Eirtakon Convention
Organised by Dublin City University's Anime and Manga Society, the 10th annual anime and manga convention will be held at the Croke Park Conference Centre from today until Sunday. The convention features a cosplay masquerade, an artists' alley with 30 manga artists and craftspeople and a Yule Ball held on Saturday night. The guest of honour is voice actress Caitlin Glass. Tickets: €5–€35.
A Most Peculiar Wintry Thing
A music show about all things white and wintry created by composer Brian Irvine premieres tomorrow at The Ark, Eustace Street, Temple Bar. The production features four musicians, animation, original music, improvisation and audience interaction. The first result of a partnership between The Ark and Music Network, the show will run in Dublin November 22nd–29th and December 13th–21st, touring nationally in between. Recommended for ages 4+. Tickets: €9–€12, available on 01-6707788 or online .
National Gallery of Ireland’s 16 Short Plays
Performances by actors from the Umbrella Theatre Company comprise a collection of 16 10-minute plays spread over two Saturdays. The plays were inspired by artworks within the National Gallery, such as Johannes Vermeer's A Woman Writing a Letter with her Maid and Casimir Dunin Markievicz's The Artist's Wife, Constance, Comtesse de Markievicz (1868-1927), Irish Painter and Revolutionary. The short plays were created over two years by five Irish playwrights, including Ivy Bannister and Michael O'Meara, and will be presented at the Gallery Lecture Theatre. Tickets: €7–€10, available at the Gallery Shop or online.
Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival
The Irish Film Institute's flagship event returns for its 15th year. Over 12 days 30 films will be shown, including Les Combattants, The Blue Room, Bird People,Goodbye To Language (3D), Timbuktu and Li'l Quinquin, all of which were entered into this year's Cannes International Film Festival. (Goodbye To Language was co-winner of the Jury Prize.)
Festival guests include directors Cécile Telerman and Mathieu Amalric. Tickets: €9.50–€10.50 and are available online.
Waterford Winterval
Christmas festivities arrive early in Waterford, with over 25 different events and activities at the Winterval, including a 3D show that will light up Old Deanery in Cathedral Square each evening, a Viking Christmas camp at Greyfriars Church by the Waterford Vikings Fado, a traditional Polish Christmas, and rides on horse-drawn sleighs and the Winterval Express road train.
The festival also includes a market with 60 stalls selling food and craft. Tickets: €2–€15, are available online, with some events free.
Booterstown Winter Fair
Booterstown's first winter fair will be held in the parish hall of St Philip and St James Church on Sunday, with local craft and baked goods on sale and mulled wine and mince pies served. The fair aims to raise funds for computers for Booterstown National School students.