Cork Film Festival
The 60th Cork Film Festival kick off today and we here at RedFM are proud media partners for the week-long event.
From the 6th of November to the 15th of November various venues around the city will play host to the best in local, national and international film.
You can check out hundreds of feature films, films, documentaries and short films throughout the festival in Cork Opera House, the Gate Cinema, Triskel Christchurch, The Farmgate Cafe in the English Market. For more information on all events, you can check out the Cork Film Festival website here.
Here are some of the highlights for the weekend. Keep an eye on this page for more daily picks throughout the week.
Sunday 15th November
Frozen Singalong - Cork Opera House - 10am - €12
Disney’s FROZEN will be screened on Sunday 8 November and Sunday 15 November in the Cork Opera House in stunning high definition. The smash-hit animated musical will be led by the 45 voice choir. These special screenings promise to be truly fun family events.
This event will see FROZEN screened with a bouncing snowflake over the lyrics allowing audiences to follow the music, in true sing-along tradition. Inspired by a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, and voiced by Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad and Jonathan Groff, this Oscar-winning snowy sensation has become the highest-grossing Disney film of all time and has spawned a succession of instant hits, including the globally-popular Let it Go!
Presented in association with the Cork Choral Festival, and with heartfelt thanks to The Walt Disney Company.
Fiddlesticks - Gate Cinema - 2pm - €7
Bollersville is an average town. The inhabitants of Bollersville get to test every new product before it hits the market – they are not only proud to be average, they do all they can to stay average! And if that means putting all the grandparents into an old people’s home to keep to the statistical average, then that’s what they do! The children of Bollersville rebel, knock out the adults and start working on their own adventurous plan to set a new world record.
A very wild comedy for children aged 4 to 144. Bring your grandparents!
Documentary Award Winner - Gate Cinema - 4pm - €5
Gradam Spiorad na Fhéile (Spirit of the Festival Award, Documentary) Winning Film
The winning film will be announced at the screening
Carol (Closing Gala & Speeches) - Cork Opera House - 8pm - €15
A young woman in her 20s, Therese Belivet, is a clerk working in a Manhattan department store and dreaming of a more fulfilling life when she meets Carol, an alluring woman trapped in a loveless, convenient marriage. As an immediate connection sparks between them, the innocence of their first encounter dims and their connection deepens. While Carol breaks free from the confines of marriage, her husband threatens her competence as a mother when Carol’s involvement with Therese and close relationship with her best friend Abby comes to light. As Carol leaves the comfort of home to travel with Therese, an internal journey of self-discovery coincides with her new sense of space.
Saturday 14th November
Legend of Longwood - Cork Opera House - 10am - €7
Mickey Miller is a 12-year-old New Yorker whose move to Longwood, a windswept town in Ireland, coincides with the return of the legendary, evil Black Knight. Mickey and her new friend Sean – along with Silver, a wild stallion – set out to redeem the Knight. First she must save a precious herd of white horses and thwart the plans of a greedy woman – a mighty handful even for the bravest girl!
With plenty of action – curses, fires, hauntings – and a plucky young heroine this film will charm and delight all from ages 9+.
Knight Of Cups - Cork Opera House - 5:30pm - €7
Rick is a slave to the Hollywood system. He is addicted to success but simultaneously despairs at the emptiness of his life. He is at home in a world of illusions but seeks real life. Like the tarot card of the title, Rick is easily bored and needs outside stimulation. But the Knight of Cups is also an artist, a romantic and an adventurer.
In Terrence Malick’s seventh film a gliding camera once again accompanies a tormented hero on his search for meaning. Once again a voiceover is laid over images which also seek their own authenticity. And once again Malick seems to put the world out of joint. His symphonic flow of images contrasts cold, functional architecture with the ageless beauty of nature. Rick’s internal monologue coalesces with the voices of the women who cross his path, women who represent different principles in life: while one lives in the real world, the other embodies beauty and sensuality. Which path will Rick choose? In the city of angels and the desert that surrounds it, will he find his own way?
