Made In Cork.

[northmallexile]

The first set of Cork-made short films is being shown in the Kino tonight as part of the Film Festival. I'm heading along - anyone else?

[northmallexile]

Well, I went along and generally enjoyed myself. The quality of the films was, it's fair to say, mixed.

No-one else go, no? I'll post a review when I have the time.

[willwillwill]

Where's your review of these shorts?
Which ones did you think were good, or bad?

[northmallexile]

OK, seeing as I wanted to do some research this morning but none of the UCC sites are working.

I was at the Made In Cork #1 programme, which can be found here - http://www.corkfilmfest.org/ciff/mic-i.html

'Killing the Afternoon' didn't seem to be able to make up its mind as to whether it wanted to be a lyrical piece, or whether it wanted to suggest some level of narrative. It's apparently quite critically acclaimed, but personally I found it a bit frustrating. I couldn't say anything at the time though, as the director was sitting right next to me.

'Another Last Glimpse' - some grainy shots of the dockland on a fast loop, accompanied by a beepy electronic soundtrack. Nah. By this stage I'm beginning to wonder what I've left myself in for. Next!

'At Death's Door' - This was more like it. What was set up as a noir-type meditation on death turned out to be genuinely subversive, and the punchline drew the biggest laugh from the crowd all evening. Nice one.

'The Kings of Cork City' - A mock documentary based on gang wars surrounding 2 rival Elvis impersonators from opposite sides of the city. A nice idea with an impressive cast - John Creedon, John Spillane, Niall from the Sultans of Ping, oh, and my old drama teacher. Has potential to be turned into a full half-hour show for wider consumption.

'Sunbeam' - A genuine documentary this time, on former workers memories of the Sunbeam factory. Sensitively done and quite moving. Don't know how much interest non-Corkonians would have in it though.

'Valour' - A period piece set in the trenches of WWI. Straight from the pages of Victor, or Hotspur or one of those, actually. Not a bad story, but some of the acting wasn't quite up to scratch.

'Bare' - Claymation piece. I'm no animation expert so I couldn't tell you whether it was done particularly well or not. Some nice ideas though.

'Maet' - Noirish piece. Thinks it's cleverer than it is. Pascal Scott's great in it, though. Excellent cinematography as well.

All in all, worth going to, if only to see what's coming out of Cork these days. Of course, baring in mind Cork's so small, I've probably insulted a fair few budding film-makers with the above comments. Oh well.