IRISH FILM INSTITUTE PRESENTS DARK SKIES: MAN VS MACHINE

May 14th 2019: The IFI is delighted to announce its third Dark Skies season, which this year will run from June 8th to 30th, and will have Man vs Machine as its theme. The season will be headlined by James Cameron’s action epic Terminator 2: Judgment Day, screening on 70mm on Saturday 15th. The Wachowskis’ masterpiece The Matrix will screen in a new 4K restoration on Saturday 29th. Tickets are now on sale from www.ifi.ie/dark-skies-2019; a multi-film pass, 4 season films for €37 excluding Terminator 2: Judgment Day, is available from the IFI Box Office.

Commenting on this year’s season, IFI Head of Cinema Programming David O’Mahony said, ‘The rapid development and integration of automation, information and biotechnologies offers seemingly limitless opportunities in all aspects of our public and private lives, but at what cost? This year’s Dark Skies season explores how the science fiction genre since the 1970s has responded to our ambiguous relationship to the machines we have created.’

The season opens on Saturday 8th with Michael Crichton’s 1973 thriller Westworld. The film stars Richard Benjamin and James Brolin as two friends who visit a highly realistic adult amusement park, only to find themselves pursued by an implacable killer android (Yul Brynner) when the park suffers a number of technical malfunctions. On Sunday 9th, Bryan Forbes’s iconic The Stepford Wives will screen on 35mm. With a cast led by Katherine Ross and Paula Prentiss, the film focuses on two women as they try to unravel the mystery of the obedient and submissive behaviour of the town’s wives. The film was adapted by William Goldman from Ira Levin’s (Rosemary’s Baby) novel.

Another classic to screen on 35mm will be Donald Cammell’s 1977 chiller Demon Seed, starring Julie Christie as a woman imprisoned by a malevolent computer determined to conceive a child with her; the film will show on Sunday 16th. Isabella Willinger’s documentary Hi, A.I. on Thursday 20th follows two people, one in the US and the other in Japan, who rely on robots for companionship; this intriguing film raises important questions as to the role artificially intelligent robots will play in our future.

Also scheduled to screen are Shin’ya Tsukamoto’s 1992 horror sequel Tetsuo II: Body Hammer on Saturday 22nd, Jonathan Frakes’s fan favourite Star Trek: First Contact on Sunday 23rd, while Steven Spielberg’s epic Oscar-nominated fantasy A.I. Artificial Intelligence will close out the season on Sunday 30th.

Tickets for Dark Skies: Man vs Machine are now on sale from www.ifi.ie/dark-skies-2019 and from the IFI Box Office. A multi-pass ticket for four films, excluding Terminator 2: Judgment Day 70mm, is available for €37 directly from the IFI Box Office. Tickets for the 70mm screenings cost €14.50. The screening of The Matrix is presented in association with Dublin 2019: An Irish WorldCon.

DARK SKIES: MAN VS MACHINE SCHEDULE

Saturday 8th (15.30) – Westworld

Sunday 9th (15.30) – The Stepford Wives

Saturday 15th (20.20) – Terminator 2: Judgment Day (70mm)

Sunday 16th (18.20) – Demon Seed

Thursday 20th (18.30) – Hi, A.I.

Saturday 22nd (18.30) – Tetsuo II: Body Hammer

Sunday 23rd (15.30) – Star Trek: First Contact

Saturday 29th (20.20) – The Matrix

Sunday 30th (15.00) – A.I. Artificial Intelligence

For further information, please contact Aisling O’Halloran (aohalloran@irishfilm.ie) at the IFI Press Office – (01) 6795744.

IFI is principally funded by the Arts Council.