Another year, different date (15 -25 April), different sponsor (Miller), different venue (Virgin Cinemas), different director (Maretta Dillon), another festival. Now in its 14th year, the 1999 Dublin Film Festival has a dual mandate: atone for last year's programme while simultaneously looking towards the future.
Since the Festival's inception in 1985, cinema-going and film exhibition in this country have changed dramatically. Now, the Festival must compete with an ever-increasing number of retrospectives, short seasons and festivals, while the IFC has stolen some of its thunder and made the undiscovered discoverable. With this in mind, it's little wonder that the Festival lost some sparkle during the '90's - a trend which reached alarming proportions last year. Holding the launch of the 1998 Festival in Planet Hollywood was never a good idea and was a portent of what was to come within the hastily-arranged programme: it was difficult to muster any enthusiasm for a line-up which owed more to cut and paste than it did to cult and taste. Flicking through the pages of said programme, you wondered whether you had stumbled on a festival or a dry-run for a bank holiday weekend at the local multiplex, such was the emphasis on all things American. Patrons voted with their pockets: attendances were down, there was a distinct lack of atmosphere and was screening the Richard Gere vehicle Red Corner to 30 people in the Ambassador really the way forward? Apparently not, and new festival director Maretta Dillon and her team have assembled a programme which, while not exactly putting the festival back on track, has at least ensured a new set of rails.
There are still far too many big Hollywood films and imminent commercial releases for comfort, but overall the choice is suitably eclectic. Dillon, who ran the much missed Lighthouse Cinema until its demolition in 1996, has opted for a more Euorpean-oriented outlook - reflected in both the revival of First Film Europe and seven films from Spain in the Europe In Focus section (watch out for Julio Medem's Lovers Of The Arctic Circle and Santiago Segura's award-winning Torrente, The Dumb Arm Of The Law.
With a nod to domestic production, the Festival is bookended by two Irish Films. The world premiere of Cathal Black's Love and Rage opens proceedings, while Deborah Warner's The Last September is the closing film. In-between, the amount of Irish Features and Shorts has improved dramatically and includes Making Ends Meet, Pete's Meteor and Sé Merry Doyle's documentary Alive Alive O: A Requiem For Dublin.
At the heart of the festival are two retrospectives focussing on the work of Bernardo Bertolucci (including his latest film Besieged) and the French director Olivier Assayas. Both will attend the festival and take part in public interviews, and given that only one of Assayas' films has been distributed in Ireland (Irma Vep), this represents a rare opportunity to view his work.
The Miller Spirit of America programme remains a must for devotees of Indie Americana with a strong selection which includes Boaz (Fresh) Yakin's A Price Above Rubies and Scot Ziehl's Broken Vessels. Lauren Bacall and Veronica Lake feature in the Hollywood Icons Season, and there will the usual serving of seminars, forums and industry events - special mention going to a masterclass for writers and directors by Mike Figgis and Images Of Diasbalility which will examine representations of the Disabled on screen.
Another year, another festival - but a better one. See you down the front.
TEN WORTH SEEING
<Praise: Australian Cinema is well represented at this year's festival, but John Curran's debut feature (a winner at the Toronto Film Festival) could prove to be the highlight. Off-kilter love between a chain-smoking asthmatic and a nymphomaniac who suffers from eczema. Stimulants, sex and scrabble are the order of the day, apparently.
Southie: Donnie 'Brother of Mark, late of New Kids On The Block' Wahlberg returns to South Boston to find his brothers in trouble with the local mob, his sister on the way to alcoholism and his mother suffering heart problems. Directed by John (Missing) Shea, Southie was the winner of the American Filmmaker Award at the Seattle Film Festival.
Angel Sharks: Doomed love on the Côte d'Azur as two teen drifters attempt to make sense of the world and themselves. The two are played by Vahina Giocante and Frédéric Malgras, neither of whom had any acting experience before the film.
Claire Dolan: Dublin woman Claire Dolan (Katrin Cartlidge) finds herself in New York, trapped in prostitution and paying off debts to local gangster Roland (Colm Meaney). Director Lodge Kerrigan made the superb Clean, Shaven so expect something special.
The Lost Son: Daniel Auteuil is the private eye hired to find a young photographer in a charcoal thriller directed by renowned cinematographer Chris Menges.
The Pharmacist: The concept of a German comedy is enough to make anyone laugh, but this story of a pharmacist turned femme fatale has been favourably compared to The Last Seduction. Hmmm...
Soul In The Hole: Documentary which follows the exploits of a New York Street basketball team. If it's half as good as Hoop Dreams we'll all go home happy.
Six-String Samurai: Mad Max collides with Elvis in Post Apocalyptic USA as a young warrior travels to Las Vegas to see if he is worthy of taking the King's throne - we only hope it's not the toilet.
Head On: Gritty 24 hours in the life off a Greek-Australian who must come to terms with his homosexuality and his by-the-book Greek Parents.
Via Satellite: More dysfunctional families (this time in New Zealand) as an Olympic swimming hopeful suffers the indignity of facing her family on television as she prepares for the event of her life.
TEN WORTH WAITING FOR (i.e. in the cinema soon enough)
The Idiots: Lars Von Trier throws caution off a cliff as a group of middle class friends decide to provoke and embarrass the outside world by feigning mental disability.
Love And Rage: The story of James Lynchehaun (who was partly the inspiration for Synge's Playboy Of The Western World) who attacked an English land owner and escaped to America where the authorities refused to extradite him on the grounds that his crime was a political one.
Night Train: Middle-aged character study with John Hurt as the crook who finds autumnal love with his landlady, Brenda Blethyn.
A Simple Plan: Convoluted morality tale in which Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton discover $4 million on a crashed aircraft. Think Treasure of The Sierra Madre with Sam Raimi as the director.
eXistenZ: After numerous turkeys, David Cronenberg is back on form. Jennifer Jason Leigh is the games programmer who becomes trapped in a virtual reality of her own making. We won't mention Tron if you don't.
Celebrity: Woody give his two cents on fame and sex with help from Leonardo DiCaprio, Kenneth Branagh and Winona Ryder.
Apt Pupil: Bryan (The Usual Suspects) Singer has done the unthinkable: made a good film out of a Stephen King story (did someone mention Misery?). Brad Renfro is the young student who uncovers the Nazi past of elderly neighbour Ian McKellen.
Last Night: The world is about to end and people have to figure out how to spend their last six hours. Expect quirky humour, touching moments and a cameo by David Cronenberg.
The Hi-Lo Country: Adultery and friendship as Woody Harrelson and Billy Crudup come to terms with loving the same married woman (Patricia Arquette) in the New Mexico of the 1940's.
Playing By Heart: Love American Style as Sean Connery, Dennis Quaid, Jay Mohr and Ellen Burstyn struggle to discover what they want from that four letter word.
Harry Guerin
