Pat Shortt, one of the nation's favourite actors, and Jayne Wisener, who plays the title character's young daughter in the recent musical Sweeney Todd, were the star attractions at the launch of the programme for the sixth Jameson Dublin International Film Festival last night.
Wisener, who grew up in Coleraine, Co Derry, and Shortt joined Gráinne Humphreys, the festival's new programmer, on stage at the Button Factory in Temple Bar to announce a varied array of screenings and special events. Also in the audience were such luminaries as John Kelleher, the Irish film censor, and the ubiquitous eccentric Aidan Walsh, who brandished a large camera and flash gun.
Luke Saunders was revealed as the winner of a competition, sponsored by Jameson, to deliver a short film featuring the company's product and a director's chair. Saunders picks up €3,000 and his film will be screened on the festival's first night.
This year, Humphreys, formerly the assistant director of the Irish Film Institute, takes over the event from Michael Dwyer, the Irish Times film correspondent, after five successful seasons.
"The challenges we face are those any festival faces," Humphreys said. "You have to try and guarantee the sneak previews and capture a limited number of films that may never otherwise reach our shores. This year, as well, we are doing our best to put the city itself at the centre of the festival. We have, for example, outdoor screenings throughout Dublin."
The festival begins on Friday, February 15th, in the Savoy cinema with a gala screening of Martin McDonagh's In Bruges. This deliciously profane thriller, the first feature from the London-Irish playwright, stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two bickering mobsters adrift in Flanders's best-preserved medieval city.
Humphreys revealed that Gleeson will be one of three recipients of a Volta Award, the festival's prize for career achievement.
Voltas will also be put the way of Leo Ward, the veteran exhibitor, and the actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Day-Lewis, a Wicklow resident, is expected to take time out from the awards season to attend a festival screening of There Will be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson's epic tale of an oilman's decline into lunacy, at the Savoy on Saturday, February 16th. The star has already won a Golden Globe for his lead performance and is currently the odds-on favourite to secure the Oscar for best actor next month.
Other highlights of the programme include screenings of Happy-Go-Lucky, the new film from Mike Leigh, U2 3D, a record of the Dublin band's South American tour using the most advanced 3D technology, and Katyn, the latest from the great Polish director Andrzej Wajda.
The event ends on Sunday, February 24th, with the world premiere of Declan Recks's film version of Eugene O'Brien's play Eden.
The festival runs from Friday, February 15th, until Sunday,
February 24th. Box-office
telephone: 01-6350290. www.dubliniff.com
