Although working until recently without institutional funding support, Colin Downey has already produced a substantial body of work which demonstrates a remarkable confidence and originality.
Dream Diary is one of five short features directed by Downey. It is an Oedipal drama in which a pubescent girl records her dreams and desires: her affection for her oversized and oozing pet worm; her disenchantment with her father and his lover; and her infatuation with her own lover who works to suppress his alarm at the fact that her vagina is located in the sole of her foot. The diarist reads her grotesque and at times playful tale in Swedish.
Employing a series of inventive editing and camera techniques, and shooting on a shoestring budget on DVDV in black and white, Downey’s skill with light and shade infuses the picture with a claustrophobic intensity that is entirely cinematic.
This Ireland on Sunday presentation is the first Irish screening since the film premiered at the Cork Film Festival in 2007.
Colin Downey will be present to discuss his own dreams and desires in a post-screening Q&A.