Cork International Film Festival: 10 highlights for Tuesday to Thursday
My Friend Lanre: part of the second week of Cork International Film Festival.
In this premiere, Constance Markievicz, Michael Collins and Éamon de Valera reflect on Ireland’s embattled era, interacting with live music and contemporary newsreels. Written and directed by Barry Monahan, UCC Lecturer in Film Studies, with a Q&A afterwards.
Daniel Kötter’s latest curious exploration of a place and its people dwells as much upon what isn’t present as what is manifest. From the unseen mine that traverses the Armenian-Azerbaijani border to the aerial threat from above that is heard, but never shown, this is an empathetic view of a contested space that is increasingly in the global headlines.
A selection of short films from all over Europe - as well as a pair of non-competing shorts made in Ireland.
Ulizii is a teenage boy who lives in the yurt area of Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar. He’s also a physics genius who is determined to win a science competition to secure a university scholarship. But when his alcoholic mother finds a job in the countryside, she leaves him and his younger siblings to face a harsh winter by themselves.
Put that film trivia to good use - a free event for teams of up to 6 people, or join a team and meet other like-minded film fanatics. Places are limited and it’s on a first-come, first-served basis.
Kleber Mendonça Filho crosses the line between fiction and documentary to create a homage to the long-lost cinemas of Recife. Combining personal archives with new footage, he brings us back in time to his family home and first attempts as a filmmaker, and to the Recife of his youth.
Director Margreth Olin (The Self Portrait) turns her intensely lyrical camera toward her ageing parents and the beautiful mountainous Norwegian landscape that is home. Here the life cycles of those we are closest to are woven around the longer transformative cycles of the natural world, forging a profound portrait of how humanity and nature co-exist.
The Cork Jewish Culture Virtual Walk documentary video explores some of the history and culture of the Cork Jewish communities. Produced and presented by local musician, Ruti Lachs, this documentary won a National Heritage Week Award.
It focuses on seven little-known Jewish sites in the city, with funny stories, evocative poems, tales from history, traditional songs, and klezmer music from members of the Cork communities past and present, including David Goldberg, son of former Cork Lord Mayor Gerald Goldberg, Filis Rosenberg, born in Cork, and members of Cork’s current Jewish community, Marnina Winkler and Val Davin.
Leo Regan and Lanre Fehintola have been friends, photographers and close collaborators for over 25 years. Around the turn of the millennium Lanre’s complex relationship to heroin was documented in two ground-breaking films Don’t Get High on Your Own Supply (1998) and Cold Turkey (2001).
Using this extensive archive Regan pulls together a tender, funny and deeply moving celebration of comradeship and creativity, while all the time attentively bearing witness to the passing of his beautifully infuriating friend.
Lillian runs away whilst on a school trip, and so begins a journey through the mental psyche of the United States of America. Lillian’s excursion navigates her through encounters with punks, hipsters, white supremacists and Islamic radicals, placing her at the centre of their worlds whilst she floats through seemingly unaffected.
