AN
exciting line up of events is taking place in Dun Laoghaire this September as
part of the Underground Cinema Film Festival.
The
brainchild of Dave Byrne, it will be held over the weekend of September 9 to 11
with the theme
‘Working Class Heroes’.
The
festival’s aim is to champion independent filmmakers while highlighting the
best in Irish film.
“To
this end our opening film is Terry McMahon’s award winning, provocative feature
‘Charlie Casanova’ which most recently won Best First Feature at The Galway
Film Fleadh,
? explained Denise Pattison, assistant festival director.
“This
will be Charlie’s first ever screening in Dublin and we are promoting it as
‘Charlie Comes Home’. The film has been winding its way around film festivals
worldwide over the past year, and premiered at SXSW, Austin, Texas, the only
Irish film to ever do so.
?
Terry
will be attending the festival and participating in interviews on Saturday 10.
Another
highlight will be the 20th anniversary screening of
‘The Commitments’ with
Roddy Doyle coming down to do an
‘In Conversation With’ segment.
“We will also be screening
‘100 Mornings’,
Conor Horgan’s haunting, post apocalyptic feature and hosting a Q and A with
Conor afterwards,
? said Denise.
“As
well as all that in a retrospective programme we will be screening Jim
Sheridan’s
‘In The Name Of The Father’ with surprise guests and Lenny
Abrahamson’s hugely popular
‘Adam and Paul’ with actor Mark O’ Halloran doing
the Q and A.
“We
will be having an Irish language film section with a screening of
‘Kings’ and
paying a tribute to the late actor Mick Lally by screening the last short he
worked on,
‘Cairdeas’. Director Kevin Glynn will be discussing the film and
presenting Ms Lally with a gift from the festival.
“There
will also be a children’s programme screening of
‘The Secret of Kells’ as well
as goodie bags and a drama workshop with Sinead Monaghan.
“We
have a large short film programme with over 70 films and will be running free
workshops on every aspect of filmmaking with contributors like Ferdia MacAnna,
Vinny Murphy, Una Kavanagh, Ali Coffey and others.
?
According
to Denise, there will be talks by experts in the field, and an
‘Actor in
Profile’ segment, highlighting Emmett Scanlan’s career and screening a
selection of his work to include Blood and 3 Crosses.
He
is also the lead actor in Charlie Casanova and won an award at the ECU International
Film Festival in Paris for his role in the film.
“We
have Joe Rooney on board to do a late night comedy stand up and have venues in
The Royal Marine Hotel, The Kingston Hotel and The Dun Laoghaire Club,
? added
Denise.
“Club Prive, part of the 40ft bar, is giving us access to the club for
the opening ceremony and throughout the festival. We will screen our opening
and closing films at the IMC Dun Laoghaire.
“And
our closing film is the Irish premiere of Ivan Kavanagh’s terrifying feature,
‘Tin Can Man’. Ivan will attend the screening along with lead actor Michael
Parle.
“I
would like to say how deeply grateful we are to all those who have given their
time and support to the Underground Cinema Film Festival.
?
The
festival office is located at the former O’ Connors Jeans shop on the second
floor of Dun Laoghaire Shopping Centre.
The
box office will be open for ticket sales in the first week of September.
Tickets for the IMC can only be purchased at the box office.
More
details on the festival will be next week’s edition of Southside People.