The Junior Dublin Film Festival is set to run from the 22nd November to 9th December. Due to the success of previous years, the festival has added the Screen in D'Olier Street and the IMAX on Parnell Street to the regular venues - the IFC, the UCI's in Tallaght, Coolock and Blanchardstown and the Bray Cineplex.
The opening film of the festival on Sunday, November 22 at 6.00pm in the Screen is 'The Parent Trap', directed by Nancy Meyers and starring Dennis Quaid, Natasha Richardson, Lindsay Lohan and Elaine Hendrix. The story of identical twins separated at birth by the break up of their parents unaware of each others existence they meet by chance at a summer camp in Maine and hatch a plan to reunite their parents.
As November marks the 80th anniversary of the 1918 Armistice the festival is presenting in association with the Imperial War Museum, 'The Battle of the Somme' on Wednesday, December 2 at 10.00 am. Shot between the end of June and early July 1916, shortly after the War Office had relaxed its ban on film and photography at the front, many of the scenes have become part of the classic imagery of the First World War. After the film a discussion on the impact of 'The Battle of Somme' will be hosted by Dr. Tony Haggith, film archivist at the Imperial War Museum, Alan Gilsenan, award-winning documentary maker and director of 'True Lives - The Green Fields of France', and by Myles Duggan, broadcaster and author of several books on the First World War.
Once again this year, Ireland makes a significant contribution to the international showcase of cinema with the screening of 'A Very Unlucky Leprechaun', directed by Brian Kelly from Concorde Anois, 'The Boy from Mercury' directed by Martin Duffy and a screen adaptation of James Joyce's 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man', directed by Joseph Stick.
Canadian cinema also features strongly in the festival with three high profile Canadian films -'Kayla' directed by Nicholas Kendall, 'The planet of Junior Brown' directed by Clement Virgo and the feature length animation 'Pippi Longstocking' directed by Clive Smith.
With John Halas' 1951 masterpiece 'Animal Farm' and three animation workshops run by Ciaran Bonass this is a good year for animation fans. Ciaran works for Brown Bag Films on numerous projects in a variety of styles and techniques including commercials, corporates, music, TV series, CD Rom games and political cartoons. The workshops start off with an introduction to the principles of animation from storyboarding, model sheets, through to the final film. The workshop will be a hands-on experience where the participants will get the opportunity to produce a short film sketched or drawn directly onto 16mm film.
This year's series of workshops and seminars gives young film enthusiasts an opportunity to meet filmmakers and other professionals in the film industry. These will include Reading a Film Workshop presented by Tony Tracy Education Officer, FMI, Film-making Workshop 1 - Presented by director Brian Kelly, Film-making Workshop 2 presented by Producer Paul Stevens, Production Workshop presented by producer Marina Hughes and Screenwriting Workshop presented by writer/director Gerry Stembridge.
In addition, The Aerly Bird Worldwide Express Young Critics Competition. Budding film critics will be invited to write a criticism of a film they see during the festival and submit entries to the festival box office. The different categories of age groups are: 4 -7; 8 - 12; 13 - 15; 16 -18. Winners will receive a selection of videos, cinema tickets and film goodies.
For Further Information Contact:
Booking Office
Irish Film Centre
Eustace Street
Dublin 2
Tel: +353 1 671 4095
Fax: +353 1 670 3079
Email: info@ifc.ie
Michael McMahon 12.11.98