Strangerland (Irish Gala Screening) - Cork Opera House - 8:45pm - €15
New to the remote Australian desert town of Nathgari, the Parker family is thrown into crisis when Catherine and Matthew discover that their two teenage kids, Tommy and Lily, have mysteriously disappeared just before a massive dust storm hits the town. With Nathgari now eerily smothered in red dust and darkness, the locals join the search led by local cop David Rae. With temperatures rising, and the chances of survival plummeting with each passing day, Catherine and Matthew find themselves pushed to the brink as they struggle to survive the uncertainty of their children’s fate.
Emboldened by an incredibly strong cast – including Nicole Kidman who delivers a career-best performance – Strangerland is a wonderfully crafted piece of filmmaking from Down Under and a story told with confidence, panache and no little aplomb.
We Lived In Cities - Triskel Christchurch - 9pm - €15
A live orchestra accompanied by projected imagery and theatre, this cross-disciplinary performance focuses an eye on the future of our ever – changing cities. A collaboration between composer BK Pepper, filmmaker Brian Benjamin Dwyer (Madra Mór Productions) and visual artists Generic People. We Lived In Cities is a dark, atmospheric, emotional and cinematic experience.
**** THIS TICKET ALLOWS FREE ACCESS TO THE CORK FILM FESTIVAL CLUB ****
Friday 13th November
Young Offenders Launch - The Pav - 7:30pm - FREE - SOLD OUT
Come and watch the world premiere of the teaser trailer of The Young Offenders, the hilarious new comedy shot in Cork.
The director Peter Foott and members of the cast will be present for a Q&A. You will be the first to have an exclusive sneak peek at some scenes before the film’s 2016 Irish release.
Thursday 12th November
Synchronise - The Pav - 7pm - €10
Synchronise is a new music video strand and competition that will feature videos from both Irish and International directors. A select jury from the Irish music industry will make their choice for Best Irish Music Video and Best International Music Video, two new awards at the festival.
This will be coupled with a chance for musicians and film-makers to meet and nurture future collaborations at a special networking event. With live music to top off the night, this is one for the music lovers as well as those in the business.
Jury members:
Brendan Canty – Music Video director, Feel Good Lost
Caoilian Sherlock – Promoter at Southern Hospitality Board
Sarah Ahern – DIFF shorts programmer, film maker
19:00 – Synchronise Programme 1:
Squarehead – 2025 – dir. Domhnall Gleeson & Hugh O’Conor
Carla Bozulich – Gonna Stop Killing – dir. Martijn Rijnberg
Floor Staff – The Guest – dir. Bob Gallagher
Eznekier – Cyprus – dir. Maria Pia Fanigliulo
Wasps vs Noise – Karaoke Queen – dir. Dan O’Connell & Eat My Noise
Girl Band – Pears for Lunch – dir. Bob Gallagher
Simon Fagan – Lost to the Deep – dir. Eric Teidt
Meltybrains? – Donegal – dir. Louise Gaffney
20:00 – Synchronise Programme 2:
Hope Is Noise – From There With Love – dir. Gerald O’Brien
Jape – Seance of Light – dir. David Tynan
Marter – Black Hole – dir. Maria Pia Fanigliulo
Overhead, The Albatross – Big River Man – dir. Luke Daly
PINES – The Majestic – dir. Charles Leek
Ryan Vail – Grow – dir. Spiceburger
Gabrielle Aplin – Sweet Nothing – dir. Joe Connor
Girl Band – Paul – dir. Bob Gallagher
21:00 – Networking event for Film-makers, Musicians. Plus DJ.
Bram Stokers Dracula - St Luke's Church - 8pm - €10
A gothic masterpiece presented in a Romanesque one – what fun to be had as we watch Keanu, Winona and Tony battle Gary’s Transylvanian night, in Francis Ford Coppola’s triple Oscar winning master class of ‘in camera’ effect driven filmmaking. Even after the passing of 23 years, it’s still a ravishing, rip-roaring spectacle.
