In the time it takes you to read this sentence it will have rained the heaviest amount in recorded history and hit temperatures so high as to dry everything off again. Irish seasons are becoming even more unpredictable than ever, and August, a bewildering holiday limbo of summer/autumn indecisiveness remains a seasonal uncertainty, but at least our cinemas’ special seasons can always be relied upon to deliver.
This August in the fair city of film, the Light House Cinema and the Irish Film Institute will be host to respective seasons of smart, incisive and entertaining films. The Smithfield cinema is looking to the skies, hosting STARGAZERS, a season of sci-fi cinema, while the coming days will see the IFI screening a look at the Hollywood Renaissance and the Blacklist, exploring a key era of American filmmaking in the context of the turmoil and treachery it sprang from.
From August 10th – 15th, four films at the IFI will unveil American films emergence from the paranoia and self-censure of the Blacklist. Midnight Cowboy will be shown in 4k, while Jules Dassin’s Uptight, Altman classic M*A*S*H, and late-stage John Berry film Claudine will also screen, as creative talents blacklisted during the anti-communist panic of the 50s re-emerged to explore new social events and ideas.
The 1960s saw the return to the mainstream of several film professionals who had been blacklisted in the anti-communist panic of the late 1940s and 1950s. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, when America was experiencing social and political upheaval – the fight for civil rights and the anti-war movements – these filmmakers found their progressive politics were now more in tune with the times. These films invite audiences to re-think the contribution of Hollywood’s blacklistees to American cinema of this period. Far from being a spent creative force, these films show that formerly blacklisted directors, actors, and screenwriters made a vital contribution to the re-invigorating of cinema in one of American film’s most creative eras.
Season notes by Andy Willis, Professor of Film Studies at the University of Salford, and Senior Visiting Curator at HOME in Manchester.
Multi-film season pass are available for all 4 Hollywood Renaissance films for €40. Passes are available from the IFI Box Office/ over the phone on 01 679 5744.
UPTIGHT Thurs 10th Aug 18.30
MIDNIGHT COWBOY 4K Sat 12th Aug 16.50
M*A*S*H* Sun 13th Aug 14.00
CLAUDINE 4K Tues 15th Aug 18.30
Meanwhile at the Light House, unsettling, alienating and illuminating science fiction will unveil the ideas, ids and idols that emerge when we look to the stars. Classics and cult hits will come together from in STARGAZERS, as they show seven speculative spectaculars.
This August, immerse yourself in a collection of time and space-bending films that will transport you to the far reaches of the universe. Featuring titles such as Stanley Kubrick’s groundbreaking masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, Jonathan Glazer’s enigmatic Under the Skin, and John Carpenter’s cult classic They Live, all thought-provoking explorations of humanity and otherworldly, surreal encounters.
This celestial cinematic occurrence invites audiences to journey through space and time, encounter strange beings, and contemplate the depths of human existence all from the comfort of the cinema.
– Light House Cinema
It features a lineup of all-time great directors, including Spielberg, Tarkovsky, Carpenter, Kubrick and more. See the full list of films in this season below, tickets on sale now.
FORBIDDEN PLANET SUN 13 Aug, 12.45pm
In this classic and much-emulated work of science fiction, a rescue mission to a distant planet discovers the two survivors of a space ship that crashed 20 years before on the Forbidden Planet.G98 MINS
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY SUN 13 AUG, 14.45, MON 14 AUG 15.00
After discovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, mankind sets off On a quest to find its origins with help from intelligent supercomputer H.A.L. 9000…
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND SAT 19 AUG 15.00
In the midst of a series of unexplained events, electrical lineman Roy Neary encounters a UFO on a deserted road whilst investigating a large-scale power outage. Roy becomes increasingly obsessed with UFOs and subliminal messaging following his experience, distancing himself from his family. 15:00
MARS ATTACKS! 35MM SAT 19 AUG 20.00
Earth is invaded by Martians with unbeatable weapons and a cruel sense of humor as an all-star cast is hit by the manic imagination of Tim Burton in top form.
SOLARIS Sun 20 Aug 16.30
On a space station orbiting the ocean-covered planet Solaris, cosmonaut Kris Kelvin arrives to investigate a series of mysterious and bizarre occurrences among the crew. What he discovers are supernatural phenomena that cause repressed and haunting memories to take on physical form, in Tarkovsky’s psychologically explorative and influential sci-fi.
UNDER THE SKIN WED 23 AUG 20.30
An alien entity inhabits the earthly form of a seductive young woman who combs the Scottish highways in search of the human prey it is here to plunder. It lures its isolated and forsaken male victims into an otherworldly dimension, but finds our own home equally alienating. Bleak, abstract and decidedly alien stuff.
THEY LIVE THUR 24 AUG 20.30
Nada, a down-on-his-luck construction worker, discovers a pair of special sunglasses. Wearing them, he is able to see the world as it really is: people being bombarded by media and government with conformist messages, and the aliens pulling the strings. The cult classic sees Rowdy Roddy Piper take on the controlling creeps.