Sound + Vision

Our director Colin McKeown has curated a film programme for the Model and we include their press release below.
--

The Model presents its first Music Film Festival:

SOUND+VISION

The Model's brand new Music Film Festival, aptly titled SOUND+VISION will take place at The Model, Sligo from November 16 - 27 and will feature over 40 events happening throughout 12 days, all centering around the music film genre.  

The programme includes concert films, musical documentaries, films which popularised major movements in music history, films defined by their soundtracks and landmark moments of musical and cinema history and will be opening on November 16th with the Irish Premiere of Susanne Rostock’s, Sing Your Song about the ‘King of Calypso’, Harry Belafonte Jr.

Some highlights of the Festival include Inni, Sigur Rós from Icelandic Icons Sigur Ros, which is being released in Ireland next month; Pearl Jam Twenty celebrating Pearl Jam’s 20th Anniversary; special guest appearances from indie-rock pop hero Bob Forrest at the screening of his documentary Bob and the Monster and Musical Documentary Director Tony Palmer who will introduce the Irish Premiere of Leonard Cohen: Bird on a Wire, one of two of his films being screened at the Festival. 

The Model’s Director, Seamus Kealy is delighted with the breadth of the Festival programme, saying “SOUND+VISION merges the genres of music and cinema, as both have developed in parallel through cinema, whether drama, children’s films or musicals, as well as exploring their juxtaposition in more experimental live performances.”

 Two very special live music performances feature in the programme.  Wavetrain, an exciting new chamber duo, will be performing, among others, the work of Olivier Messiaen, together with a screening of a film based on his work, The Crystal Liturgy: Oliver Messaien.  The performance will also feature the world premiere of The Whitening a new piece by Irish Composer Siobhan Cleary based on the W.B. Yeats poem “Cap and Bells”. 

Choice Music Prize Nominees Dark Room Notes will perform a specially composed score accompaniment to the silent film classic The Lost World, followed by a special late night club with sound and visuals by Donal Dineen’s Parish project featuring Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu, Amina Dastan of Madu amongst others.

 A special Family Season of Film Screenings includes animated films such as The Jungle Book and The Gruffalo with attendees encouraged to dress-up and sing-along and a very specially constructed Gruffalo Cave!  A series of free animation workshops, including stop-motion animation, will be held during the festival ensuring there will be something for all ages to enjoy. 

 The Festival will conclude with Punk Sunday, which will feature the Irish Premiere of Punk’s Not Dead from Macedonian Director, Vladimir Blazevski, and a special event, Punk Lives On In Belfast.

Special Festival and Weekend passes giving access to all screenings and events will be available from The Model Box-Office and full programme details are available at www.themodel.ie  .  

Ends. 

The Model would like to thank especially Colin McKeown of Cinema Northwest, the International Fund for Ireland, Irish Film Institute for their support in making Sound + Vision a reality.

For further information, images and interview requests please contact:

Lisa Hallinan

lisahallinan@themodel.ie

A letter from John LeCarré

Cinema North West Adaptation Festival 2011



Dear Friends,

Thank you for giving time to the screen versions of my novels.  I’m sorry I can’t be with you but thanks not least to the success of Tinker Tailor, I’ve become a bit of a moving target. Now I have to tell you, you are in for a mixed bag.  In principle, unlike some writers, I like my work to be adapted.  The first and most obvious reason is that film and television reach an audience few writers can dream of.  A whole lot of people go through life without reading a single novel, others might not think of reading my work if they hadn’t first seen it on the screen.  

The second reason is more personal.  I find it thrilling when a skilled film-maker is inspired by my work to translate it into his own medium.  He takes the germ of the idea, and the characters, and the story, and lets it infect him.  He assembles his army of technicians and artists and players, and sets out on his march.  And now and then, something wonderful happens.  We don’t get the film of the book.  We get the film of the film.  We get the miracle of a full realisation in a different, sovereign art form with its own disciplines and values.

The average reader addressing a full-length novel will give it his creative attention for as much as fifteen or maybe even thirty hours.  The same person sitting in the audience at the cinema needs a good reason why the story is not realised for him in two.  The art of telling stories in pictures is plain  -  as the Russians say  -  to a hedgehog.  You never speak it if you can show it.  Words give way to images.  So in that sense, the novel and the film are from the start at odds with one another.

