Dublin’s Pride festival for 2017 is in full swing right now, and both the IFI and the Light House Cinema are celebrating Pride in their own ways. The full programme for August’s GAZE Film Festival was announced this month, and as Pride rolls, Dublin cinemas are marking the occasion with their selections of Irish LGBT films.
The Dublin Pride Parade takes place in the city this Saturday the 24th, but if you’re in town for the event you might also want to pop into the Light House to take in a movie or three. With Smithfield serving as Pride Village on the day, the Smithfield cinema announced that they will be showing three quality Irish films on the day. First up at 2.30pm is A Date For Mad Mary, a story with real sensitivity and a sense of humour about the temperamental Mary’s attempts to get a date for her best friend’s wedding and the things she learns about herself in the process. Next up at 4.30pm is The Queen of Ireland, Conor Horgan’s documentary following Panti in the run up to 2015’s historic referendum for marriage equality for same sex couples. Finally at 6.30pm is Handsome Devil, the Closing Gala film at this year’s DIFF that looks at the relationship of two young men attending at a posh and rugby-obsessed school in Blackrock. The artsy and sensitive Fionn is teased by his schoolmates for his assumed homosexuality, when in fact it’s his sporty roommate Conor who might be gay. Why should he not be as Donald Clarke said?
A Date For Mad Mary, The Queen of Ireland and Handsome Devil are three of the most acclaimed films in Ireland in the last few years, and you only have to take a look at Handsome Devil director John Butler’s recent Twitter feed to see the impact that films like these can have:
https://twitter.com/mrjohnbutler/status/875398625618165762
Meanwhile, the Irish Film Institute have added a collection of LGBTQ focused-short films to the IFI Player. These free-to-view shorts by talented Irish filmmakers focus on a variety of LGBT+ themes, including I Am, an exploration of explores gender identity and transgender experiences in Ireland, directed by Anna Rodgers and commissioned by Transgender Equality Network Ireland.
Know of any other ways Dublin cinemas are celebrating Pride this month? Let us know at filmindublin@gmail.com.