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See details of our Abbas Kiarostami retrospective, alongside our full day of screenings for UNMASCED, in partnership with GAZE International LGBTQIA+ Film Festival.
From Adam West’s 1960s television performance to Tim Burton’s gothic look, previous attempts at bringing Batman to the screen had left the character with a distinctly camp air. With this trilogy, Christopher Nolan reset this most mortal of superheroes, grounding him in a grittier reality in which his humanity is most apparent. Seeking to understand the criminal mind after the murder of his parents, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) trains physically and mentally, developing the strict moral code that will help him protect the citizens of Gotham City from the Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy), the Joker (Heath Ledger), and Bane (Tom Hardy). Saturday, August 3rd Batman Begins Saturday, August 10th The Dark Knight Saturday, August 17th The Dark Knight Rises Beginning Saturday, August 31st - the Skywalker Saga. Tickets on sale now! All films screen at 11am. Tickets are €10. Enjoy all titles for €25 with our multi-film bundles from IFI Box Office, available in-person or over the phone on 01 679 3477. Notes by Kevin Coyne
This month’s selection of films offers a number of rare screenings, and some on 35mm, as these films would originally have been presented. Many of American cinema’s most admired contemporary directors's debuts began their careers with films that have seldom received the attention given their other work. Alexander Payne, Noah Baumbach, and Kelly Reichardt are among those who fall into this category, with a general misperception that their careers began much later, and with greater immediate impact. Tom DiCillo’s superb comedy offers a withering depiction of the behind-the-scenes reality of the time, one in stark contrast to Robert Altman’s takedown of big-budget filmmaking in The Player (1992). After years in the wilderness, Altman was welcomed back to the fold by a generation who had grown up admiring his style, and produced a masterpiece in Short Cuts. One such student was Paul Thomas Anderson, whose Boogie Nights addresses a different genre of filmmaking while offering a fresh new take on Altman’s laissez-faire approach. As the leftfield moved without compromise to the centre, the Oscar-winning success of the Coen Brothers, seminal independent auteurs, opened new doors for their peers, all of whom could offer something new to inquisitive audiences who had fallen for Marge Gunderson’s homespun charms. Those who followed in their wake, such as Todd Haynes, remain awards-season regulars, while the talent behind Swingers parlayed their small, low-budget effort into glittering, mega-budget, mega-salaried Hollywood careers. Whether by accident or design, some of the era’s filmmakers have remained on the margins, defiantly so in the case of Harmony Korine, or with a natural air of world-weary resignation in the case of Todd Solondz, two singular artists whose work will perhaps forever hover on the edges of acceptance, their steadfast refusal to dilute their worldview for broader acceptance worthy of admiration. See also IFI Talk by Dr Laura Canning, Falmouth University, on American independent cinema of the 1990s, and our IFI@Home offering! Season Notes by Kevin Coyne. 3 films for €30 bundles available from IFI Box Office, in-person or over the phone on 01 679 3477.
In the first decades of cinema, serial films such as The Perils Of Pauline (1914), Fantômas (1913-14), and Les Vampires (1915-16) kept audiences returning week after week, eager to see the resolution of the previous episode’s cliffhanger. Later, the form brought heroes such as Flash Gordon and Superman to the big screen for the first time. After serials fell out of favour, the idea of a continuous story with recurring characters was co-opted into the franchise format that currently holds sway. Now, the IFI resurrects the idea with weekly franchise screenings, beginning with the peerless Indiana Jones saga, directly inspired by those classic serials.
June 29 – Raiders Of The Lost Ark
July 6 – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
July 13 – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
July 20 – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
July 27 – Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
For what we believe will be the first time in Ireland, all nine episodes of the Skywalker Saga will return to the big screen at the IFI as part of our Saturday Serial strand, showing in weekly instalments beginning on August 31st. It is hard to overstate the cultural impact of George Lucas’s creation. On release, the original trilogy, at least in part inspired by older cinematic serials such as the Flash Gordon series, set a new standard in the emerging world of ‘blockbuster’ cinema, reinventing the idea of the franchise for the medium, and capturing the imagination of an entire generation in the way that little, if anything, has since. In the close to five decades since the appearance of A New Hope, the prequels and sequels, as well as a raft of spin-off titles for both the big and small screen, have kept the universe Lucas imagined in such detail to the fore of fandom for acolytes both old and new. We look forward to welcoming audiences to enjoy this rare opportunity to see all nine episodes on the big screen, particularly those who will do so for the first time.
August 31 – Episode I: The Phantom Menace
September 7 – Episode II: Attack Of The Clones
September 14 – Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith
September 21 – Episode IV: A New Hope (Special Edition)
September 28 – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Special Edition)
ABOUT DRY GRASSES 15:00, 19:10
AMERICAN INDEPENDENTS: THE DOOM GENERATION 17.00
ARCHIVE AT LUNCHTIME: BRITISH & IRISH (DOUBLE BILL) 13.40
CROSSING 11:40, 20:40
I SAW THE TV GLOW 15.40, 18.00
LA CHIMERA 14:10
NOTES FROM SHEEPLAND 14:00, 18:50
THAT THEY MAY FACE THE RISING SUN 11:10
THE CONVERSATION 50TH ANNIVERSARY 4K RESTORATION 20:15
THE SATURDAY SERIAL: INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY 11.00
The IFI is supported by The Arts Council
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