Please note that St Luke’s tends to get cold at night time especially when you’re sitting down so we recommend bringing everything and anything to make sure you’re warm and cosy!
Wednesday 11th November
Taste - Music Gala - Cork Opera House - 7:30pm - €15
Held from August 26-31 1970, the third and final Isle of Wight Festival was the largest musical event of its time, attracting up to 700,000 music fans. Also present was Academy Award-wining documentary filmmaker Murray Lerner. The cream of rock royalty performed there that week, and over the years
Lerner has dipped into his vast archive to release feature-length records of performances by Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Miles Davis and Leonard Cohen.
Also on the bill was Taste, a blues-rock trio formed in Cork in 1966 by Rory Gallagher. Lerner had only intended to shoot two numbers by the band, saving his precious film for the more high profile artists, but immediately recognising that he was witnessing something special he kept the cameras rolling for over an hour.
Rory would soon depart the outfit, but if the cracks were already forming within the band they never showed to the multitudes who were present to see one of the most underappreciated bands of the era at the peak of their powers. A mere 22-year-old at the time, Gallagher rips though such classics as What’s Going On and Sinner Boy with a typically unselfconscious swagger.
The 16mm film has been restored and the sound remixed for this 2015
version.
Donal Gallagher and Niall Stokes will attend this screening.
Amadeus - St Lukes - 8pm - €10
Milos Foreman’s eight Oscar winning masterpiece, based on the Peter Shaffer play, needs little introduction. It’s the incredible story of the great scatalogical genuis Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce), told by his peer and secret rival Antonio Salieri (F Murray Abraham) – now confined to an insane asylum. A glorious riot of colour, music, lewdness and drama, sure to have an extra frisson by being screened in the beautiful St Luke’s.
Please note that St Luke’s tends to get cold at night time especially when you’re sitting down so we recommend bringing everything and anything to make sure you’re warm and cosy!
Tuesday 10th November
The Sound Before The Fury - 6:30pm - €10
In 1971, 1000 inmates at the Attica Correctional Facility seized control of the prison, taking 42 guards hostage in the process. A year later jazz musician Archie Shepp released Attica Blues. Framed around the extraordinary letters of Attica inmates, which continue to carry shocking and relevant weight in 2015, Shepp revisits his masterpiece with the help of 25 musicians in Paris. We witness their struggle to capture the essence of the music’s origins in the hectic lead up to opening night, with archive footage and the voices of inmates serving as an omnipresent anchor between the past and present.
Wanja - Gate Cinema - 9pm - €10
The former bank robber Wanja is released from a long prison sentence. As her feelings of loneliness escalate, Wanja sets out to find work and hereby a new identity. Against all odds she lands an internship at a horse race track. In the stable she gets to know the troubled teenager Emma, and a strong friendship develops between the two women. When Emma slips deeper into her own drug abuse, Wanja decides to rescue her.
Carolina Hellsgård, director will attend this screening.
Monday 9th November
In Your Arms | I dine hænder - Triskel Christchurch - €7
Assisted Dying is one of the most morally complex questions that contemporary society faces. This fearless and entertaining drama tackles this issue with compassion, grace and without judgment.
The story follows Niels, a motorneuron patient in Copenhagen who wishes to die. Niels enlists the help of his nurse Maria, who herself battles with life’s struggles. The two embark on the most modern of road-trips to Switzerland in order for Niels to end his life. Sahlstrom treats the issues raised by the film with dignity, never over-simplifying them in this honest examination of end-of-life decisions.
The post-screening discussion will feature some of Ireland’s leading voices on this divisive and complex issue, detailed below.
Tom Curran is an activist and advocate for the Right to Die. He and his late wife Marie Flemming campaigned for Marie’s right to die and brought the only case of its nature to the Irish Supreme Court. Tom has been working on the drafting of a legislative bill to be put to the Dail The proposed legislation is based on the Oregon Death With Dignity act.
