WHAT do the following have in common: David Bowie, Uma Thurman, Tony Curtis, Anthony Burgess and Michael Dwyer? That's right. They have all been awarded l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French government.
On Tuesday, members of this country's film establishment donned their few good items of clothing and ventured towards the French Embassy to see Mr Dwyer, this paper's film correspondent, receive his well-deserved gong. The champagne was, as expected, of decent quality and almost made up for the conspicuous dearth of Ferrero Rocher. We have yet to establish if the honour entitles Michael to any peculiar rights, such as permission to keep sheep on the Champs-Élysées or wear a sword in the presence of Catherine Deneuve.
10 years later, Kino shines on
Considering how few independent cinemas have survived the rampaging advance of the multiplex, the realisation that Cork's Kino Cinema has achieved its 10th anniversary brings particular joy. The Kino, the brainchild of Mick Hannigan, director of the Cork Film Festival, opened on November 29th, 1996 with a sneak preview of Shine and has gone on to establish a secure role as a distinguished arthouse venue.
"In a climate where small cinemas are closing, and regional art-house exhibition is still awaiting progress in development, Kino has done good service," Hannigan said with justifiable pride.
Details of the upcoming anniversary celebrations can be found at the Kino's website - www.kinocinema.net.
Irish short makes Santa's day
What good reason could there be for anybody - or, more particularly, anybody not confined by a straitjacket - to pay good money to see The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (see pan, page 12)? Well, Tim Allen's latest atrocity is being distributed with Matthew Darragh's excellent Irish short Pilgrim, in which a fridge, pathetically clutching its cable, zooms about the desert seeking a power socket.
Recalling scenes from the first Wallace and Gromit film, this delightful animation, a recent winner at the Kerry Film Festival, generates more laughs in its zippy three minutes than Santa Clause 3 does over its (as I recall) grim 12 hours.
Irish films go online
That indefatigable historian of Irish cinema, Professor Kevin Rockett of TCD, has decided that it's time to stop felling forests for the production of his The Irish Filmography. The information contained in that massive 1996 volume will now be available from Irish Film and Television Research Online, a website bringing together a wealth of research material, not just on Irish-made films and television, but on Irish-themed material from around the world.
The site incorporates three searchable databases: Irish Film & Television Index (developed by archivist Eugene Finn); Irish Film & Television Biographies; and Irish Film and Television Bibliography, as well as information on the annual Irish Postgraduate Film Research Seminar. See www.tcd.ie/Irishfilm.
Celtic connection screening
Bob Quinn, the veteran Irish documentary-maker, will visit Dundalk, Co Louth next Tuesday for a screening of his 1984 Atlantean.Challenging the notion of the Irish as a purely Celtic people, Atlantean speculates on the connections between traditional culture on this island and the music, dance and religion of North Africa.
The screening, which is presented by the Dundalk Film Club, takes place at 7.30pm in the Whitaker Theatre at the Dundalk Institute of Technology, and will be followed by a public interview with the director.
Giving the gongs in Derry
The 19th Seagate Foyle Film Festival concluded last Sunday after a successful week that featured a visit to Derry from Christiane Kubrick, widow of Stanley and keeper of the flame. Among the prize-winners was Vanessa Gildea, stalwart of Film Base, whose The White Dress picked up the award for best Irish short. The best international short was presented to Alice or Life in Black and White, directed by Sophie Schoukens from Belgium, while the best feature went to Paul Andrew Williams's London to Brighton. The winners all received a classy ornament commissioned by sponsors Stella Artois.
Give us a break
There will, following the supplications of sated filmgoers, be no James Bond news this week.
Fellowship? Forget it
The announcement that New Line Pictures is no longer considering Peter Jackson, progenitor of The Lord of the Rings, as director for The Hobbit, an adaptation of the first JRR Tolkien novel set in Middle-earth, has caused noisy consternation in all corners of the internet. It's been suggested that the decision may have been prompted by a lawsuit the hirsute Kiwi is currently bringing against New Line for alleged withholding of profits.
"This outcome is not what we anticipated or wanted, but neither do we see any positive value in bitterness and rancour," Jackson and Fran Walsh, his writing and producing partner, said in a letter last week. As frodo6768 and sauron8903 would undoubtedly agree, launching a Middle-earth film without Jackson is a little like excising God from the bible.
dclarke@irish-times.ie
