Phizzfest is an annual community arts festival which aims to bring arts and culture t Phibsborough each year. It was established to develop an annual celebration of artistic life around Phibsborough, to highlight the rich diversity of culture within the community and to provide a showcase for local talent.
Phizzfest 2022 takes place this weekend and a number of film events are set to take place from Friday through Sunday as part of the festivities. We’ve got the guide below events at Phizzfest this year that film fans should check out.
Friday 13th May
Love Yourself Today (2021) 79 mins. Director Ross Kileen will be on hand to introduce this documentary, one of the most warmly received Irish films over the last year. The film centres around the music of Irish singer songwriter Damien Dempsey but also turns the lens onto his fans. Love Yourself Today is an emotive celebration of modern spirituality and the power of music to heal. The doc will be showing in Doyle’s Pub this evening Friday 13th from 6.30pm and tickets are €10, with proceeds going to the Red Cross Ukraine Appeal.
Sunday 14th May
Back in Doyle’s on Sunday for a family friendly selection of silent cinema. Introduced by film historian Denis Condon, attendees can see the antics of the classic slapstick comedians of a century ago, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. In A Dog’s Life ( 1918), Charlie rescues a dog, but will they be able to find anything to eat? In Neighbors (1920), Buster and the girl next door are in love, but their parents are bitter enemies. These screenings will begin at 12pm and this event is free, though again donations are welcome for the Red Cross Appeal.
At 4pm, Dr. John O’Flynn will be on hand at the same pub to host an illustrated talk on his book Music, the Moving Image & Ireland 1897-2017. John teaches popular music and film music in DCU and should provide an enlightening insight into Irish film history.
Then at 6pm, timely Eastern European will be showcased. cinema Donbass is an internationally co-produced film directed by Sergei Loznitsa. It was selected as the opening film at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. The bleak reality of every day life in occupied territory is portrayed in this drama. The film was made four years ago, but the war in Ukraine has given it a new urgency and relevance as we struggle to understand the effects of propaganda and manipulation in the war against Ukraine. The film with be introduced by Dr John Paul Newman, Associate Professor of History and specialist in east European history at Maynooth University. Tickets again are €10.
Finally it just wouldn’t be a film event in Dublin without something Talking Heads flavoured. The Back Page in Phibsborough will see a re-enactment of the famous film Stop Making Sense on Sunday from 8pm. Playback is an “album tribute band” made up of some of Dublin’s finest singers and musicians. They have previously performed Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde and David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane in full and have headlined shows at venues and events such as the Grand Social, Bello Bar and David Bowie Festival. They have expanded to an eight-piece for this show in order to do justice to the movie’s backing vocals, synth solos and conga workouts.
Tickets and info on the many talks, workshops, plays and more at Phizzfest 2022 are available from the festival website.