Psychoanalytic Film Festival
The 8th Irish Annual Psychoanalytic Film Festival takes place from 5-10pm on Friday, February 3 at the Carmelite Centre, Dublin 2 and Saturday, February 4 from 10am to 6pm at IMMA, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin 8.
On Friday documentaries on the theme of family life include The Wolfpack, A Family Affair and One More Time with Feeling. Highlight of Saturday will be ‘I, Daniel Blake’ by Ken Loach followed by a panel discussion with guest speaker Jim Sheridan. Tickets cost €20-€35 from eventbrite.ie where full details are available.
Irish Society of Botanical Artists Open Day
On Saturday, February 4, visitors to the Irish Society of Botanical Artists Open Day at the Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, will have an opportunity to observe demonstrations of various painting techniques and learn more about its programme of events and the various types of tuition available.
In the afternoon, at 2pm, there’s a free illustrated talk, given by Stephen Butler, Horticulture Curator at Dublin Zoo, titled ‘Zoo habitats – immersing the animals and visitors in naturalistic planting at Dublin Zoo. The Open Day begins at 11am.
Chinese Spring Festival
There’s lots of rooster-themed entertainment, activities and arts and crafts, suitable for people of all ages at the Spring Festival Fair taking place from 12-5pm on Sunday, February 5, at the CHQ Building on Custom House Quay.
It’s part of the ongoing Dublin Chinese New Year Festival and visitors can try their hand at Chinese chess and calligraphy, marvel at martial arts displays and musical performances, or sample the delicious Chinese food and drink on offer at the Spring Festival stalls. There will also be short-film screenings, glamorous fashion shows and a spectacular shadow puppetry performance.
I’ve Loved You So Long
The Irish Film Institute (IFI), in association with the Association des Membres de l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques en Irlande (AMOPA Irlande) and the French Embassy in Ireland, will present a screening of Philippe Claudel’s ‘I’ve Loved You So Long’ this Saturday, February 4 at 2pm followed by a Q&A with the director.
Claudel’s riveting début feature is built on a remarkable BAFTA and Golden Globe-nominated performance from Kristin Scott Thomas. She plays Juliette, a former doctor who is taken in by her younger sister Léa (Elsa Zylberstein) and her family following her release from prison.
Tickets for the screening of I’ve Loved You So Long plus Q&A are now on sale from www.ifi.ie and the IFI Box Office on 01-6793477.
Join McAleer
Join ‘spiritual guru’ Kevin McAleer at the Viking Theatre, Clontarf (Connolly’s The Sheds), from Wednesday, February 1 to Saturday, February 4, for his hilarious new comedy show ‘Saying YES to yes’.
McAleer has reinvented himself as Tyrone’s leading Zen Buddhist saint for this one-man show that’s getting rave reviews. Tickets cost €20. For bookings, phone 087-1129970.
Balgriffin Ceili
If ceili is your thing, get along to Balgriffin this weekend.
Balbriggan Hall Committee and Kinsealy CCE are a holding a ceili in Balgriffin Hall, Malahide Road, on Sunday, February 5 from 4pm to 7pm.
Music is by the Rise Dust Ceili Band. Admission is €10 and refreshments will be served. The MC is Joe Condron. Proceeds will go to St Francis Hospice, Raheny.
Roger Casement: An illustrated talk
Dr Angus Mitchell will give an illustrated talk at 8pm on Thursday, February 2 on Roger Casement and Alice Stopford Green in the Community Centre, Mount Merrion.
Alice Stopford Green, the daughter of the Archdeacon of Meath, was a player in the events leading to 1916 but how and by what process of evolution, did this quiet, cultivated daughter of an eminent clergyman become a confidant of Casement and Childers?
Dr Mitchell of the University of Limerick, who has written extensively on Casement and Stopford Green, will address these questions, as well as the patterns of thought and action pursued by Casement and Stopford Green as Irish nationalism itself developed and became transformed into a revolutionary movement in the years between the turn of the century and 1916.
The Factory Girls
After 103 years of presenting top class musicals and operetta to the people of Dublin, the Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society has decided to decamp from both the Gaiety Theatre and the National Concert Hall to the dlr Mill Theatre, to produce its first play.
This week sees the curtain rise on a new chapter in the R&R’s rich history, with its production of Frank McGuinness’, The Factory Girls, which is running until February 4.
The play charts the journey of five women whose jobs at a Donegal shirt factory are under threat. Set in the recessionary times of the 1980s, with industrial unrest at the core of the play, it shows that you need to be able to stand on your own feet and take on whatever confronts you.
Des Bishop’s One Day You’ll Understand
Comedian Des Bishop is old enough now to know that when his Mom used her favourite expression, “one day you will understand”, that she was often correct. However, sometimes she was just hiding from having to explain the complexities of life.
What a great metaphor for the confusing world we live in; from Trump to Isis, from Facebook feeds to conspiracy theories and the ever-confusing battle of the sexes. Through laughter, Des attempts to make sense of the world today and life in general.
Catch him at the Pavilion Theatre on Wednesday, February 1 and Thursday, February 2.