John Halligan is an Irish independent politician. He was elected as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Waterford constituency at the 2011 general election. He was first elected to the Waterford City Council in 1999 for the Workers’ Party of Ireland.John has also been at the forefront of many national campaigns during this term in office, including opposition to the water charges and property tax and calls for abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormality. He has been a regular contributor to a broad range of debates on many notable issues and has consistently challenged the Government on the harsh austerity policies that are crippling so many families. In addition, he proposed a Bill on Assisted Suicide, which John drafted with the assistance of Tom Curran, the widowed partner of Marie Fleming, who lost a high profile Supreme Court case on the right-to-die. John continues to campaign for the Government to legislate on assisted suicide in restricted and controlled circumstances.
Dr Séamus Ó Tuama is a senior lecturer in political science at the Department of Government, University College Cork. He has a background in both political science and sociology. In the Department of Government his teaching covers democracy especially in relation to science and technology, citizenship, human rights, and political thought. He is the Director of the BSc. Government and former Director of the MComm (Government & Public Policy). He is joint-convenor of the Theory Circle at UCC, a transdisciplinary group concerned with the development of critical social and political theory and how this interacts with risk, responsibility and science and technology.
Bone Tomahawk - Gate Cinema - €10
After an outlaw unknowingly leads a group of cannibalistic Troglodytes into the peaceful town of Bright Hope, the monsters kidnap several settlers, including the wife of a local rancher (Patrick Wilson). He joins a small rescue team, consisting of sheriff Franklin Hunt (Kurt Russell), his ageing deputy (Richard Jenkins) and a strong-willed gunslinger (Matthew Fox), to bring her back.
What follows is a journey into hell on earth as the posse comes to realise it is up against a merciless enemy whose savagery knows no bounds. Bone Tomahawk is both a gritty western and a suspenseful, and often violent, horror picture.
Moscow Never Sleeps - The Gate Cinema - €10
Moscow Never Sleeps is a multi-narrative drama about the hidden bonds that connects us all. The film dives headlong into the volatile intersections of contemporary Moscow and the intimate lives of five people: An Entreprenuer whose business empire comes under siege by powerful bureaucrats, a Teenage Girl mired in the misery of a broken home, A Young man forced to chose between his girlfriend and his grandmother; a beautiful Singer torn apart by the pursuit of two men and an ailing Film Star who gets embroiled in a bizarre kidnapping. Over the course of one day, their lives will change forever.
Sunday 8th November
Frozen Sing-A-Long - Cork Opera House - 10am - €12
Disney’s FROZEN will be screened on Sunday 8 November and Sunday 15 November in the Cork Opera House in stunning high definition. The smash-hit animated musical will be led by the 45 voice choir. These special screenings promise to be truly fun family events.
This event will see FROZEN screened with a bouncing snowflake over the lyrics allowing audiences to follow the music, in true sing-along tradition. Inspired by a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, and voiced by Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad and Jonathan Groff, this Oscar-winning snowy sensation has become the highest-grossing Disney film of all time and has spawned a succession of instant hits, including the globally-popular Let it Go!
Presented in association with the Cork Choral Festival, and with heartfelt thanks to The Walt Disney Company.
Yo Cambio - The Gate Cinema - 4pm - €7
Brutal, over-crowded and violent: that is the reputation of South America’s prisons. And with good reason. “When I came here I was shaking”, one prisoner admitted. “All anyone knew about the place were the massacres. There were people who’d cut your head off without fear. It was the law of the jungle. As soon as you entered you were told: see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing”. But change is coming to El Salvador’s prisons. Slowly. How? Yo Cambio. I change.
Peadar King is a Cork-based human rights documentary film maker. For the past decade, he has highlighted human rights issues in almost fifty countries across the globe His latest book What in the World? Political Travels in Asia, Africa and The Americas (2013) recounts some of those experiences. What in the World? has been broadcast on RTÉ television since 2004. In that time it has covered stories as diverse as the death penalty in the United States, genocide on Cambodia and the curse of oil in Angola.
Peader King, director will attend this screening.
