Films, in a theatre festival? Does it really make sense for this year's Fringe to be dabbling in celluloid? Absolutely, says Fringe director Ali Curran. "By its very nature, the Fringe needs to be multi-disciplinary. These days it's very apparent that people working in theatre and in fine art are being influenced by film in the work they produce." Curran points to companies such as Bedrock as an example of the way in which theatre is drawing on the visual and temporal aesthetics of cinema.
The core of the two-day programme, devised by Film Fringe co-ordinator Derek O'Connor, takes an introductory overview of the avant-garde tradition in 20th-century cinema, with three programmes of short films by such practitioners as Luis Bunuel, Stan Brakhage and Jonas Mekas. Feature films include a special screening of Buster Keaton's Sherlock Junior (with an improvised accompaniment from Dublin band The Jazz Warriors), Curt McDowell's trash cult classic, Thundercrack!, and a double bill of Andy Warhol's Couch and Jack Smith's Flaming Creatures. Robert Weine's 1919 expressionist masterpiece, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, will be shown with a newly composed score from electronic duo Decal.
New films on offer include first Dublin screenings for Nicola Bruce's critically acclaimed I Could Read the Sky and Werner Herzog's documentary about his relationship with actor Klaus Kinski in My Best Fiend. John Carney and Tom Hall's Dublin-set, no-budget digital feature, Park, is also showing, as is a selection of the best Irish short films of the last decade.
Carney and Hall will be participating in one of the free, open-access workshops which will run all Saturday in the IFC Meeting Room. Other workshops will be held with documentary-makers John T. Davis, Liam McGrath and Brendan Byrne, and a session on scripts will be run by the Irish Screenwriting Agency.
The Film Fringe runs at the Irish Film Centre on October 2nd and 3rd. For futher information on film workshops, phone 0876955150
