JDIFF 2013

cuckoo

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I did get a laugh out of a woman in front who kept staring the hysterically laughing girl beside me out of it. There really is nothing worse than having a couple of uber-laughers in the audience though .

Oh, gods, that might have been me. Not the laugher - the starer! In the middle of the cinema, nearer to the left than the right....?

Srsly, this laugh had to be heard to be believed and it just grated up and down my spine, and always slightly out of sync with the rest of the audience.

Enjoyed the film, it had a nice light touch to it, and didn't wear a Worthy Sharkespeare Educational aspect at all. It was filmed in Whedon's own home - which is stunning.

Agree that the moderation kept this moving swiftly for the too-short Q and A, would suggest for further ones that there be maybe two stationary microphones and ppl queue up at them instead of the haphazard choosing of random waving arms. And, Joss Whedon was so very charming that I wanted to take him home and keep him on a shelf.

johnny_ultimate

cuckoo wrote: »

Oh, gods, that might have been me. Not the laugher - the starer! In the middle of the cinema, nearer to the left than the right....?

Srsly, this laugh had to be heard to be believed and it just grated up and down my spine, and always slightly out of sync with the rest of the audience.

Indeed, certainly can't imagine there was anyone else in the audience with such a distinctive chuckle. If it was you, I sympathised with your looks of pure disdain :P

blaa85

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Much Ado was surprisingly fun, genuinely funny little film. Whedon was as calculated charming as one would expect.

I knew the audience would be difficult, but there were the predictable disciples hanging on every single word. The girl beside me laughed or audibly gasped at every other line, and her laugh was soul destroying. It's undoubtedly a very funny film at times, but at times the excessive reactions nearly killed the film in its tracks.

I agree with everything you said there. I thought it was a nice film but I was cringing at how some of the audience was reacting. I was just waiting for Nathan Fillion to appear on screen to see how people react, kind of took me out of the film.

johnny_ultimate

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I did get a laugh out of a woman in front who kept staring the hysterically laughing girl beside me out of it. There really is nothing worse than having a couple of uber-laughers in the audience though Still, the Q&A was good fun, if a little short (can't believe they didn't dedicate more time for it). Kudos to John Maguire as the moderator - I've seen a good few of the local film critics unconvincingly attempt Q&As with directors, but Maguire was able to keep everything running smoothly. Himself and Whedon knew exactly what audience they were dealing with, and ensured the potential crazies didn't get too much floor-time :P (after the first question: "Let's just take it for granted you love everything he's ever done, yeah?")

Saw White Elephant this morning, which was alright. A stylish opening transitioned into a fairly standard 'priest in slums' sort of story (albeit one influenced by real events). It was watchable, and there were a few really effective sequences where the deafening Michael Nyman score gelled with the images to beautiful effect. But mostly it was just watchable - solidly put together, but rarely remarkable.

Friend of mine interviewed Whedon and said that he was the most gracious and pleasant of people he has ever met. The even discussed the most die hard of fans and Whedon himself said that he does wish that some people would look at his work subjectively as even he finds a lot of what he makes to be less than satisfactory. I've made a few shorts myself and written some features and I hate how people, generally friends and family will praise something no matter how crap it is. It comes across as disingenuous as hell and from what Whedon told him it's something that he feels holds him back as a filmmaker.

White Elephant was to me something of a missed opportunity. There's a decent idea in there but sadly it really has nothing to say and goes nowhere fast. It wastes a damn fine cast and as you said the score is rather over powering which is a shame considering that it wastes the talents of Ricardo Darín.

Andre80Johnson

Did anyone find the sound system for the Q&A a bit off? Maybe it was my hearing aids but there was some stuff I couldn't hear but I was able to lip read well enough to enjoy it. There's a question i want to ask though, some woman gave Whedon a letter or something. What was that about? Thanks.

Sad Professor

Am I right in saying that the middle and back seats in Savoy 1 are tiered better than the ones at the front? Pines was first film I'd seen in Savoy 1 in ages and heads in the way were a bit of a problem from where I was sitting.

DinoRex

Sad Professor wrote: »

Am I right in saying that the middle and back seats in Savoy 1 are tiered better than the ones at the front? Pines was first film I'd seen in Savoy 1 in ages and heads in the way were a bit of a problem from where I was sitting.

