The Dublin Community Blog

Or: Cold feet on the red carpet.

Here’s a fact: Chuck Taylors with leaky soles are not the right footwear for the red carpet. Especially when it’s around 2 degrees Celsius and icy rain is lashing down. And even more so when you are supposed to stay on the carpet, armed with an umbrella to escort all stars and VIPs into the cinema. And some will come late. Very late.

But I will not complain too much, because it was the official Jameson Gala Night at Lighthouse Cinema, and we were welcoming actors Patricia Clarkson and Doctor Bashir from Deep Space Nine errr Alexander Siddig. Fittingly the featured movie in which both are starring was Cairo Time, a drama set in sunny, hot Cairo. The best contrast possible to miserable Dublin on a February evening.

Volunteering on the red carpet wasn’t that bad as I said, most people really liked the fact that two handsome boys (me and fellow volunteer @paddy2K ) were doing their best to protect them from the rain. At least for the 4 meters from the beginning of the red carpet to the entrance of the cinema. What it looked like after people entered the cinema can be seen on JDIFF TV. And hell, there were even some (2, actually) autograph hunters lining the red carpet. Ah, the glamour of a film festival. Did I mention the fact that I did not feel my feet for the rest of the evening?

Here are some impressions, courtesy of entertainment.ie. You can actually make out two green Jameson-umbrellas in the back.

Or: hard times bring out the best in people. And volunteers.

Volunteers are at their best when they become real grunts. Imagine: a cinema full of people who are enthusiastic about the movie they’ve just watched and don’t want to leave, a Q&A-session with the same people and the director from Spain, the need to get all these people (plus the director) out in under 2 minutes, and the need to clean the whole cinema in under 1 minute. And then imagine 200 unhappy people (including a Latvian director and his whole family) queing outside said cinema because the movie they want to enjoy was supposed to start 10 minutes ago. But JDIFF-volunteers are tough cookies. We’ll get the people out, clean the cinema and shoo the people in, all while ripping of tickets, handing out audience award ballots, helping elderly ladies and babies and smiling and saying “enjoy the film!” – while we are thinking “GUNG-HO! GUNG-HO!”.

But after all the madness has ebbed away and the gun smoke is gone, I always appreciate the fact that our great venue captains (brilliant people all of them, whatever the venue) allow volunteers to sneak in and watch a movie in between shifts. Like this I was able to watch the surprisingly good German movie “Same Same but Different” – based on a real-life story of a German backpacker falling in love with a prostitute from Cambodia. Well worth a look, therefore I hope it will be shown in Irish cinemas after the initial festival run.

Here’s one of the songs from the Soundtrack, “Heaven can wait” by Charlotte Gainsbourge & Beck with scenes from the movie:

There are two great things about volunteering for the JDIFF. The first thing is that you are virtually in the middle of things. One the one hand you are not really “working” (as you are not paid) for the festival, and do not have the responsibilites of all the volunteer captains, box office people and production managers -so there’s plenty of things to see and do in between your shifts. For example to see how tiny Colin Farrell is in real life (and I did not even had to wear a tie to be at the opening gala) And on the other hand you are not a visitor and member of the audience, so you do represent the festival and are involved in the realisation of the festival, which mosty takes place in dirty basemenst or boring break rooms without much glamour. Brilliant.

The second thing for me is the discovery of new films. I’m not that much of a film buff myself, but I’m always surprised of the quality of movies shown at the festival. And even though I have my main picks, I always discover new movies when on shift or through recommendations from other volunteers. My first discovery this year is the opening film of the festival, Neil Jordan’s Ondine.

Not that I expected the opening movie to be a total blackout, but the last Neil Jordan movie I watched must have been Michael Collins – so I was a bit unsure about the whole mermaid/fairy tale-story of the movie. But even as the unromatic naysayer that I am I have to confess I loved the movie. It thoughtfully plays with the whole idea of a real-life fairy tale, without ever becoming fantastic or supernatural – and the great cast, above all the brilliant Alison Barry makes the film really enjoyable. Plus, a movie that was scored by Kjartan Sveinsson of Sigur Ros and that features songs by Lisa Hannigan can’t be bad, can it?

In my opinion, one of the most interesting events that is currently happening in Dublin city is this monthly themed night of music, spoken word and performance: The Brown Bread Mixtape. Happening upstairs at the Stag’s Head is an evening full of great entertainment, prose, poems, song, laughter, fun and the odd Swedish pop song. MC’s, chief organisators and jacks-of-all-trades Kalle and Enda present a hand-picked array of artists, and are spicing it up with their own performances in between.

