The Bealtaine Festival, will take place from the 1st to the 31st of May. The festival, aimed at older audiences will launch on May 4th, will feature special screenings of ‘Julie and Julia’ and ‘Showboat’ alongside Irish shorts. In other news, the second annual Lightbox International and Irish Animation Festival will take place from the 6th to the 8th of May.
Bealtaine Festival 2011
The 2011 Bealtaine festival will launch in the IFI on Wednesday, May 4th. The festival, now in its 16th year, aims to celebrate creativity in a modern age, encouraging older people to become involved in the arts as artists and performers. Co-ordinated by Age and Opportunity, last year the festival saw a participation of over 101,000 people and is one of the largest Arts festivals in the country. The festival is supported by access>CINEMA, the Irish Film Institute and Seven Seas.
Throughout the month of May, access>CINEMA will be touring short films and vintage feature, ‘Showboat’, while the IFI will run two special film events among others. Furthermore, there will be a screening of ‘Everlasting Moments’ May 18th which will be held in conjunction with Temple Bar Cultural Trust’s craft workshop programme. Later in the month on May 27th, there will be a special screening of Charlie Chaplin’s ‘Modern Times’, which will be followed by a dance performance by Silent Idols. Other highlights of the festival will include a screening of Nora Epron’s 2009 feature, ‘Julie and Julia’.
For more information about Bealtaine visit www.bealtaine.com or telephone Age & Opportunity on (+353) 1 805 7709.
Lightbox International and Irish Animation Festival 2011
The second annual Lightbox Festival will take place in Cinemobile, Quay St Car Park and The Model in Sligo from the 6th to the 8th of May. Aiming to provide a space for animators, visual artists and live action filmmakers to meet with audiences and film fans, the festival hopes to reflect the strong position animation holds in Ireland and internationally.
This year’s feature films will include comedy, ‘My Dog Tulip’ which will have its Irish Premiere at the Festival. International highlights will include a screening of Spanish animation feature, ‘Chico and Rita’, which tells the story of Chico, a young piano player with big dreams and a beautiful singer called Rita, who are united through music and romance.
Other highlights of the festival will include a animation workshop for children run by Eimhin McNamara. The Stop-Motion Workshop for 8-13 year olds will cover storyboarding, clay modelling and filmmaking and the finished production will be screened later that evening. There will also be a number of presentations from animators throughout the festival. IFTA winner, David O’Reilly will present a session entitled, Animated Rarities, which will include a selection of his favourite animations.
Ticket prices for the event range from €15 for a day pass to €50 for a Family Weekend pass. For more information log on to www.cinemanorthwest.com/lightbox.