Yep. The seats are on steps for the back half and then just a gentle slope at the front. You ideally want to sit on the last of the steps before it becomes a slope for the best view.

Andre80Johnson wrote: »

Did anyone find the sound system for the Q&A a bit off? Maybe it was my hearing aids but there was some stuff I couldn't hear but I was able to lip read well enough to enjoy it. There's a question i want to ask though, some woman gave Whedon a letter or something. What was that about? Thanks.

She wants to do a stage production of Once More with Feeling and that letter outlined her concept.

Sad Professor

The Surprise Film was Welcome to the Punch: a glossy British crime film staring James McAvoy and Mark Strong. It was so bad it made The Sweeney look good. I honestly have no idea what the plot was about, none whatsoever! It's out in a couple of weeks anyway. The worst film of the festival by far.

Byzantium, which was notable in it absence from the programme, would have been a far better choice. However, I assume given that film's strong Irish connections they held it back so they can have a big, all-star premiere next month.

e_e

I think Peter Mullan and Mark Strong were the only reasons I held out on that film. Has one of the most unlikable sods of a main character I've seen in a while and I'm still none the wiser as to what the answer to the mystery was. Fairly ugly cinematography too.

johnny_ultimate

That surprise film was ****ing shocking. Bottom of the barrel stuff with literally the most derivative thriller plot imaginable - the nonsense conspiracy stuff was obvious from fifteen minutes in, and it offered no further surprises. What such a cast was doing there is baffling. Effectively worthless. Honestly: does no one at the festival sit down and do quality control for the surprise film; or just take whatever tripe a distributor offers? **** was up with the Death Wish comment beforehand?

The Summit was an engaging, effective documentary about a dark 48 hours on K2. The film had a tendency to fade to and from black to regularly and disjointing everything in the process, but well crafted aside from that. Should play well on wider release.

Blood Rising was a thirty minute NGO docu stretched to an hour and a half. Difficult watch, but not because of the dark subject matter. Over stretched beyond belief to the point of individual sentences feeling exhausting. Waste Land was a much better made documentary in the same mould. Good intentions make not a good film.

That's that anyway. A long ten days, but some interesting films were sufficient reward. Like Someone in Love and Pieta were probably the two best films I got to.

Sad Professor

I also saw Helpless today. It started well, but by the mid-point I was bored senseless. All plot, no story, though I liked the ending. Very dark.

Disappointing start (Motorway) and end (Welcome to the Punch) to the festival for me, but I really enjoyed almost everything in between. Lore, Like Someone in Love, Helter Skelter, Stoker, A Hijacking and Vanishing Waves were all highlights.

Oh and I won't be going to the Surprise Film next year. It's a joke! Nobody knows what the film is yet it still sells out within days, so there's no reason for them to put any effort into it.

Basq

Saw the video of Whedon accepting the Volta Award.. and you'd forget Much Ado is only the third movie he's directed (behind 'Serenity' and 'The Avengers').

The Barefoot Pizza Thief

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

**** was up with the Death Wish comment beforehand?

Not sure but I would have preferred Death Wish tbh, as the judging by the reaction the trailer for F&F 6 got, it could have been a fun screening.

Fine, was just a wind-up but felt it a little odd to pretend to be showing a classic in tribute of someone who has just died and then not to be doing that.

Anyway, yeah Welcome to the Punch was straight to DVD stuff. When I initially seen McAvoy, I thought 'Yes, it's Danny Boyle's Trance' - but not to be. Cedar Rapids I hated also and so, Surprise Film has never been something I looked forward to all that much, last year was easily my favourite year of them all as I was one of those that loved, TMBTP.

Highlights for me this year were: Throw Momma From The Train, The Killing, War of the Roses and The King of Marvin Gardens.

Oh, I see a theme developing

e_e

Good festival overall for me, predictably the only dud was the surprise film.

Here's how I'd rank what I saw:

10. Welcome to the Punch
9. Helter Skelter
8. Pieta
7. Side Effects
6. Bernie
5. Stoker
4. Cloud Atlas
3. Post Tenebras Lux
2. Like Someone In Love
1. The Place Beyond the Pines

No clue on what the audience award will be for though, I could have safely bet on The Raid last year but it's a bit harder to gauge now.

johnny_ultimate

e_e wrote: »

No clue on what the audience award will be for though, I could have safely bet on The Raid last year but it's a bit harder to gauge now.

