Special Presentations 2017

The Cohens and Kellys

Harry A. Pollard | 1926 | 108mins Silent Film with Live Music SAT 18 | 1730 | TRISKEL

Cork Film Festival, in partnership with the IFI, is delighted to present The Cohens and Kellys (1926). This lively ethnic comedy of feuding Irish and Jewish families in 1920s New York is filled with stock characters played with great comic flair –the hard-working Jewish storekeeper (George Sidney), his anxious wife (Vera Gordon), the pugnacious Irish cop (Charlie Murray),and his feisty but warm-hearted wife (Cork-born Kate Price). Multiaward-winning accordionist Dermot Dunne and saxophonist Nick Roth, Artistic Director of the Yurodny Ensemble,will accompany the film with a score drawing lavishly on Irish and Jewish folk music traditions.

Event generously supported by Cork Film Festival Friends.

European Parliament LUX Film Prize

Since 2007, the European Parliament LUX FILM PRIZE casts an annual spotlight on films that go to the heart of European public debate. The Parliament believes that cinema can be an ideal vehicle for debate and reflection on Europe and its future. The films selected for the LUX FILM PRIZE competition help to air different views on some of the main social and political issues of the day and, as such, contribute to building a stronger European identity. They help celebrate the universal reach of European values, illustrate the diversity of European traditions and shed light on the process of European integration. The LUX FILM PRIZE has become a quality label backing European film productions. Its winning films have become hits within the EU and beyond. It has helped publicise films that might have otherwise been seen and discovered by few people and has put the spotlight on urgent topical issues.

The Ground Opened Up

WEDS 15TH – FRI 17TH | 1200 – 2100 | WANDESFORD QUAY GALLERY

Artist Elaine Hoey appropriates contemporary digital technologies and aesthetics to explore the politics of humanity. Her work reminds us of the political stakes, not only of the images the media reveals, but in the way our eyes and bodies encounter them. This interactive virtualreality installation explores the bio-political hegemonic control that was exerted over women and children in Mother and Baby institutions under the guise of state sanctioned moral and religious supremacy in Ireland. In this work The Ground Opened Up the viewer enters a world that is in mourning, where power over one’s body is threatened, provoking internal anxieties of loss of control at the ultimate site of contention – the body.

Biography:

Utilising virtual reality technology Elaine Hoey investigates immersing the viewer in performative and often uncomfortable roles within her digitally constructed worlds exploring the potential of mediated presence as an experience capable of challenging perceptions of the virtual and the real. She recently completed an MFA at the NCAD, Dublin in June 2017 and in 2016 she won the RDS Taylor Art Award for her work The Weight of Water. She has recently exhibited at Dublin Science Gallery; Highlanes, Drogheda; Draíocht Blanchardstown; The Model Sligo; and her work will be part of Gangwon International Biennale in South Korea in Feburary 2018. Pleases note: This is a 10-minute VR installation that is designed for one audience member at a time.

* Participation must be booked in advance online at corkfilmfest.org or by calling – 021 427 1711.

Local Films For Local People: Cork on Camera

Archive compilation | Irish | 1990s-1970s | 85mins 1530 | TRISKEL

A programme of short films made in and about Cork from the collections of the IFI Irish Film Archive will show Cork city and country life from the 1900s to the 1970s. The programme will include The Irish Riviera (a 1930s travelogue); Louis Marcus’ Rhapsody of a River (1965); a compilation of Cork newsreel stories (1920s to ‘60s); Larry a 1959 adaptation of a Frank O’Connor story; and a sparkling brace of Cork-themed advertisements from the 1970s. Introduced by Sunniva O’Flynn of the Irish Film Institute.