonder if Director: Peter Grogan cheap and abundant oil, and as demand he should give up his dreams to con- Country: Ireland 2007. Duration: 10 mins. begins to outpace supply, the goalposts centrate on overcoming the psycho- Questions the con- are starting to shift. Escape from logical demons that hold him back. cepts of censorship Suburbia moves away from the realm Instead, Kalle meets an Old Master, and sanitization of theory and despair inhabited by a Finnish baritone named Tom Krause, with regard to well some films, and instead looks to those who's prepared to share his knowledge known and beloved fairytales. seeking practical solutions for a post- and experiences with the young novice. carbon age. In doing so, this film pro- The interesting thing about this Bare Director: Santana Issar vides viable alternatives for communi- documentary is that the protagonist is Country: India 2007. Duration: 11 mins. ties working at the local level to ensure the director’s brother, and behind the the survival of a sustainable civilization pressure for the singer to succeed lies A daughter’s search to find in the 21st century and beyond. their father’s lack of confidence in meaning – if any – An extraordinary and insightful him. Director Visa Koiso-Kanttila por- in the relationship documentary, it is refreshing to come trays his brother with warmth and with her alcoholic across an ‘environmental’ film that – understanding but without sentimen- father. instead of using scare tactics as a call tality. A Winter’s Journey is a visually 13 Years and 10 months to action – has, at its heart, hope and rich, evocative and inspiring story. Director: Jenifer Malmquist genuine ideas. 2007 • 73 mins • Digibeta Country: 2007. Duration: 9 mins. 2006 • 95 mins Finnish/German subtitles A Polish teenager Director Gregory Greene will attend Director Visa Koiso-Kantilla will attend with cystic fibrosis this screening this screening lives life to the full, www.escapefromsuburbia.com in the knowledge she may not live If you can’t see this, try beyond the age of 30. Jack Doyle: A Legend Lost Sat. 11am www.irishfilm.ie 11 stf_2007 23/08/2007 11:31 Page 12

Our Daily Bread I for India In the Shadow of the Moon

Date Sunday 16th September Date Sunday 16th September Date Sunday 16th September Time 5.45pm Time 7.00pm Time 9.00pm Director Nikolaus Geyrhalter Director Sandhya Suri Director David Sington Country Austria/Germany Country UK Country UK

This film creeps into one’s life with In 1965 Dr Yash Pal Suri left India for In what remains one of the most incredi- beautiful stealth: it is a documentary Darlington, Northern England. He ble human accomplishments to date, about what we eat and where it comes bought a pair of Super 8 cameras, pro- American spacecraft voyaged to the from. Stripped of voiceover, left with jectors and reel-to-reel audio mixers, Moon between 1968 and 1972, and images and their sound alone, it casts sent one to his family back home and enabled twelve men to walk upon its sur- an unblinking, seemingly disinterest- with the other proceeded to document face. Nine of those who traveled the ed eye on industrial food production. his life in a new country. For forty years 240,000 miles each way in cramped cap- To the rhythm of conveyor belts he swapped cinema postcards of his sules are still alive. They remain the only and immense machines, the film looks new life abroad with those back home. human beings to have stood on another – without comment – into places There is plenty of rich comic mater- world. In the Shadow of the Moon brings where food is produced in Europe: ial in Yash’s dispatches to draw from: together for the first time surviving crew monumental warehouses, surreal the novelty of snow; ladies dancing members from every single Apollo mis- landscapes and bizarre sounds; cold, bare-legged at discos; the first trip to sion which flew to the Moon, to tell their punctiliously sterile industrial environ- an English supermarket. Slowly, story in their own words. ments in which people, animals, crops though, a sense of frustration and guilt This riveting first-hand testimony and machines play a supporting role in seeps into these faded 8mm reels – is interwoven with visually stunning the logistics of this system which pro- children with northern English accents archive material which has been re- vides our society’s standard of living. who have never met their grandpar- mastered from the original NASA film Painstaking sound design creates ents; a brother missing his sister's footage, much of it never used before. moments of sublime beauty, even wedding; casual racism; ailing parents. The result is an intimate epic which when showing production-line slaugh- His daughter Sandhya Suri uses vividly communicates the daring and ter; the film never quite lets viewers this fascinating material as the back- the danger, the pride and the passion know where they are, and turns work- bone for this wonderful documentary, of this extraordinary era. ers into cogs in vast machines. This is I For India. She weaves it together Director David Sington draws a film without emotion, a pure, meticu- with footage such as old BBC docu- eloquent, witty, emotional and very lous and high-end film experience that, mentaries on immigrant doctors and human words from the astronauts, without the drama, will leave the view- 1970s National Front marches to give woven together with a beautiful er stunned and given to deep thought. historical context and insight, but this orchestral score from composer Philip 2005 • 92 mins film is very much the candid personal Sheppard – ‘probably the most gen- www.ourdailybread.at story that chimes with a basic human uinely uplifting experience you’ll have need for belonging. in a cinema this year… exceptionally If you can’t see this, try 2005 • 70 mins powerful’ as The Times put it. Mosney Friday 5.00pm www.iforindiathemovie.com 2007 • 100 mins Losers and Winners Sat. 7.00pm www.intheshadowofthemoon.com Escape from Suburbia Sun. 2.15pm If you can’t see this, try Mosney Friday 5.00pm If you can’t see this, try Our Daily Bread Sunday 5.45pm 12 Stranger Than Fiction 2007 stf_2007 23/08/2007 11:31 Page iii stf_2007 23/08/2007 11:31 Page iv

Stranger Thanon Fiction tour Eye Cinema

Wellpark, Galway Tel: 091 78 00 78 www.eyecinema.ie

Monday 17 September 7:30 pm Helvetica Tuesday 18 September 7:30 pm Protagonist Wednesday 19 September 7:30 pm Losers and Winners

Queens Film Theatre

20 University Square, Belfast BT7 1PA Tel: (028) 9097 1097 www.queensfilmtheatre.com

Saturday 22 September 5:30 pm Losers and Winners Sunday 23 September 5:00 pm Helvetica Saturday 22 September 7:00 pm Protagonist

Losers and Winners Helvetica Protagonist A failed factory is dismantled Typography, graphic design and Four people on personal odysseys piece by piece in Germany and global visual culture all collide in this hurtle towards the dark epiphanies moved to China. witty documentary about a font. of extremism.