July at the IFI

Welcome to the IFI’s July programme which features the return of the IFI Family Festival, a focus on Pat Murphy and a selection of special events. 

IFI Family Festival, 5-8th July

This July, the IFI Family Festival returns with four days of films and workshops for children. Building on the success of our monthly family screenings, this annual festival is your one chance to see some of the best films from around the world. With movies from countries including Ireland, the Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Sweden and New Zealand, young films fans will get to experience stories of different lives in other places. This year, one of the festival highlights is our Irish Animation Trail which allows audiences to see how animations are made, watch them on the big screen and meet the animators. Other workshops provide hands-on experience of sci-fi model-making, pop-up 3D, animated light sculptures and soundtracks. It’s always a fantastic festival and one that I’d urge you to bring any budding film buffs along to.

Focus on Pat Murphy (July 21st - 22nd)

We’re also presenting a focus on one of Ireland’s leading feminist directors, Pat Murphy, who is one of the most researched filmmakers in the Tiernan MacBride Library at the IFI. This short season (July 21st and 22nd) will focus on three of Pat’s films: her first and most experimental feature, Maeve; the film that cemented her reputation as a feminist filmmaker, Anne Devlin; and the examination of Nora Barnacle and James Joyces’ relationship in Nora. Pat Murphy will also discuss her career in an in-depth conversation (free, but ticketed) with IFI Curator Sunniva O’Flynn on July 22nd, which will include screenings of some of her shorts.

Premiere: The City Dark on July 22nd

July also has a great selection of one-off events. Our IFI Irish Film Archive Monthly Must-See is a 40th anniversary screening of Deliverance (July 4th) which we have preserved in our vaults. This special screening will be introduced by director John Boorman and it’s a rare chance for everyone to see this Academy-nominated masterpiece back on the big screen in glorious 35mm. We also have single screenings of two insightful documentaries: Ian Cheney’s thought-provoking The City Dark (July 22nd) which explores the topic of light pollution and Ross Ashcroft’s (who will be in attendance) Four Horsemen (July 16th) which examines the key factors in the current economic meltdown. We’re proud to partner once again with the Irish Architecture Foundation on The Fourth Wall, this time with two screenings: Patrick Keiller’s debut feature London and Michael Winterbottom’s sci-fi Code 46 set in a dystopian future where procreation is strictly regulated.

Silence, opening from July 27th

We’ve got some fantastic new releases lined up this month including two great documentaries: Searching for Sugar Man which is a must-see for all music lovers, and Pat Collins’ latest (his work will be the focus of a special season in August), the cinematically stunning Silence. Big features include Willem Dafoe in the engrossing drama The Hunter and Kristin Scott Thomas in the probing character study In Your Hands.

So if you’re looking for a break from Olympics fever, we hope we have plenty to entice you to the IFI!

Ross Keane

Director