Mark Griffin

The countdown is on to the 54th Corona Cork Film Festival, Ireland’s oldest film festival which will take place from Sunday November 1-8. The festival will open with the screening of The Boys are Back a deeply moving film which stars Clive Owen and portrays a father who suddenly finds himself as a single Dad to two young boys. For eight days and eight nights the festival will screen over 300 films before closing with the screening of The Road, a dramatic thriller directed by John Hillcoat about a father and son walking alone through burned America.

Leading the way in the international features is Up in the Air which stars George Clooney whose cherished life on the corporate road is threatened just after he meets the frequent-traveler woman of his dreams. Berlin winner London River tells the story of a Christian mother and a Muslim father who meet as they try to find their respective children following a bomb attack in London while The White Ribbon which won the Palme D’or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival is the depiction of life in a tiny Protestant village in Germany prior to the horrors of WWI.

A gem of the festival, the charming Samson and Delilah, gives an honest insight into Aboriginal life in Australia. Taking Woodstock directed by Ang Lee is a comedy inspired by the true story of Elliot Tiber and his family, who inadvertently played a pivotal role in making the famed Woodstock Festival while the Coen Brothers latest film A Serious Man is the story of a simple man and his search for clarity in 1960’s America. A noted Irish feature is Eamon the award-winning feature directorial debut of Margaret Corkery who won the 2005 Best Irish Short Award at the Festival.

Director Robert Pappas’ outstanding new documentary, To Age or Not to Age receives its world premiere in Cork. The film tracks the pioneers in the field of anti-aging research at Harvard, MIT, and Cambridge and offers lucid commentary on the discovery of the anti-aging gene. Renowned music director Julien Temple will attend the festival for the screening of Oil City Confidential which profiles the 1970’s British band Dr Feelgood. No Greater Love gives a unique insight into the Discalced Order of Carmelite Nuns in London’s Notting Hill who lead a cloistered life dedicated to prayer while the blackly hilarious Goodbye, How Are You portrays the fractured society in Serbia struggling to come to terms with the effects of war and widespread political corruption.
An Irish documentary not to miss is Art of Time where leading artists and thinkers respond to our rapidly changing world.
The Corona Cork Film Festival and the Irish Film Archive will celebrate 125 years of the GAA and will screen a selection of archival films on Cork hurling down through the years including a special film on the legendary hurler Christy Ring.

The festival is internationally recognised as a leading showcase for the short film format and will screen over thirty seven programme of shorts which will showcase local, national and international shorts. This will include Indian short films, Arabic short films, Free Radical Shorts, Gay and Lesbian shorts and the ever popular Made in Cork shorts. Short filmmakers will compete for several prestigious awards including the Best Irish Short and Best International Short Film.

Tickets for all screenings will be available from Sat 24th October on www.corkfilmfest.org and in the Festival Box Office which is located in the foyer of the Cork Opera House (Tel: 021 427 1160).