There's two possibilities. One is that it will fall back on the old tradition of whichever Irish film had the most friends & family & 'friends of the production' in audience. The alternative is that we should never doubt the voting habits of Whedonites.

The Barefoot Pizza Thief wrote: »

Not sure but I would have preferred Death Wish tbh, as the judging by the reaction the trailer for F&F 6 got, it could have been a fun screening.

Fine, was just a wind-up but felt it a little odd to pretend to be showing a classic in tribute of someone who has just died and then not to be doing that.

Yeah it just felt really odd - it didn't come across as a joke at all, especially since she had justifications for why it was going to be Death Wish. If it was just to throw people off the scent, it was a weirdly specific and slightly insensitive way of doing so. DW would have been a massive disappointment too, but hey at least it would have been a relatively guaranteed entertainer.

Sad Professor

I'd say Much Ado About Nothing will get it. Though there was a certainly a lot of friends and family of the crew at the Eathbound screening. I felt surrounded by them actually.

As for the Death Wish thing, it was just a very bad joke. I think Humphreys is of the mistaken impression that people want to see something new more than they want to see something good. Given that she thought Motorway would be this year's The Raid, I don't think she knows much about genre films.

The Barefoot Pizza Thief

Sad Professor wrote: »

The Moth Diaries this evening was disappointing. Good idea in there somewhere, but hampered by a terrible script haphazardly pitched in the direction of the tween audience. Pretty weak as a horror film - it's not remotely scary and there's some silly meta stuff thrown in for no reason. The early scenes are reminiscent of that awful Jessica Paré lesbian boarding school film. Bolger is good as are all of the actors, and the film is perfectly watchable but totally forgettable.

I was very surprised that only two dozen or so people stayed for the Q&A with Mary Harron. I honestly thought she would have drew quit a large crowd, particularly given her large feminist following. She was after all, the woman who made a film about Valerie Solanas and so, was expecting there to be a contingent of followers there just to discuss that aspect of her work.

Was my first time seeing The Moth Diaries though and thought it was terrible. Screenplay was awful as there was no real plot to speak of and not even a few memorable lines to make up for the lack of one. Harron made a remark something along the lines of: "It would be easier to get money if you were making an all boys film" which I felt was her needlessly playing the feminist card here for little or no reason, as they most likely had trouble funding it because of the script.

Can't fault Sarah Bolger's performance in it though and she came across quite well on the night. It's hard to believe that just over nine years back, she was the little girl in 'In America'. Again, thought The Tudors' fans would be out in force to ask her some questions too.

Disappointed to hear how poor Welcome to the Punch is. Creevet really impressed me with Shifty and considering the cast, WttP really looked like it could be something special.

I've never understood how they can constantly programme such poor films in the surprise film slot. There are a number of pretty decent crowd pleasing genre films being released in the coming weeks, Parker, Red Dawn, Snitch, Phantom, Dead Man Down, Spiders, The Call, Olympus Has Fallen, G.I. Joe 2, Jack the Giant Killer, Evil Dead, Pain and Gain, etc yet they programme a film that not a single member of the audience seemed to enjoy. I haven't seen a single positive comment about Welcome to the Punch and while the festivals isn't exactly a big one and occupies a rather unfortunate place in the calendar you would think that they could at least get something decent in.

I assume that no ind involved in programming the surprise film actually watches it beforehand and they merely take what ever the distributor offers them.

delbertgrady

How can Grainne repeatedly get the Surprise Films so spectacularly wrong? I didn't go this year, but it seems to have been another disaster. Did they show the opening minutes of Death Wish as a joke and then pull the plug? Oh, hardy-f***ing-har. I would have been livid.

delbertgrady

Deleted User wrote: »

I assume that no ind involved in programming the surprise film actually watches it beforehand and they merely take what ever the distributor offers them.

... which is nearly always the dregs off the shelf.

delbertgrady

delbertgrady wrote: »

... which is nearly always the dregs off the shelf.

I'm half way through the Red Dawn remake and while no one will mistake it for a great film it's exactly the kind of easy to digest, throwaway fun that an audience would enjoy.

