Cinematography
The Colour of Paradise
Iranian cinema has been making an impact on international audiences for a decade now, but Majid Majidi's 1997 The Children of Heaven was the first film from that country to be recognised with an Oscar nomination. Majidi's new film, a typically simple tale of a blind, eight-year-old boy returning with his widowed father from Tehran to his home village, has been acclaimed for its visual power and compared to the work of Terence Malick in its use of cinematography to capture the immensity of the natural world in comparison with human strengths and frailties.
Friday, April 7th, IFC 2, 6.45 p.m.
Music
The Virgin Suicides
Sofia Coppola's well-received debut is worth catching for several reasons, but music fans in particular will be eager to see how well the soundtrack, composed by ultra-cool French disco-lounge artistes Air and currently doing good business in record stores, works with the images. Judging by the critical raves, the resulting concoction is pretty darned good.
Saturday, April 15th, UGC 5, 9 p.m.
Documentary-Making
The Filth and the Fury
Framed as a return to the scene of the crime, with former members of the Sex Pistols shrouded in ironically anonymous darkness "to protect their identities", Julien Temple's documentary revisits the same territory as The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, with the express intention of debunking the Malcolm McLaren myth. Temple, who as a young film student recorded the tempestuously brief life of the Pistols in a variety of formats, now gives them the chance to bite back - particularly John Lydon, who seems eager to establish his credentials as the last of the great English physical comedians.
Saturday, April 8th, UGC 5, 11.30 p.m.
Imax
Africa's Elephant Kingdom
This year has already seen the first release of a full-length feature film - Fantasia 2000 - in the giant IMAX format, and now the DFF presents the first IMAX screening in its 15-year history. Africa's Elephant Kingdom is very much in the classic IMAX mould, a spectacular nature documentary following the footprints of one herd of elephants as it moves across the plains of Kenya. It's likely that many festival-goers will never have experienced the giant screen experience, which is generally targeted at younger audiences, but here's a chance to see if it's all it's cracked up to be.
Monday, April 10th, Sheridan IMAX Cinema, 11 a.m.
Voice-Over
Marlene
You're making a biographical documentary, but there's one small problem - your subject is in a mood and refuses to be filmed. Maximilian Schell's 1984 portrait of his one-time co-star, Marlene Dietrich (showing as part of this year's Dietrich miniretrospective), is an object lesson in how an apparent restriction - Dietrich's insistence on only being interviewed on sound tape - makes for a far better film. It helps, of course, that Schell has a wealth of magnificent visual archives to draw upon, but it's that voice, sarcastic, cynical and confrontational, which renders Marlene so compelling.
Sunday, April 9th, IFC 2, 6.45 p.m.
Animation
British Animation Awards 2000
A chance to see the best and most innovative animation being produced in the UK today, this diverse programme includes everything from beer commercials to stories of holocaust survivors and medieval fantasy tales. The award-winners range from student film-makers to household names like Aardman Animations, and from classical animation to computer-generated imagery. A must-see for anyone interested in animation, the programme is sponsored by the Dublin company, Brown Bag Films.
Saturday, April 15th, IFC 1, 4 p.m.
