JDIFF 2014

delbertgrady

Evil Sausage wrote: »

Im not so sure thats correct - I was refunded the difference in price for this screening last year back to my CC. Got the following mail from JDIFF regarding the refund

They did the same thing in 2011 when Liam Neeson was a last minute cancellation at that woeful flick Unknown

Apologies.
Perhaps a full refund for Unknown may have been in order.

Squelchy

delbertgrady wrote: »

Yeah, €18 is outrageous (though, like you, I booked it all the same)

And that's why they'll continue to charge that kind of ridiculous price.

delbertgrady

Well, I'm only going to a handful of things, so my total outlay isn't too bad.
That's my justification and I'm sticking to it.

Decuc500

I'm quite happy with the line-up this year but there are one or two annoyances.

As usual there's not much time given to dark genre cinema and where there are films of that type they are buried in the programme. Only Lovers Left Alive clashing with New World early Saturday is particularly frustrating. Most film festivals have a strand of horror/cult films but Dublin never does. Also there is an abundance of documentaries despite Dublin already having a documentary film festival. I'm just not a documentary fan.

I get the impression a lot of the evening slots are given to films the programmer likes and wants to share with a Dublin audience rather than screening the more accessible 'big hitters' of world cinema. The first Saturday evening in particular has absolutely nothing I'd like to see.

I'll still get value out of the season ticket though and has been pointed out already in the thread it's the smaller films that make a festival. There's always films I tend to pass over at first glance through the brochure that end up being my favourite films in the festival.

johnny_ultimate

Decuc500 wrote: »

As usual there's not much time given to dark genre cinema and where there are films of that type they are buried in the programme. Only Lovers Left Alive clashing with New World early Saturday is particularly frustrating. Most film festivals have a strand of horror/cult films but Dublin never does. Also there is an abundance of documentaries despite Dublin already having a documentary film festival. I'm just not a documentary fan.

Well we also have a horror / cult film festival in the form of the Horrorthon That festival obviously has its own unique issues, but at least it exists and serves that niche. It's also why I'm partially forgiving of JDIFF's lack of Japanese cinema, as hopefully some of the interesting films will turn up in April's Japanese Film Festival (although would have hoped a double bill of the new Ghibli films would have shown up here).

The unfortunate reality of JDIFF is that they simply don't have the resources or audiences to run every programming strand most bigger festivals they do. They instead try to fit as much in to the ten days and limited screens they have, which alas leads to many scheduling conflicts. There's always going to be disappointments and notable absences, but this year I think they've done a reasonable job covering a lot of bases while staying loyal to its heavy world cinema focus.

Sad Professor

Both The Stag and Calvary are showing as sold out for me. As a season ticket holder, shouldn’t I still be able to book them? The email I received last week said season ticket holders were guaranteed their choice of films until the 27th.

johnny_ultimate

I'd say call them tomorrow, there's definitely an allocation that they'll hopefully be able to sort out from the box office. I got an email response from them today about a query I sent last night and they said even if the films appeared sold out they should be able to reserve tickets out over the phone.

Liam McPoyle

Got 2 tickets to Dawn of the Dead so am happy out. €18 wasnt too bad price wise considering I can say I attended a world premiere. Plus DotD is easily in my top 10 all time movies.

e_e

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

the preview as just for season ticket holders which there aren't that many of (there was only around twenty at the preview, I wouldn't say there's any more than fifty or so all in all).

What was this? I went to the preview on Monday night and screen 1 in the Lighthouse was absolutely packed.

johnny_ultimate

e_e wrote: »

What was this? I went to the preview on Monday night and screen 1 in the Lighthouse was absolutely packed.

There was a preview preview with Grainne for season ticket holders on Monday afternoon.

e_e

I see, got a season ticket and was invited to the half 6 one. I'd just assumed it was all ticket holders there. :pac:

Sad Professor

The programme briefing earlier in the day wasn’t really publicised. It was one line in an email I got. At first I thought it was the same thing as the preview in the Lighthouse.

Anyway, despite getting off work early, I was too tired to go to either.

Squelchy

My guess for the surprise movie is John Banville's "The Sea".

Sad Professor

For the surprise film I think I’ll be taking an aisle seat near the door. I learned my lesson last year.

birdmany

Hi,

Anybody have a spare ticket for Calvary on Feb 13th in the Jameson International Film Festival??

Would be really appreciated.