The problem with the festival is that it's far too small and unimportant for any distributor to give them anything close to a big upcoming film. The fact that many of the films screened each year played at the major festivals a year ago says all that needs to be said about the festivals standing. Don't get me wrong I've enjoyed it every year I've went but they really need to aim for a higher international profile and a change of month.

johnny_ultimate

I think they should take advantage of the fact that they have a screen full of people who are at least casual 'film fans' but in many cases wouldn't attend the general festival programming. Good opportunity to show some offbeat or world cinema gems rather than previews of whatever **** mainstream release is due in March. Take something like From Up On Poppy Hill - has been traveling the festival circuit for over a year, by the renowned Studio Ghibli, charming & accessible story and yet is still without a concrete UK/Ireland release date. Show it to an audience who might not otherwise go out of their way to see it and you have a winner. The festival could surely source it without bother.

The more sadistic side of me would of course like to see some really difficult or controversial arthouse release shown But there's lots of more crowd-pleasing fare out there too that will shamefully never get into a multiplex - surprise film would be a wonderful chance to take advantage of that.

Yet time and time again its just whatever schlock a distributor has to offer. At least I didn't pay for my ticket to it this year.

Decuc500

I enjoyed Welcome To The Punch. After 11 days of world cinema it was nice to enjoy a pretty generic but fun action movie. The reaction on twitter seemed to be 50/50.

The problem with the surprise film is that no matter what they show a lot of people will hate it. But some of the choices over the last few years have been a bit obvious. The late Michael Dwyer knew how to choose a surprise film. Imagine sitting down to The Usual Suspects without having a clue about what you were about to watch!

Over the last weekend I really enjoyed White Elephant. Pablo Trapero continues to make excellent socially aware films with a great deal of techincal skill. I love his long single shot takes. A worthy follow up to Lions Den and Carancho.

I liked Easy Money, a Swedish crime film. Nothing original but well made and enjoyable.

I wasn't that keen on The Summit. I felt it was a bit muddled and needlessly included the story of the first man to climb K2 just to stretch out the running time. It didn't provide any answers, frustratingly it seems the whole story can never be told.

My favourite films of the festival were the epic Gangs of Wasseypur, Something In The Air, Side Effects, Rebellion, White Elephant, A Hijacking, The Paperboy, The War of The Roses, The Killing and Much Ado About Nothing.

delbertgrady

The problem with Grainne's choices has been that in almost every case, the films have either failed to get a general release (not because of unfortunate distribution, but because they were box office poison), or have had their subsequent release met with poor reviews, indicating just how bad they were in the first place. Arguably the best reviewed film was Greenberg, but as many people hated that as liked it. Hamlet 2, Cedar Rapids and Casa De Mi Padre were all slated, as was The Escapist, bar one review in The Irish Times. I realise the JDIFF isn't able to negotiate very strong films for the surprise film, but it's getting ridiculous just how bad this traditional slot is being handled. It should be scrapped.

Sad Professor

The problem with the Surprise Film is that they obviously don't save anything for it. Any notable film they can get they make part of the programme. They also want the film to be somewhat recognisable with well-known actors. They don't want people sitting there wondering what the hell they are watching. All of which is understandable, but it means the Surprise Film ends up being an early preview of a film that doesn't fit with the spirt of the rest of the schedule. I'm sure there was probably other, better films that they were hoping for, but this was the best they could do.

The thing is they really should be saving something for the Surprise Film and rewarding all the people who buy tickets for it. Instead it seems to be a case of "oh thanks for supporting us, here's some crap the distributor gave us".

DinoRex

I'd completely forgotten about Hamlet 2... now I've been reminded of it.

johnny_ultimate

I agree the big problem is how ill-fitting the choices tend to be with the rest of the programme, although one of the problems is again an audience that isn't necessarily dominated by the loyal festival-goers.

Still, they should look at it and say "would we show this at a dedicated, advertised screening?". At least most of the more mainstream previews - Cloud Atlas, Side Effects etc... - had a bit of artistic merit / prestige behind them. Obviously with an eclectic programme consistent quality and themes are impossibilities, but Welcome to the Punch and Struck by Lightning were the only two films out of the twenty I saw that didn't at all justify their presence on the programme (not to say the other twenty were all great films or anything, but even the pretty poor likes of Blood Rising did have excuses to be there).

