The festival will run from 8 - 10 October and will include highlights such as a tribute to the multiple award winning Irish animation studio Brown Bag Films, the Irish Premiere of a new work ‘Three Potential Endings’ by Turner prize nominee Willie Doherty, Irish-lensed concert movie ‘R.E.M. Live at the Olympia’, performances from thisispopbaby with Niall Sweeney's one-man show ‘Revolver’, a new DIY movie event ‘Hotel Darklight’ and a celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Canadian Film Board. Alongside these events there will be screenings, performances, symposiums, workshops and much more all going on in the Smithfield area of Dublin.
In conversation with IFTN the festival’s programme director, Derek O’Connor tells us that ten years down the line the Darklight has kept all its original values in place.
“The festival has developed in an organic fashion,” says O’Connor. “It started as a festival that celebrated Irish talent through performance and other events and we have always laid an emphasis on creating work along with celebrating it. That’s one of the reasons behind this year’s Hotel Darklight feature – we like to encourage new talent in a very proactive manner.
”Darklight also remains a very forward thinking festival, we have digital screenings this year and have always sought to embrace and promote new technologies.”
O’Connor goes on to talk about the festival’s chosen venue of Smithfield; “We always like to draw attention to various parts of Smithfield. Smithfield is an area that is in a state of flux at the moment – artists are taking up residence there which allows for a very creative environment and there are is a huge variety of venues here like the ‘thisisnotashop’ gallery and, of course, the Lighthouse cinema. Smithfield has become almost a character itself in this year’s festival, or at least it seems to lend comment to the festival’s urban landscape features like Willie Doherty’s fantastic installation.”
The 2009 keynote discussion is entitled ‘2019 AC: After Copyright’ and will feature a conversation around a hypothetical situation whereby it is October 2019 and copyright wars are somehow over. It will look at how the creative landscape may look in a decade and will be guest attended by Anna Troberg, the Vice Chairman of the Swedish Pirate Party. The keynote discussion will take place on Friday, October 9th at 1pm in the Maldron Hotel. This will be followed by a screening of selected works from Brown Bag Films’ and a public interview with Brown Bag Films founders Cathal Gaffney and Darragh O’Connell as part of a celebration of the multi award-winning animation company.
Continuing the exciting lineup, celebrated music video director Mark Romanek is this year’s guest of honour. Mark will host a Masterclass as a co-production between Darklight and FÁS Screen Training Ireland on October 10th at 11.00am and there will also be a public interview with Mark later that day in the Lighthouse Cinema at 5.00pm with a screening of his work which includes music videos ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way’ for Lenny Kravitz, ‘Closer’ by Nine Inch Nails, ‘Hurt’ by Johnny Cash and ’99 Problems’ by Jay-Z. O’Connor puts it simply when he says “Romanek is a kind of style not just a person, we’re really excited to have him as our guest of honour.”
One of the exhibitions at the Darklight festival is ‘Taming Light’, a group exhibition of new work from Irish and international artists paying tribute to Stanley Kubrick, ten years on from his death. The exhibition comprises 25 paintings, photographs and illustrations inspired by Kubrick and his films at the Light House cinema. Participating artists include Chris Judge, Joby Hickey, Kiersten Essenpreis, Francis Matthews, Mark Wickham, Geraldine Doherty, Fergal Brennan, Annie Atkins and graffiti artist Maser. The exhibition is curated by Sunday Business Post film critic John Maguire.
Darklight Festival will also celebrate the 70th anniversary of the National Film Board of Canada on Saturday October 10th at 5.30pm in the Light House Cinema, with a screening of a selection of classic animation and experimental works from the Canadian National Film Board catalogue. O’Connor explains why the anniversary is being marked by the Darklight Festival: “The Canadian Film Board has had 70 years of excellent filmmaking, especially where short films are concerned. I think it’s a model for a national film board.”
Another of the Darklight Festival’s big events is the DIY project, Hotel Darklight. Filmmakers were asked to submit ideas for a 3 - 7 minute short film set in a mysterious Dublin hotel that boasts a twilight zone-esque atmosphere. 80 submissions were received by the project’s producer Declan Lynch and co-producer Alan Keane and these were whittled down to the ten projects which will be shown as the closing screening of the festival.
Hotel Darklight’s co-producer Alan Keane tells IFTN the idea of Hotel Darklight came as a result of a lack of financial resources but a wave of goodwill and an invitation from a Dublin hotel to make use of its facilities. In conversation with IFTN Keane describes the intricacies of Hotel Darklight:
“It’s a writer-driven project, we gave the writers very general outlines and they came back with a cross-pollination of ideas and genres that all work incredibly well. And everyone rallied around the projects and got on board with them.
”Initially it was thought up to give young filmmakers film making experience aside from the experience they would have in college. And it was done to give new and established filmmakers, who helped out with the project, the chance to come together to work.”
Throughout the making of Hotel Darklight, the producers of the project were delighted with the level of support the project received, “I could not believe the outpouring of goodwill we received, the offers of help and people giving up their time for us – often for days that were 16 hours long! I was also taken aback by the high level of talent we saw throughout.” The ten projects differ in that some are comical whereas some are serious horror but all ten “veer to the dark side.”
The project has been deemed a success by its producers with plans to do something similar next year. “There aren’t a great deal of opportunities out there for young filmmakers so we’re doing all that we can to give them a platform.” Any money raised by the project will be divided between the Simon Community and RADE (Recovery through Art, Drama and Education).
- Hotel Darklight will receive its first public screening on Saturday, October 10th at 9.30pm in the Lighthouse cinema followed by the festival’s closing celebration.
- The Darklight festival takes place from Thursday, October 8th until Saturday, October 10th. For more information and for the festival timetable visit www.darklight.ie
26 Nov 2009