Retrospective: Cinema of Foresight

Films that glimpsed the future, anticipating political, technological and social forces before
they fully emerged…

Explore these themes further at our Retrospective Talk and on our Cork Film Trail which brings these ideas into the city, inviting you to explore interactive experiences and film-related surprises at locations across Cork city centre.

Retrospective

2001: A Space Odyssey

Showtime: Sun 22 Nov at 11:00

The Everyman

164 mins

United Kingdom

Stanley Kubrick

Kubrick's visionary masterpiece of science fiction spans the dawn of humanity to the far reaches of space. Two scientists are sent to Jupiter to investigate on a mysterious monolith. During the voyage, the spacecraft's sentient supercomputer, HAL 9000, turns rogue, forcing a lone survivor into a surreal, transcendent rebirth.

Cinema of Foresight - A Talk

Showtime: Sat 14 Nov at 15:00

Triskel Cinema

70 mins

The Irish Times' Donald Clarke and filmmaker Paul Duane exchange about the films that proved able, if not to predict the future, but to recognise forces shaping it.

Different from the Others

Showtime: Fri 13 Nov at 16:15, Sat 21 Nov at 18:00

Arc Cinema - Screen 6, Arc Cinema - Screen 6

50 mins

Germany

Magnus Hirschfeld, Richard Oswald

Concert violinist Paul Körner falls in love with a male student, but their relationship is threatened by blackmail and Paragraph 175, which criminalised homosexuality. Co-written by Richard Oswald and sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld, this pioneering silent film was an early cinematic plea for gay rights and sympathetic portrayal of queer life.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Showtime: Sat 14 Nov at 12:30, Mon 16 Nov at 17:30

Triskel Cinema, Triskel Cinema

94 mins

United States

Stanley Kubrick

When an unhinged American general orders a rogue nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, world leaders gather in the Pentagon War Room to avert global catastrophe. They discover a hidden Soviet doomsday device will automatically trigger global annihilation, rendering all desperate political and military counter-efforts entirely useless.

Ghost in the Shell (Kôkaku kidôtai)

Showtime: Tue 17 Nov at 20:45

Arc Cinema - Screen 6

83 mins

Japan, United Kingdom

Oshii Mamoru

In a futuristic cybernetic society, Major Motoko Kusanagi, a cyborg counter-cyberterrorism officer, hunts a mysterious hacker known as the Puppet Master. As she untangles the political conspiracy, she faces a deep existential crisis, questioning the nature of her own humanity, consciousness, and soul within her mechanical shell.

Hush-a-Bye Baby

Showtime: Sun 22 Nov at 16:15

Arc Cinema - Screen 4

77 mins

United Kingdom, Northern Ireland

Margo Harkin

In 1984 Derry, Goretti and her friends go to class, gossip about boys and head to the dances. What begins as a conventional high school movie quickly changes when Goretti becomes pregnant and boyfriend Ciarán gets arrested. Margo Harkin's foresighted feminist film stars a young Sinéad O’Connor, who also wrote the musical score!

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom

Showtime: Thu 19 Nov at 18:00

Arc Cinema - Screen 2

116 mins

Italy

Pier Paolo Pasolini

One of cinema’s most notorious and feared films, Pasolini’s political war art horror focuses on four corrupt Italian libertines in WWII Fascist Italy who subject 18 teenagers to months of extreme violence and sadism. A chilling, prophetic warning about the trajectory of modern consumerist power, the commodification of human bodies, and unchecked authoritarianism.

The Innocent (L'Innocente)

Showtime: Fri 20 Nov at 14:00

The Everyman

130 mins

Italy

Luchino VISCONTI

Visconti's sumptuous final masterpiece in 4K restoration. In late 1890s, Roman aristocrat Tullio openly pursues another woman while neglecting his devoted wife, Giuliana. When she begins a new relationship, his jealousy and wounded pride awaken. A psychologically charged portrait of male entitlement, desire and the dangerous demands of bourgeois respectability.