Given the vast amount of excellent smaller films that do have a DCP knocking around the British Isles without an Irish screening, it's not it would be a challenge to contact independent distributors who would be all too happy to have their underviewed gem play in front a guaranteed sold-out audience in what's probably the biggest screen in Ireland. It's a win-win for the festival too - would be a good opportunity to showcase the festival's diversity and perhaps promote it further to those viewers who might only show up at six o'clock on the last day every year or to a handful of high profile screenings. I don't think there's any need to scrape the bottom of the barrel just to have a few recognisable faces on screen. That kind of thing should be reserved for something like MovieFest.

Sad Professor

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I agree the big problem is how ill-fitting the choices tend to be with the rest of the programme, although one of the problems is again an audience that isn't necessarily dominated by the loyal festival-goers.

Yeah, as I was going in I overheard a group of women talking. While one of them was obviously a regular at the festival, another admitted that she only goes to see one or two films a year. I came across quite a lot of this during the festival. People who weren't really big festival-goers or even filmgoers and were just tagging along with someone else.

Oh and the Dublin Film Critics Circle voted Vanishing Waves best film. Full list of winners here:

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/screenwriter/2013/02/24/jdiff-awards-end-some-other-awards-begin/

Sad Professor

And can anyone please explain to me why Helter Skelter was projected in 35mm when (according to IMDb) it was shot on the Red One? Maybe that's all they could get, but of all the films to show in 35mm, wouldn't it be better to show something that was actually shot that way?

johnny_ultimate

Could be any number of reasons, although the simplest reason would simply be a 35mm print was required for a festival and has just been doing the rounds since to make the costs worthwhile. Western screenings are usually a careless afterthought for Japanese distributors.

A UK distributor would usually have a DCP ready for action, but AFAIK it hasn't been picked up yet.

DinoRex

Still haven't forgiven the Lighthouse for how 'Children Who Chase Lost Voices' was screened. The director was present but it looked like it was either screened off a terrible quality DVD or a crappy MPEG.

johnny_ultimate

That screening was a Blu-ray, which really should be a last resort. It's immediately obvious whenever it isn't a DCP.

Miguel_Sanchez

DinoRex wrote: »

Still haven't forgiven the Lighthouse for how 'Children Who Chase Lost Voices' was screened. The director was present but it looked like it was either screened off a terrible quality DVD or a crappy MPEG.

That's hardly the Lighthouse's fault though is it? They can only show what they were provided by the production company.

DinoRex

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

That screening was a Blu-ray, which really should be a last resort. It's immediately obvious whenever it isn't a DCP.

I find it very hard to believe that was even Blu Ray quality. Any diagonal lines looked like a staircase they were so jaggy.

And it is the cinemas problem when they're charging at the door to screen something of such a low quality.

Miguel_Sanchez

DinoRex wrote: »

I find it very hard to believe that was even Blu Ray quality. Any diagonal lines looked like a staircase they were so jaggy.

And it is the cinemas problem when they're charging at the door to screen something of such a low quality.

I presume you're talking about the Access Cinema/JDIFF organised screening. So again, it's their problem not the cinema's. The cinema would probably not have had any choice about the format and the screen was probably rented by the festival for the screening.

Caprica

Enjoyed the festival, went for the 10 movie ticket. My favourites would have been Where I Am (dissapointed it didn't get best Irish documentary), In the House (french cinema at its best) and Una Noche, it was about 3 teenagers fleeing Cuba. The Director done a Q&A afterwards and told us the 3 youngsters disapperared when they arrived in the States for the film festival circuit. It was inspired by a true story, it deserves a general release.

I found A Hijacking good but a bit overlong, it could have been a bit tighter. The Deep was good as well, I don't know how that lad survived and all the checks afterwards to find out why.

Does anyone know who won the audience award?

Sad Professor

A Hijacking was only a little over 90 minutes long and it didn't waste any time getting started. I don't think it could have been any tighter.

The winner of the Audience Award is usually announced within a few days of the festival ending, so probably tomorrow or Wednesday.

fitz

Having been a dedicated festival goer for a few years, it was the treatment of the Surprise Film that finally turned me off going a couple of years ago.
Hamlet 2 was the final straw for me. I don't think Grainne Humphries really knows how to pick the Surprise Film.

Dave Grohl was in London last Monday and Tuesday for a Q&A following a one night screening of his Sound City documentary.
As a fan, I spent the entire week thinking "Sh*t, what if that's going to be the Surprise Film, with a Q&A after. Sh*t."
I'm relieved to hear that the trend of poor choices continued tbh.

