Free Day of Screenings at Irish Film Institute | The Irish Film & Television Network

Audiences will have the opportunity to check out the IFI’s new Cinema 3, new look foyer, new IFI Film Shop and refurbished IFI Café Bar. All the free tickets are being released on the day at 11am and tickets are limited to four per person on a first come, first served basis.

The films being shown include ‘Ponyo’; an imaginative Japanese animation version of The Little Mermaid fairy tale from the Oscar-winning Studio Ghibli. Young people will also be catered for with a special IFI Teen Screen showing of ‘Ghost World’; a 2001 graphic-novel inspired cult favourite featuring a young Scarlett Johansson (Vicky Christina Barcelona).

The day will also feature a preview of ‘Crazy Heart’ featuring Oscar nominee, Jeff Bridges, the subject of an extensive season at the IFI in February. Another heavyweight Oscar contender, ‘A Single Man’, the directorial debut from former-Gucci designer, featuring Colin Firth (Love Actually) and Julianne Moore (The Hours), will also be previewing at the Open Day.

There will also be a chance to see some classics back on the big screen including the screwball comedy ‘Bringing Up Baby’ with Katherine Hepburn, the definitive Herzog documentary ‘Grizzly Man’, Kubrick’s masterful ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ on 70mm, and the very rare chance to see Leo McCarey’s ‘Make Way for Tomorrow’ on 16mm from 1937. There will also be a chance to sample two themed selections of material from the IFI Irish Film Archive; ‘Welcome to the Emerald Isle’: ‘A Selection of Travel Films’ and Colm O Laoghaire Shorts.

A special discount on IFI Membership will apply on the Open Day, a selection of special surprise guests will be introducing films throughout the day and there will be a screening of the People’s Choice film as chosen by the voting public on the IFI website. The day will end with the IFI Café Bar hosting a DJ set throughout the evening.

IFTN caught up with the Director of the Irish Film Institute, Sarah Glennie who has been a driving force behind the IFI redevelopment since being appointed Director in 2008.

IFTN: How long has this redevelopment been in the pipeline?
Sarah Glennie (SG): This has been planned for a long, long time. We received an Access grant back in 2007 from the Arts department and that had to be used which got things moving. When I arrived in 2008 there were blueprints and provisional plans but not a lot had been done. The deadline for using the grant was 2009 so we knuckled down. What was lucky was that Cinema 3 was originally to be for 35mm projection which would have meant a larger projection room (which would have eaten into our old meeting room) but then digital arrived which saved us from having to build the larger projection room and of course it meant we can now put our archives onto digi beta which is another space saver – a huge issue for us!

IFTN: This redevelopment also means an upgrading of your archives – how exactly is this to be carried out?
SG: This desperately needed to be done. We had a storage area which was quite small and then we had researchers and filmmakers on top of that who would be in and out constantly. What it basically meant was that people’s archive viewing was very limited . . . and often uncomfortable! So now we have a viewing suite and we are working through our archives and digitizing them to allow for easier accessibility.

IFTN: There has also been the introduction of the Archives at Lunchtime event – this is also a move to re-examine accessibility I’d imagine?
SG: Absolutely. Essentially our curator, Sunniva O’Flynn picks two examples of archive footage a month and these are shown, for free, two times a week. The real test with this for us was whether the numbers would hold up and we’ve been delighted with the results. It’s fascinating for filmmakers and historians but also for students and people working nearby. A lot of material doesn’t get shown as often as we’d like and this system means we can show really interesting projects that mightn’t be seen otherwise – recently we had footage of the Cornelscourt Shopping Centre opening which sounds boring but it’s a real ‘moment in time’ thing to see.

IFTN: You have a retrospective of the works of both Jim Sheridan and Roddy Doyle coming up – is there a demand for this focus on Irish film?
SG: Well, we are the Irish Film Institute and alongside our Ireland on Sunday slot which is still going strong we want to do these retrospectives. The promotion of Irish cinema has always been the most important part of what we do. We send footage to International programmes and film festivals which is a not very well known practice but is hugely wide reaching. We’re hoping to start the retrospective programme, which is funded by Culture Ireland soon - we’re looking to use Jim Sheridan’s ‘Brothers’ anyway which will take a while.

IFI Open Day Schedule

12.30 Ponyo
12.50 Ballroom of Romance
1.15     IFI Irish FilmArchive Screening 1: Colm O Laoghaire Shorts
2.15     Ghost World    (+ optional Teen Animation Workshop)
2.30     2001: A Space Odyssey
3.00     Eamon
4.30     My Night with Maud
5.00     IFI Irish Film Archive Screening 2: Welcome to the Emerald Isle: A Selection of Travel Films
5.10     Bringing Up Baby
6.30     Make Way for Tomorrow (16mm)
6.50   Grizzly Man
7.10     Crazy Heart
8.50     A Single Man
9.20     Winner of IFI People’s Choice Poll – Announced on 5th February

Tickets for all films on the open day will be available on Saturday, February 6th from 11am - in person only - and will be restricted to 4 tickets per person. Patrons are asked to arrive early as tickets for the full day are expected to go quickly. More information and images for all the films featuring in the IFI Open Day is available on the IFI website at www.ifi.ie

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