The dark comedy will have its Irish premiere as the opening gala for the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2014, an always very enjoyable evening that, this year, will take place at Dublin’s Savoy Cinema on Thursday 13th February.
Following on from their wickedly-funny winning work together on The Guard, director John Michael McDonagh has again cast Brendan Gleeson in the lead role, this time as a good priest tormented by his small-town community, a group of people who seem intent on making his life a living hell.
The blackly comic drama features a very talented who's who of Irish acting royalty including Gleeson Junior Domhnall, Chris O’Dowd, Aidan Gillen, David McSavage, Dylan Moran, Killian Scott and the gorgeous Kelly Reilly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGM5rq_vX4U
Yet another Irish talent alert everyone – Dubliner Ruairi Robinson recently released the trailer for his feature film debut, Last Days On Mars which stars the excellent double-whammy of Liev Schreiber and Olivia Williams. The sci-fi thriller tells the tale of a group of astronauts who succumb to a mysterious and terrifying force while collecting specimens on the Red Planet.
With echoes of Alien and 28 Days in the short clip, JOE is most certainly looking forward to seeing the film when it screens at this year's JDIFF.
In the meantime, here’s the trailer to keep you suitably satisfied… and scared:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_C8_xmixrg
Robinson, at only 35 years of age, has already been nominated for an Oscar so that automatically makes him a much better human than the rest of us. You can, and should, check out the excellent Oscar-nominated short Fifty Percent Grey here.
Disclaimer – it has nothing to do with Fifty Shades of Grey as far as JOE is aware.
One man who's sure to draw a crowd at this year's festival is Irish director Paul Duane who was recently named by Variety, one of the world’s most iconic entertainment trade magazines, as one of “This Year’s 10 Directors to Watch.“
We’re presuming that they mean “one to watch” in a good way, and not in a “he may be up to no good so we better inform the authorities because he’s certainly one to watch” kind of way.
The Irish story-teller will be town to take an in-depth look at the creation, development and delivery of new, critically-acclaimed RTÉ drama Amber and he'll be joined by the show's creator Rob Cawley, director Thaddeus O’Sullivan and writer Gary Duggan as they discuss the factors involved in bringing this show to life.
Here at JOE we also recently reviewed the director’s fascinating documentary about wino turned writer, John Healy, an excellent insight into the life of a “smiling psychopath.” You can read the full review by clicking here and, yes, it is (probably) entirely coincidental that the article concludes with the line “Hollywood take note.”
Unless someone at Variety has recently been reading JOE.ie of course…
There aren't any big names attached to attend this particular event at JDIFF but, what you are guaranteed, is an exhibition of brilliant up and coming Irish talent to watch out for the future, as the students of Filmbase’s MA in filmmaking screen their latest feature film, which will be followed by a Q&A.
So, who knows? You may be witnessing the next John Michael McDonagh, John Butler, Ruairi Robinson or Paul Duane in action, all with the potential to star at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival in the future.
Screen Test ticket holders for other events can attend this event for free on a first-come, first- served basis.
How do you say ‘The Hangover’ in Irish? The Stag. That’s how.
Not really though, and our old Irish teacher Mr. Ó Murchú would have a heart attack if we thought that was actually true.
The Stag is a new, very funny-looking, Irish film that tells the tale of a groom-to-be who reluctantly agrees to a camping stag weekend in the West of Ireland. Events don’t go quite according to plan though when the unpredictable brother of the bride, The Machine, turns up.
Remember Stags, what happens in the Wesht, stays in the Wesht.