Dublinblog sent some questions their way, and here’s what the two main men had to say:

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Yes, it is that time of the year again. Like last year, I’m planning to entertain you with my adventures as a volunteer for the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival. The Festival officially opens on February 18th; so from then on you’ll get regular updates on what it’s like to rip of tickets, collect sticky rubbish from under cinema chairs and meeting the occasional celebrity, all while serving in one of the many venues of the festival. Plus also try to provide some insight on this rare occasion that World Cinema and Hollywood make a stopover in Dublin.

Whereas last year’s motto was “finding favourite films”, this year the festival seems even more diverse with spotlights on Korean, Russian and of course Irish cinema. And it is officially dedicated to one of it’s founders, Michael Dwyer, who passed away recently.

Among my personal picks this year are:

City of Live and Death - a Chinese movie about the so called “Rape of Nanking” in the Sino-Japanese war in 1937, directed by Lu Chuan. Warning: graphic images in the trailer!

Capitalism – a love story – Michael Moore’s inimitable look on capitalism and world economy.

Same Same but different – German director Detlev Buck tells the story of a German backpacker who falls in love with a Cambodian prostitute.

And last but by no means least: Valhalla Rising – Nicholas Winding Refn’s (Bronson) grimy Viking movie:

Please stay tuned for more movie madness on this channel errr blog.

Being snowed in can have it’s advantages. After doing the laundry and cleaning the living room, I will no try to summarise the year 2009 on the Dublin Community Blog.

Gloomy January showed us that the recession is in full swing, as Dublin indie institution Road Records was forced to close its doors (which thankfully re-opened later due to massive support from many a successfull Irish musician) and Dublin Bus announced massive cutbacks, laying off 200 staff. Add some snow causing massive disruptions to traffic and you had a very bleak start into the new year.

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As Christmas is virtually around the corner, and as books always make the best presents (at least in my personal opinion), Dublinblog would like to give you an overview of the top bookstores in Dublin. And no, Eason’s will not be featured in this list. And also I think that Amazon and Co. are not comparable when it comes to browsing through dusty encyclopedias, holding a book in your hand and chatting to knowledgeable staff and with regulars while standing amongst hundreds of old and new books. Go away, Kindle. So, to help support active reading and distribution of real books, why not buy a book (or 5 – one in each store) in one of these shops instead of purchasing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 at Gamestop this Christmas.

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If you share the same Ebenezer Scrooge-approach to Christmas that I have, I’ve got a little something for you. For us Christmas-dislikers, the Bewleys Cafe Theatre is doing something nice: they are running the Santaland Diaries.

It’s a classic story – one man suffers for our sins, and we are all saved. This year, that man is an elf. Based on David Sedaris’ own experience, THE SANTALAND DIARIES divulges the wickedly funny journey of Crumpet, a 33-year-old starving artist turned Macy’s Santaland elf. At first the job is simply humiliating, but as he contends with cranky parents, badly behaved children and colorful career elves, Crumpet becomes battle-weary and bitter.

As I’m reading Sedaris’ “Holidays on Ice” most festive seasons to not get in the right mood, I can thoroughly recommend this play. It is running until December 22nd, and bookings can be made via the website. In addition, admission will also get you a light lunch. But please note: as the theatre rightly states, this is a Christmas show for adults and contains lots of bad words. Lots!

Today marks the return of the annual German Film Festival, presented by the IFI in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Irland and German Films Services + Marketing.

Continuing a trend that has been much commented on, modern German cinema seems fascinated with exploring the country’s troubled past. Kaspar Heidelbach’s Berlin ’36 tells the extraordinary true story of Gretel Bergmann, who was destined for an Olympic gold medal before she was forced out of the German team for being a Jew. Max Färberböck’s A Woman in Berlin is based on the diary of the only woman to write about the taboo topic of the rape of German women by Red Army soldiers at the end of World War II.

So, if you are up for better German cinema experience than…let’s say last year’s “Baader-Meinhof Komplex”, I strongly recommend to pay a visit to the IFI over the next 10 days. My personal pick is Oskar Roehler’s (Atomised) David Lynch/Baz Luhrmann-hommage “Lulu & Jimi”. Apologies for this German trailer, I could not find a sub-titled one – but I hope the images are sufficient .

Sending Letters to the Sea were already introduced in Brandon’s recent post; but I’d like to use the opportunity to feature the two ladies and four gentlemen in this month’s Discovered in Dublin. After a successfull release-show in St. Columba’s Church in Swords last week (were some of the material for the debut album were recorded), Dublinblog spoke to main main and initiator Mark Garry about future plans for the project and the reason to merge visual art and music in this band/collaboration.

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