LIGHTS OUT IS THE NATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WHO LOVE CINEMA AND WHO WOULD LOVE TO SEE MORE. RECOGNISING YOUNG PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO EXPERIENCE A WIDE RANGE OF FILMS, LIGHTS OUT! AIMS TO PROVIDE THIS AUDIENCE WITH ACCESS TO THE BEST FILMS FROM IRELAND AND AROUND THE WORLD. LEADING UP TO THE BIG EVENT IN JULY 2008, THE IFI WILL BE HOSTING MONTHLY SCREENINGS FOR A FAMILY AUDIENCE. PLEASE JOIN US FOR THIS SPECIAL SCREENING.ONE OF THE MOST EXPENSIVE FILMS EVERY MADE IN FRANCE, ASTERIX AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES IS THE MOST RECENT INSTALLMENT IN THE LIVE-ACTION SERIES BASED ON THE FAMOUS GOSCINNY AND UDERZO COMIC BOOKS FROM THE 1960s.
Apart from Gerard Depardieu, who is back as the rotund Obelix, the cast is mainly composed of new faces, including a new Asterix: Clovis Cornillac. French icon Alain Delon makes his first screen appearance in 12 years as Julius Ceaser (or Jules Cesar, as the French call him), while popular Belgian comedian Benoît Poelvoorde will play his scheming son Brutus. A host of contemporary sports stars have cameo appearances at the Olympic Games, including Michael Schumacher as a chariot-racer in a conspicuous red chariot and football star Zinedine Zidane as a man who discovers a precursor of football. The late Jean-Pierre Cassel, father of Vincent, has one of his last screen roles as the druid Panoramix.