I have been very lucky, and also at times deeply disappointed with the translation of my work from book to film.  You will choose for yourselves the high points and the low.  
For me, the landscape is pretty clear.  There are four peaks, some foot-hills, and some pretty awful wasteland.   My peaks, in chronological order, areThe Spy Who Came in from the Cold , the television adaptations of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Smiley’s People, The Constant Gardener , and the recently released movie of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.  

Of all of them, I suspect that the last will endure, despite its seeming complexity, as the most artistically satisfying, the most accomplished and the most daring.   But this isn’t a beauty contest.  It’s your choice, not mine.  And if other adaptations of my work please you more than they do me, I can only be happy.  Each production, whatever its merits, has received the devoted attention of gifted artists and technicians who have given their hearts to the project.   And it’s more than possible that, where an adaptation has failed, the original novel has failed the adaptation.

Thank you again for being here.  I wish you a lot of pleasure, and a lot of boisterous argument.
John le Carré, October 2011.

Photo (c)Stephen Cornwell for White Hare 2010

Adaptation 2011 Dromahair

2011 has brought many changes for Cinema North West.
We have created and curated new festivals, visited many new venues, installed a new digital projection system, started providing training courses and begun exhibiting in venues other than the cinemobile.


New funding from the International Fund for Ireland has led to the appointment of new staff and the opening of an office.


The new office is, appropriately, in Dromahair.  We discussed other options but Dromahair feels like home for us. Many of the board of directors live close by, our biggest audiences live here, and we are dedicated to the rural rather than the urban audience. Most importantly Dromahair is home to Adaptation.


The first Adaptation Film Festival was created by Johnny Gogan in 2004.  Johnny had attended one of Stephen Cleary's workshops and heard Stephen talk about the importance of adaptations within the film business.  A significant proportion of films are based upon adaptations.  Johnny felt that it would be a good idea to create a festival dedicated to the art and craft of screen adaptations.  Cinema North West face more changes this year as Johnny Gogan will be stepping down from the board to concentrate on new filmmaking opportunities and the growth of the collective Studio North West.  We wish him well in his new endeavors and thank him for his hard work and dedication.  More change comes in the appointment of Colin McKeown as programme director for Cinema North West and Adaptation. 


Over the year's the festival has celebrated the work of John McGahern, William Trevor, Edna O'Brien, Roddy Doyle, Bernard MacLaverty and Jennifer Johnston.  Each year the featured author has given a public interview.  This year we will be looking at the many films based upon the work of John Le Carre.  In a break with tradition the author will not be in attendance.  John Le Carre will celebrate his 80th birthday a few days after our festival.  We wish him a very happy birthday and will raise a toast to him during the festival.   Thankfully the festival will host a range of exceptional guest speakers - all of whom have been involved with John le Carre and passionate about his work.  


We are pleased to be hosting Stephen Cleary at this year's festival.  He will hopefully be a regular visitor to Dromahair in the next few years as our commitment to training increases. Stephen worked for many years with the wonderful Hannah Kodicek. She was a multi-talented woman and an incredible thinker.  She was, among many other things, a writer, composer, director, painter, actress, puppeteer and teacher. 


Hannah played IRINA in the original Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy tv series.  We will see clips of her over the weekend during our interview with Director John Irvin. Hannah died earlier this year. Hannah's son Danny will be in attendance at the festival.  It is hoped that Cinema North West and Adaptation can pay tribute to this remarkable figure in a permanent way through an annual award.  So 2011 is barely over and yet we are planning the changes for 2012...


We look forward to seeing you over the weekend.  


We would like to thank all our volunteers, Chloe James, Jo Lewis, the board members, Johnny Gogan, Maeve Cooke at Access Cinema, Deirdre at GFD, Tommy Ahearne, Lara Byrne at The Model, Helen and Sorcha at Screen Training Ireland, Eibhlinn at Media Antennae, Alice Lyons , Padraig at Pure Designs, Julie Thomys, Cian Flynn, Blayze at Fremantle, Fleur at BFI, Jo and Jonny at Curtis Brown, Gavin LaGrange, and the people of Dromahair.

Adaptation is supported by an annual grant from The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Éalaíon.

Cinema North West acknowledges the support of the Irish Film Board towards our overall operation.