Thanks!

Anyone curious about checking out The Food Guide to Love but doesn't fancy buying a ticket to the JDIFF screening can watch it on the Canadian Netflix. Not something I have any interest in watching but a friend if mine is in it so I have to sit down and watch it one of the nights.

vidor

Tame lineup from what I can tell. I've picked out three or four that look promising but there's nothing really there that's a must-see. Can anyone tell me why Jaws is there? Laughed when I saw that down as a cult film, and then laughed again when it's kinda impossible to even attend the thing.

Squelchy

Box office was closed today. But a bored obnoxious guy with his earphones in at the Filmbase counter can tell you to come back tomorrow or pick your tickets up at the cinema. Just, you know, FYI.

delbertgrady

Stanley Tucci will be attending the JDIFF for a public interview on Saturday, February 15th at 2:00 in the Lighthouse. This clashes directly with a film for which many people have probably bought tickets already, The Grand Budapest Hotel.
I find it a bit rich that the first I read about this was in today's Irish Times. What do we give them our e-mail addresses for if not for news updates such as these?

Cazale

Im looking for two tickets for Dawn of the Dead at the Lighthouse on Fri 21st if anyone has them going spare.

boomboom64

Hi, has anybody got any spare tickets for the Shorts programme this Friday 14th 2014 at 6:30pm in the Lighthouse. I have a film screening in the programme and can't get spare tickets. Thanks.

Liam McPoyle

Going to the Dawn of the Dead screening (now switched to the Lighthouse) and just wondering about tickets. Does anyone know if they can be picked up on the night at the Lighthouse or will I have to pick them up before hand from Filmbase?

delbertgrady

Normal practice in previous years was that they can be picked up at the relevant venue before the screening.

e_e

https://twitter.com/DublinFilmFest/status/433899077881692160

John Hurt's gonna be at the Only Lovers screening on Saturday.

johnny_ultimate

Found Calvary to be something of a mess. It's just about held together by Gleeson and his character's arc: something of a futile moral tale in an immoral world, touching on mortality, faith and the various ills of society. Shame everything around it is pretty incoherent - like The Guard, an awkward tonal mishmash that seems more like a sequence of scenes the writer wanted to write rather than a cohesive whole. Sometimes the script is ludicrously on the nose. Some of the performances are absolutely dreadful (Gillen and Reilly particularly) and the visuals lacking character - indeed, at times I got the impression it was more theatrical than cinematic.

Some stuff of interest, but also awkward and frustrating. Certainly something of a trend in the films of the McDonagh brothers.

Sad Professor

Despite hating The Guard with a passion, I really wanted to like Calvary - and for a while it was working for me. But the cartoonish characters and all-over-the-shop tone eventually gets the best of it. I agree that Gillen is terrible but I thought Kelly Relly gave the film a much needed poignancy and tenderness. But like everyone in the film, she didn’t have a lot to work with script-wise. It’s extraordinary how good Gleeson is considering what a mess McDonagh makes of most of the other characters.

e_e

Thought it was a massive step up from The Guard and mostly worked very well.

Corholio

Whats usually the protocol with guests at the festival? Like John Hurt for example

Will they just be in attendance at the screening? or will the audience get a chance to meet him, autographs etc?

Not complaining either way or anything, just wondering the etiquette at the festival.

johnny_ultimate

There's usually no official meet and greet afterwards or indeed beforehand. Some guests might hang around, others will be spirited away immediately.

John Hurt was at the opening last night and was signing autographs and chatting to fans afterwards, so he might do the same on Saturday.

Memo from Turner

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Found Calvary to be something of a mess.

You're too kind. It opened with a line of startling dialogue, and then a comment on how startling the opening line was. That smug self-reflexive trend continued throughout, the roles and performances rarely ascended to caricature. Has there been a character in mainstream Irish cinema as offensively misconceived as the prancing rent boy?

The story was just one damn thing after another. Put scenes in any other order, and most of them would work just as well. (Which is not at all.) The soundtrack kept slathering on choirs and string sections to tell us how serious it all was, but it wasn't serious. It was a fourteen-year-old class clown's idea of a serious film.

The script seemed to be a first draft too. People weren't just guilty of chicanery. It had to be "Machiavellian chicanery."

On the bright side, the shorts programmes were excellent. Two great documentaries, a couple of good fiction entries, and neither selection outstayed its welcome. Ninety minutes is plenty.