Highlights of the
2009 IFI French Film Festival
Opening this week
This
year’s IFI French Film Festival aims, as
ever, to provide an eclectic look at the best of
recent French cinema and this year’s
programme is nothing if not wide-ranging in its
content. From romantic melodramas to hip-hop
animation, prison drama to slapstick comedies,
intimate documentaries to drooling hordes of
zombies, you’ll have plenty to choose from.
We kick off the
Festival this Thursday with the latest film from
Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen, Amélie), MICMACS,
an absolutely wonderful comedy-satire surely
destined to be one of the biggest French films of
2010.
The IFI will be taking a retrospective look at
the work of comedy genius Jacques Tati
both this weekend and next, with a 70mm screening
of PlayTime, a programme of
short films, and restored version of Monsieur
Hulot’s Holiday, a fascinating new
documentary looking at his life and career and a
talk from UCD expert Laurent Marie.
During this year’s IFI French Film Festival,
we’re delighted to launch our French Film
Club in association with Alliance Française. The
Club will gather on chosen dates during the year
for special screenings of regular French films
within the main IFI programme. Anyone can attend
and register for the French Film Club, and IFI
members and Alliance Française members will also
get a special discounted €7 ticket price on
those nights.
Highlights
of the IFI 2009 French Film Festival include:
SÉRAPHINE
Friday 20th November, 18.15
This incredible biopic stars Yolande Moreau (also
seen in MICMACS) in the title
role as artist Séraphine Louis (now known as
Séraphine de Senlis). When the German art critic
Wilhelm Uhde (Ulrich Tukur) and his sister Anne-Marie
(Anne Bennent) move into the small town of Senlis,
he’s shocked to discover the paintings of
local maid Séraphine Louis who, living in
poverty, creates the paints for her works using
materials as diverse as animal blood, church
candles and soil. Until her discovery by Uhde she
was regarded as something of a joke by those
around her and his interest in her ultimately
offers the chance of national recognition. Sadly,
this success proves to be fleeting. Director and
co-writer Martin Provost elicits a truly
remarkable performance from Moreau, a deserved
winner of the best actress César (Séraphine won
seven, including best film). To book click [here].
TATI SHORTS
Friday 20th November, 17:00
Soigne ton gauche (1936)
L’École des facteurs (1947)
Cours du soir (1967)
As a teenager Tati developed a passion for sport:
he was accomplished in rugby, football, tennis
and horse-riding. This soon became the material
of his mime shows, with which he toured France
and Europe. As his interest in cinema developed,
his miming technique and sport-loving nature were
put to good use in his early film works. Shot on
the set of PlayTime by Nicolas Ribowski, Cours du
soir is also a nostalgic glimpse at Tati’s
early career, as he teaches students his music-hall
numbers in a night class, the simplicity of the
short contrasts sharply with the sophistication
of the long feature [more]. To book click [here].
HENRI-GEORGE
CLOUZOT'S INFERNO L’Enfer d’Henri-Georges
Clouzot
Tuesday 24th November, 18.30
Archivist Serge Bromberg tells the intriguing
story of director Henri-George Clouzot’s (Les
diaboliques, The Wages of Fear) ill-fated film
Inferno. In 1964, after a succession of
profitable films, Clouzot found himself in a
unique and enviable position – he could make
a film unhindered by the limitations of budget.
Inspired by Fellini’s 8 1/2, he set about
making what he hoped to be his masterpiece.
Intended as an intense study of jealousy, the
film was to star Serge Reggiani and Romy
Schneider. Able to let his imagination run free,
the director experimented constantly, and the
footage that Bromberg has unearthed for this
documentary is simply mesmerising. No one knows
exactly what the finished film could have been,
or the impact it may have had, but through this
brilliantly crafted documentary Bromberg offers
us an all important glimpse. To book click [here].
THE
THORN IN THE HEART L’Épine
dans le coeur
Wednesday 25th November, 18.15
Thursday 26th November, 18.30
Michel Gondry’s (Eternal Sunshine of
the Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep)
latest film is at first glance disarmingly slight;
on the face of it a home-movie exploring the life
and work of his aunt, Suzette. But scratch
beneath the surface and there’s far more
depth to this documentary than initially meets
the eye. Gondry’s fondness and admiration
for his aunt is what comes across first and
foremost. A former school teacher, Suzette takes
her nephew on a journey through her life and
career, visiting the many schools at which she
taught. But it’s Gondry’s exploration
of her immediate family that reaps the most
rewards, in particular those scenes which explore
the multi-faceted relationship between Suzette
and her son, Jean-Yves, the thorn in her heart,
as she puts it. It’s an honest and extremely
heartfelt film. To book click [here].
THE IFI FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL 2009
Thursday 19th - Sunday 29th November
For the full French Film Festival programme
simply click [here].
Asaf
Sirkis' Trio
Featuring
Tassos
Spiliotopoulos, guitar
Asaf Sirkis, drums
Yaron Stavi, bass
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Autumn
Tour
November
12.11 Biggin Hall, Coventry, UK
13.11 International Guitar Festival, The Floral
Pavillion, Wirral, UK
17.11 Asaf Sirkis Rhythm workshop, Sowerby
Bridge, 2pm - 4pm, , UK (tbc)
17.11 The Puzzle Inn, Sowerby Bridge, Yorkshire,
UK
18.11 YMCA Theatre, Leicester, UK
19.11 Cardiff Jazz Society, Wales, UK
24.11 Pizza Express Jazz Club (Soho, Dean Street)
London, UK
26.11 Restormel Arts Centre, St Austell, Cornwall,
UK
27.11 Gig & workshop The Grain Barge, Bristol,
UK
28.11 The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock, Wales,
UK
29.11 Black Mountain Jazz club, Abergevenny,
Wales, UK
December
1.12 The Stables, Wavendon, UK
3.12 1:05pm - 1:55pm, London School of Economics,
London, UK
9.12 The Unterfahrt Jazz Club, Munich, Germany
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There are also lots of gigs coming in for next
year, details on the gig page.
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“Asaf
Sirkis sounding creatively freer and more
dramatically inventive than ever on drums.”
John
Fordham, The Guardian, June 2009
..."irresistible
power"...
Bill Donaldson, Cadence Magazine, USA, Oct. 2009
“Sirkis simply the most
sensitive of percussionists.”
Chris
Parker, January 2009
“Israeli-born drummer
and London resident Asaf Sirkis unleashes with
thunderous abandon on this hard-hitting fusion
offering that harkens back to a time before the
genre became codified, diluted and reduced
to a critical joke.”
Bill
Milkowski, Jazz Times (USA), April 2009.
“THE MONK delivers
beyond expectations. It is an album by an
ingenious composer and drummer who carries the
listener into new and exciting musical heights!
It's definitely not for the meek. This CD has
balls, yet it is also very quiet and thought
provoking. It's bold music coming from a higher
plane and from a drummer’s perspective, it
is a major slice of heaven. Highly recommended
with 5 stars.”
John Prichard, Jazz-Rom.com 2008
“Sirkis is not only an
inventive drummer but also a composer of rigour,
wit and surprising delicacy.”
Chris
Ingham, Mojo Magazine, October 2008
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