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?

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.