IFI Stranger Than Fiction 2012: Saturday Preview

So, what’s on the menu today. Well, as usual with Stranger Than Fiction, things aren’t quite what you might expect.  Gentleman Jim might not have been as gentle as first thought, a mild-mannered tour guide becomes a revolutionary, a wannabe music star on his second time around can’t navigate his way to redemption and you find out more that you ever thought possible about a private and brilliant artist. We’ve four great films culminating in the Irish Premiere of Anton Corbijn: Inside Out about the famous photographer responsible for iconic photos of U2 and the superb film Control. Not to be missed.

THE GENTLEMAN PRIZEFIGHTER (Dublin Premiere)

13.20

Intro and Q&A with the filmmaker

James J Corbett – nicknamed ‘Gentleman Jim’ – was the first gloved world heavyweight boxing champion, a movie star who sanitized boxing for a wider audience and one of the most talked about celebrities of his time. This son of Irish immigrants became an American legend in his own lifetime but in the case of Corbett truth is even more sensational than the mythology that built around him. He was a hopeless womaniser whose conquests included Mae West. He was a cheat, an adulterer and a bully. Narrated by Liam Neeson, this film, through the use of extensive and historically important archive, sets the story straight.

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Official Selection – Galway Film Fleadh

RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY (Dublin Premiere)

15.30

Introduced by the filmmaker

Sean McAllister is fast creating his own documentary genre. In the Reluctant Revolutionary he is again embedded as close to the action as possible, so tightly connected to his main character that it’s hard to know where the filmmaker ends and the film begins. McAllister has said, “I get as close as I can and then I pull the trigger”. This time the Sundance award-winning (Liberace of Baghdad) self-shooter turns his sights on Yemen and Kais, a 35 year-old local tour guide, who travels from being a cynic to a participant in the revolution that eventually leads to the toppling of Ali Abdullah Saleh, dictator for 33 years. McAllister’s unique and fearless approach brings us deeply into of the Arab Spring.

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Official Selection – Berlin Film Festival

Official Selection – Sheffield DocFest

What the critics say:

“A breathless pace, a sense of black humor and a great central character make The Reluctant Revolutionary one of the most immediate and accessible descriptions of the Arab Spring yet to emerge,” Hollywood Reporter.

VERY EXTREMELY DANGEROUS (Dublin Premiere)

17.30

Intro and Q&A with the filmmaker

Exhilarating, compelling, at times harrowing, Very Extremely Dangerous is not like any other documentary you’ll see this year. Irish Director Paul Duane (Barbaric Genius) takes a frightening, fascinating journey into the mad world of Jerry McGill, a 1960s rock-n-roller from Memphis who left behind a promising career in music to concentrate his energy on a fully-fledged gun-toting, drug-taking life of crime. We find him as he emerges from prison years later and, after finding out he has a serious illness, decides to finally record a follow up to his 1959 single, Lovestruck. But McGill is no reformed character and Duane finds himself on the road with an ex-con seemingly hell-bent on destruction.

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Official Selection – Galway Film Fleadh

What the critics say:

John Beifuss, Memphis Commercial Appeal.

Roe McDermott, Hot Press

ANTON CORBIJN: INSIDE OUT (Irish Premiere)

20.00

INTRO BY IRISH DESIGNER STEVE AVERILL, AMP VISUAL

A revealing portrait of influential Dutchman Anton Corbijn, the artist who famously created much of the iconic visual output of U2, Depeche Mode and many others, this is one of those documentaries that only becomes possible when a filmmaker has outstanding access to a subject over a sustained period of time. Director Klaartje Quirijns had just that, using close personal ties with Corbijn to explore the life and influences of the photographer, filmmaker and designer.

The result is a fascinating look at the life of an artist immersed in his work to the point of obsession. Through time spent with Corbijn himself, the artists (Bono, Lou Reed, James Hetfield) he photographed and, revealingly, members of his family, the film is a surprisingly intimate portrait of a brilliant but elusive man.

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Official Selection – Berlin International Film Festival

Official Selection – Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

What the critics say:

“An intriguing portrait” Screen Daily