- See more at: http://www.corkfilmfest.org/2015/festival-events/yo-cambio-change/#sthash.VdlJggiP.dpuf
Saturday 7th November
The Genius of George Boole - The Gate Cinema - 2pm - €7
The huge impact of George Boole’s work on technology today is explored in this stunning new film commissioned by University College Cork. Asked at one point if he thinks Boole is important, Lord David Puttnam retorts “I guess, no George Boole, no Google, no Amazon, no Intel. That makes him pretty important”. Narrated by Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons and produced by multi award-winning Oxford Film and Television, the film assembles industry leaders and academics from across the globe to explore the life and importance of one of the world’s greatest unsung heroes.
The Cork based KMF Productions Ltd, creators of RTÉ1’s What in the World? strand, present the World Premiere of their new film, set in tough El Salvadoran prisons, followed by an extended Q&A with director Peadar King and guests.
Brutal, over-crowded and violent: that is the reputation of South America’s prisons. And with good reason. “When I came here I was shaking”, one prisoner admitted. “All anyone knew about the place were the massacres. There were people who’d cut your head off without fear. It was the law of the jungle. As soon as you entered you were told: see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing”. But change is coming to El Salvador’s prisons. Slowly. How? Yo Cambio. I change.
Peadar King is a Cork-based human rights documentary film maker. For the past decade, he has highlighted human rights issues in almost fifty countries across the globe His latest book What in the World? Political Travels in Asia, Africa and The Americas (2013) recounts some of those experiences. What in the World? has been broadcast on RTÉ television since 2004. In that time it has covered stories as diverse as the death penalty in the United States, genocide on Cambodia and the curse of oil in Angola.
Peader King, director will attend this screening.
Steve Jobs - Cork Opera House - 8:30pm - €15
An all-star cast, including Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs), Kate Winslet, Jeff Daniels (John Scully, former Apple CEO) and Seth Rogen (Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak), bring to dazzling life this fizzing biopic of the visionary who revolutionised the way we communicate.
The 60th Cork Film Festival is honoured to have this hugely anticipated movie as the Irish Premiere Gala for its 60th Edition, and delighted to play it on the giant screen at the Cork Opera House. The film’s pedigree is extraordinary: not just that amazing cast, but also director Danny Boyle (an Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire) helming the film from Aaron Sorkin’s (an Oscar for The Social Network) adaptation of Walter Isaacson’s best-selling biography Steve Jobs. It is a film in three acts, running over 14 years, with each act based around the lead up to and launch of an iconic Jobs’s product: the Macintosh in 1984, the NeXT Cube in 1988 and the iMac in 1988. Through these, this structure delivers a detailed, nuanced portrait of Jobs’s life, and reminds us how these mass marketed products have changed the way we work, like and communicate.
With heartfelt thanks to David Burke and all at Universal for granting the Irish premiere of the film to Cork, home to Apple’s European headquarters.
“Fassbender is enthralling. It’s impossible to take your eyes off him”. Variety
Friday 6th November
11 Minutes - Cork Opera House - 8pm- €15
The same 11 minute period in the lives of several different characters is revisited over and over, by the great Polish iconoclast. A sleezy Hollywood director auditions an actress. A jealous husband is out of control. An elderly man calmly sketches a bridge. A high-rise window cleaner takes an illicit break. A team of paramedics rush a pregnant woman to hospital. An ex-con serves hot dogs to hungry nuns, whilst a dog does what dogs do do (but see this from the dog’s point of view). It is a world full of unsurety – perhaps the only surety is that anything might happen at any time.
The ever adventurous Skolimowski (Moonlighting, the Shout, Essential Killing) turns his singular style to extracting as much tension, exhilaration, emotion and motion from that revisted brief time frame. As is often Skolimowski’s way, the striking sound design is at the fore, and Mikolaj Lebkowski’s cinematography provides many surprises and delights. A Polish co-production with Ireland’s Element Pictures (and heartfelt thanks to them), the film’s strong largely Polish cast also includes Good Vibrations star Richard Dormer.
This thrilling and breathless ride will open the 60th Cork Film Festival in exhilarating style.