Film enthusiasts in Moate, Athlone and all other midland locales will be faced with a difficult decision this weekend. Four separate festivals in four separate corners of the Republic take place over the next few days, and the choice of movies in each is notably enticing. Details of the events in Kerry, Clones and Waterford can be found below.
The Clones Film Festival, which was launched on Wednesday by this newspaper's Frank McNally, has resisted the temptation to screen the second of the Star Wars prequels (oh, do keep up), but will present such delicious features as Small Engine Repair, Ten Canoes and This Is England. The event also features a children's festival, a short film section and a whole day dedicated to documentaries (www.clonesfilmfestival.com) .
Oo la la! The Imagine Waterford Arts Festival, which begins today, includes a French Film Festival, presented in conjunction with Storm Cinemas and Waterford Film for All. It kicks off on Sunday with a screening of La Vie en Rose, the recent Edith Piaf biopic, and goes on to take in such delights as Tell No One, My Best Friend and - somewhat puzzlingly for a French festival - the timeless The Battle of Algiers (www. waterfordartsfestival.com).
There is too much happening at the Samhlaiocht Kerry Film Festival for us to usefully summarise here. We will, however, mention the short film competition, a directing master- class from Paul Mercier, and an impressive Irish-language programme that includes Bob Quinn's Poitín and - like father like son - Robert Quinn's Cré na Cille. This fine event runs from tomorrow until next Saturday at venues across the county (www.kerryfilmfestival.com).
Dons on docs
The recent renaissance in documentary film-making will be acknowledged next weekend with an international conference hosted by the National Film School at The Institute of Art, Design and Technology. The event kicks off on November 1st with a documentary screening and a public discussion at the Irish Film Institute. The second day, featuring contributions from such indomitable film boffins as Professor Kevin Rockett and Dr Harvey O'Brien, takes place at the college's campus in Dún Laoghaire. For further details, contact Donald Taylor Black, the Film School's creative director, on 01-2144655.
Top shorts in Cork
The Corona Cork Film Festival, Ireland's oldest such event, came to a close last Sunday night with a screening of Ang Lee's Lust, Caution and the announcement of the winning films. Rodeon Brodsky's Tolya, a film from Israel, won best international short, and James Lees's cracking The Apology Line, in which real members of the public own up to private shame, picked up the Prix UIP Cork for best European short film. Special mentions were also given to Maciej Cuske's Suburban Train, Darren Thornton's Frankie and Radu Jude's The Tube with a Hat.
Will Paris go to Texas?
If an inside source is to be believed - we suspect it's our old friend Marcus Made-Up - then Paris Hilton thinks she is sexually voracious and vertically challenged. Despite no obvious enthusiasm from casting agents, Ms Hilton is convinced that she is to play Lucy Ewing in the film of Dallas. "In her mind she's already part of American royalty by being a Hilton," explains Mr Made-Up. "So she thinks it will be perfect casting. She's actually surprised the producers haven't thought of this themselves."
Remakes strictly for the birds
Let us return to a theme addressed in last week's Ticket. When is a remake a remake and when is it a different adaptation of the same source material? Having had a glance at Michael Haneke's English-language, erm, reworking of his own Funny Games at the current London Film Festival, we can report that the picture, which stars Naomi Watts and Tim Roth, is virtually a shot-for-shot copy of the original. Now that's what we call a remake. But what of the recently announced version of Hitchcock's The Birds (1963), starring Ms Watts as the glacial Melanie Daniels? Director Martin Campbell claims that he is drawing solely on Daphne du Maurier's original short story.
Tippi Hedron, star of original, is unconvinced. "Why would you do that? Why? I mean, can't we find new stories, new things to do? Must you be so insecure that you have to take a film that's a classic, and I think a success, and try to do it over?"
Alive and kicking
Reading the obituaries of Deborah Kerr last week, it was gratifying to be reminded that the Scottish actress, often dismissed as overly polite, appeared in three of the very greatest British pictures: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), Black Narcissus (1947) and The Innocents (1961). It is, however, a shame that older stars seem only to get a mention in the papers when they pass on.
Let us here acknowledge those living stars you might have suspected were no longer with us. All hail Olivia de Havilland, Tony Curtis, Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Jerry Lewis and Herbert Lom. Special hoorays go out to Joan Fontaine, Ms de Havilland's sister, who celebrated her 90th birthday last Monday.
