The Dublin Community Blog

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:

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.

Last week, Universal Pictures Ireland invited some of your favourite bloggers to attend a screening of the 1941-movie-classic The Wolfman at the private Denzille cinema ; a promotion event for their upcoming remake of the same movie featuring Benicio Del Toro.

Even though I’m not a big film buff, I did enjoy watching such an “old” movie on the big screen. Especially when comparing the cinematic techniques then and now: where most movies today are not so much about camera angles and facial expressions but more about blowing things up and animate blue-skinned aliens with computers, the classic movies of the 30ies and 40ies had to transport their story with much more detail. No wonder people like Lon Chaney became big stars wearing outfits that by today’s standards can only be called ridiculous – their audience had nothing to compare it with except their imagination.

So I’m really looking forward to see the remake, officially released to Dublin cinemas on February 12th. But as Benicio Del Toro is not only starring but also acting as producer, and the film also stars Sir Anthony Hopkins I have high hopes that it will do justice to the original. Here’s a glimpse:

A big thank you to the folks at Universal Pictures and Simply Zesty for a great evening.

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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I have to confess that I completely nicked this off the good people over at culch.ie, but this is so incredibly good it has to be reposted. Visual artist Eoghan Kidney’s video for Underworld vs Mark Knight and D.Ramirez, played “on” Liberty Hall. Could someone please convince Dublin Tourism to make this the official video representing our city?

Some days, you just need to unwind in a place where all the stress and hectic of this oh-so-modern life does not really matter. And what better place to do that then in the cinema. And I’m not talking 20-screen-multiplex here. More the old, dusty ones, where the smell of 30 years selling popcorn will never be completely gone. And this is why I’m singing the praise of the Screen. After its latest refurbishment and re-installment of the famous neon-lights the Screen cinema has now initiated a new season of classical movies, “Ministry of Musicals”. These films will be screened weekly on Tuesday evenings from 17th November starting with Singing in the Rain.

Programme Manager, Anna Taylor commented, “We are delighted with the changeover to digital, it has given us the chance  to be even more creative with our film programming. We are embracing the future, honoring the past and we hope to keep our audiences happy for years to come”. While talking about  the Screen’s future intentions, Anna revealed that they intend to show classic films regularly in the cinema. She went on to say that the entire basis of film appreciation is looking back at the roots of modern cinema and that she hopes that showing classic movies will complement the Screen’s repertoire of new films.

My personal favourite of the classics is the -ahem- classic Wizard of Oz from 1939:

So, if you are looking for some escapism in these dire times, and especially as the weather will probably not improve for the next 5 months, why not pay a visit to a time-honoured Dublin cinema institution.

And to keep updated on future plans and more classic screenings, you can follow the Screen on Twitter or become a fan on their Facebook-profile. Hell, they even have their won Wikipedia-entry.