Three Irish documentaries, ‘Men at Lunch’, ‘Silence in the House of God’ and ‘The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology’ will all screen at the DOC NYC Festival this week.
The festival, which kicked off yesterday, has been celebrating American and international documentary-making for the last eight years.
‘Men at Lunch’, the documentary which investigates the Irish history behind the 1932 iconic photograph widely known as ‘Lunch atop a Skyscraper’, will receive its US premiere at the DOC NYC Festival tomorrow, November 10.
‘Men at Lunch’, developed by Galway-based production company Sónta, and directed and produced by the Ó’Cualáin brothers Seán and Eamonn, already screened at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival and the Galway Film Fleadh.
Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan lends her voice to the narrative of both the Irish and English language versions. Known as ‘Lón sa Spéir’ in Irish, the documentary was funded by TG4, the BAI and the IFB. A second screening will take place on Wednesday November 14.
‘Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God’, an Irish-American co-production, revisits the abuse scandal in the Irish, Italian and American Catholic Churches.
The documentary was shot all over Ireland as well as Italy, and led to an investigation at Vatican level. It will screen at the New York-based festival on Sunday November 11.
American filmmaker Alex Gibney directed, with Belfast’s Below the Radar production company producing alongside HBO Films. The documentary, which will be distributed in Ireland this spring by Element Pictures, won the Grierson Award for Best Documentary at the London Film Festival last month.
‘The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology’, a Blinder Films and P Guide Productions co-production, is a sequel to director Sophie Fiennes’ 2006 documentary ‘The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema’.
The film follows Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Zizek as he dissects the different ideologies in classic films such as ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and ‘Taxi Driver’.
It will screen at the DOC NYC Festival this Sunday. The documentary previously screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, and will be distributed Europe-wide by French distribution company Doc & Film International.
The DOC NYC Festival runs until November 15. Screenings are taking place at the School of Visual Arts Theatre and the IFC Center.