Sound City would have been a brilliant surprise film, for fans of Grohl and non-fans alike.
It's a really nicely made documentary with a great story which I'm sure would have gone down well with the Surprise Film audience.
It also should have be easy to get, as it was independently made and digitally distributed for direct download, but without a general cinema release...just been a few "one night only" style screenings.
Yes, it came out just before the festival, but I think anyone who had seen it already would have enjoyed seeing it on a big screen.

Thankfully, the shoddy selections continued and I didn't miss out.

Renn

Wait, what's all this about Death Wish? What happened?

johnny_ultimate

Humphreys came on stage to introduce the film. Thanked her mother specifically, who was in the audience, and said she was inspired by mother Humphries to utilise the opportunity to present old films in the Savoy from time to time. Concluded with "And now, as a tribute to the late Michael Winner... Death Wish!"

And then Welcome to the Punch came on.

Renn

Wtf Why would she even do that?

delbertgrady

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

...to utilise the opportunity to present old films in the Savoy from time to time.

Argh! I'm sick of them saying that. Showing an old film is something they have never done for the Surprise Film (unless you count the appalling Buffalo Soldiers as "old", since it had had been languishing in distribution hell for about three years at the time). They always say it's a possibility, and they've never done it. I would have been delighted to see Death Wish in a screen like Savoy One, and then the bubble would have burst when the old Paramount logo would fail to appear. :mad:

And if that were the case, that there was an opportunity to show old films in the Savoy, why didn't they do another classic Disney film this year? Bambi was very well attended last year. At least it opens up the festival to a different demographic as well. Okay, maybe they didn't want to repeat themselves, and perhaps it could backfire and not get the numbers again, but I'm sure the crowd would have been decent.

Renn

They have repeated themselves iirc. The last Sunday morning is now the Swedish crime flick. Buster Keaton two years in a row. Random inclusions of classic films. **** surprise films.

Festival needs a good revamp IMO. While I didn't really like Sound City, I agree that a film along these lines would work well as a surprise film. But then again, I think the idea of a surprise film is pretty terrible and it seems like it's JDIFFs one big (weak) selling point.

johnny_ultimate

A retrospective of a director's work is something I'd like to see next year rather than just scattered, almost completely random screenings of classic titles. Even a thematic link would be preferable. Plenty of underviewed and even relatively popular directors that could justify such a thing, and ones the likes of the IFI wouldn't touch.

delbertgrady

Renn wrote: »

They have repeated themselves iirc. The last Sunday morning is now the Swedish crime flick. Buster Keaton two years in a row. Random inclusions of classic films. **** surprise films.

I find it quite funny that the once-annual Woody Allen Sunday morning screening hasn't happened for the last two years, due to the fact that there hasn't been a Woody film available in February. As such, having had turkeys over the previous few years (Cassandra's Dream, You Will Meet A Tall, Dark Stranger), the festival missed out on Midnight In Paris, his best film in years, and certainly his biggest crowd-pleaser.

Renn

Probably another hint towards a move away from February.

Sad Professor

Is there any good reason for having the festival in February? It seems like the worst possible time. Too early for the new films premiering at Cannes and Sundance, and too late for the previous year's festival favourites, the last of which usually all come out around January/February. So all you really have to look forward to are the gems stuck in distribution purgatory.

Sad Professor

Sad Professor wrote: »

Is there any good reason for having the festival in February? It seems like the worst possible time. Too early for the new films premiering at Cannes and Sundance, and too late for the previous year's festival favourites, the last of which usually all come out around January/February. So all you really have to look forward to are the gems stuck in distribution purgatory.

I asked that very question a few years back and was told that February was chosen so that the festival didn't get lost amongst the more established world wide festivals. I've never understood that mentality, by scheduling for later on on the year they'd have access to a lot of newer films and if programmed in the month they could attract a lot of film makers who were working the festival circuit.

Sad Professor

Broken Song won the Audience Award.

http://filmireland.net/2013/02/26/jdiff-2013-winners-at-the-2013-jameson-dublin-international-film-festival/

johnny_ultimate

The Irish documentary following three street poets and hip-hop artists from north Dublin

I didn't see the film so can't comment on its qualities, but I'm assuming the old reliable 'get friends and family to vote 4 in vast numbers' method worked wonders there.