The Queens Film Theatre in Belfast will celebrate its 40th anniversary from 3 - 9 October, with a week of special screenings and events including an ‘In Conversation with Ciarán Hinds’, a panel discussion with Northern Ireland Screen and a DJ set by film composer David Holmes.
Two special screenings will kick off the celebrations - ‘Burn After Reading’, the latest from the Coen Brothers starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney, and ‘Gomorrah’, the Grand Prix winner at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
On Saturday 4th October, QFT and the Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) will present an ‘In Conversation with Ciarán Hinds’. Belfast native Hinds, has starred in a string of international hits including ‘There Will Be Blood’, ‘In Bruges’ and ‘Miss Pettigrew Lives for the Day’ and has worked with many of the greatest names in film and theatre including Steven Spielberg , Michael Mann, Danny Boyle and Sam Mendes. In 2007 Ciarán won the IFTA for Best Actor in a Lead Role Television for his work on the HBO series ‘Rome’ and the same award in 2004 for the ITV drama series ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’. The event will be preceded by a screening of Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s ‘December Bride’ which stars Donal McCann and Ciarán Hinds.
DJ and film composer of the ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ soundtracks David Holmes will be providing the a 1968 styled music set for a special QFT Late event, following a screening of ‘Performance’, the gangster classic starring Mick Jagger.
Launching the anniversary season, Susan Picken, QFT Manager said: “We have pulled out all the stops to come up with a truly exceptional programme for QFT’s 40th anniversary. Our aim is to celebrate 40 years of the best of cinema in Northern Ireland and the best of Northern Ireland in cinema, with a diverse range of film favorites past, present and future.”
There will also be a retrospective on Northern Ireland cinema with special screenings of the 1984 movie ‘Cal’, directed by Pat O’Connor, and Margo Harkin’ s ‘Hush-A-Bye-Baby’ and a special preview of the new homegrown thriller ‘Freakdog’ directed by Paddy Breathnach. Northern Ireland Screen will chair a panel discussion looking at recent cinematic successes and the future of the local film industry. Panelists will include producer Mark Huffam from Generator Entertainment and screenwriter Darragh Carville (Cherrybomb, Middletown).
Other highlights of the anniversary programme include a selection of QFT’s Greatest Hits back-to-back screening of ‘The Godfather’ trilogy, a remastered showing of David Lynch’s ‘Eraserhead’ and a focus on the films of director David Lean. More recent cinematic favourites include ‘Volver’, ‘The Big Lebowski’, ‘Reservoir Dogs’, ‘Apocalypse Now Redux’ and ‘Blade Runner – The Final Cut’.
For further information visit www.queensfilmtheatre.com.
