As pop culture and high culture merge, never before has pop been more examined, consumed and analyzed. But where to now? Does Pop still matter? And can Pop survive in hard times? Chaired by journalist and club promoter Una Mullally, the panel for this discussion includes promoter and filmmaker Dylan Haskins, blogger Rapture Ponies, DJ Alison Curtis and musician James O’Neill.

Listen To Has Pop Eaten Itself? HERE

NB: Once again, this podcast was created by the amazing Jessie Ward. Cheers!

Welcome to the first of our Darklight X podcasts, bringing you audio highlights from the 2009 Darklight Festival…

First up, enjoy our Darklight X Keynote Discussion between Anna Troberg (pictured), Vice Chairperson of the Swedish Pirate Party and Irish Times journalist and blogger Jim Carroll.

Listen to 2019 – After Copyright HERE

And stay tuned for further Darklight X podcasts in the coming weeks…

NB: This podcast was created by the amazing Jessie Ward. Cheers!

IRELAND ON SUNDAY PRESENTS:
HOTEL DARKLIGHT

Where: Irish Film Institute, Eustace Street, Temple Bar, Dublin

Hotel Darklight is an exciting feat of no-budget cinematic daring created for this year’s Darklight Film Festival, a full length feature film comprising ten short pieces filmed over 6 days in one location. Inspired by Exquisite Corpse, a Victorian parlour game where random words and images are assembled to form a surreal finished product producers Declan Lynch and Alan Keane brought together ten writers and ten directors to tell a series of discrete tales of the paranormal which would all take place in an eerie Smithfield Hotel. The result is an ingenious, collaborative tour de force.

Lonely Hearts – Writer/Director: Ciaran Foy
Hotel Training – Writer: Maura McHugh/Director: Conor McMahon
Prejudice – Writer/Director: Paul Walker
St. Mary – Writers: Gerry Creehan and Paul Markey/Director: Brian O’Toole
Play Dead – Writer/Director: James Phelan
Heaven in a Wildflower: Writer: Sinead Fagan/Director: Dolores Rice
Regards to the Chef – Writer: Eilis Mernagh/Directors: Kian Petit and Ewan Petit
Noughts and Crosses – Writer: Barry McLoughlin/Director: Alan Brennan
You Beta Your Bollix -Writer: T.C/Director: Ian Whelan
Better the Derval you Know – Writer: Paul Markey/Director: Brian O’Toole

This screening will be followed by a Q&A with several of the filmmakers.

Tickets for this screening are priced at €15.

The proceeds will help offset debts incurred by filmmakers and by Darklight in the making of the film.

Info and booking HERE!

It’s official: Darklight 2009 rocked. You really had to be there. Thanks to everyone (and we mean everyone) who made the Darklight weekend such a success. And a big thank you to 2009 Guest Of Honour and Total Gentleman Mark Romanek – pictured, on the right, with filmmaker Gerard Lough. We’ll be detailing the shenanigans in earnest over the coming weeks, along with podcasts and videos aplenty In the meantime, much respect to DEAF… We’re gonna miss you.

Best Short Film – Live Action
24/7 by Emer Maguire tied with
43 by Craig Woods and John Curran
Best Short Film – Animation
Donkey by Louise Bagnall
Audience Award
Video Games by Musclebeaver
Spirit of Darklight Award
We Invented Hallow’een by Michael Fortune

Darklight Award winners are selected by a Darklight jury, except the Audience Award which is voted for by Darklight audience members. Congratulations to all!

The winning video was “Noise to Get Heard” by Alan Early. You can watch it here now:

Alan is now the proud owner of a very spiffy HD camera, kindly supplied by Tyrell CCT, more information on Tryell CCT can be found here.

A big thank you to all entrants, we were pleasantly surprised with the number of high quality entries we received. A super congratulations to one and all.

And of course a big thank you to the European Commission, Lovely Productions and Doris Magee Productions, to Fionn Kidney, Caroline Campbell and Eoghan Kidney for their contribution to the Viral Video Making Workshop and to Tyrell CCT for their support of the competition.

Watch this space for a similarly wonderful competition in 2010…

Michael Fortune
We Invented Halloween

October 8th – October 11th, 2009
thisisnotashop

We Invented Halloween is the title of a three channel installation recorded on Halloween night, 2005, 2006 and 2007 in the artists family home in rural Wexford, Ireland.
Each year a central activity of the night involves the artists mother dressing up in an improvised manner with anything that will disguise her identity, and calling into his granny’s house, which is next door. Prior to calling to the house we see his mother getting dressed, with the aid of his sisters, who dress and undress her with layers of coats, socks, tights and plastic masks.

The work, which involves long, hand held takes, follows her along the road and into the grannies house. In each recording his granny ignores the camera and welcomes his mother, though she is unaware of her identity thinking instead it is one of her great grand children. Each of the three films finishes when his mother leaves the house delighted she has fooled his granny once again. By revisiting this annual practice the viewer is offered an insight into the immediate environment of family life, human relationships and contemporary ritual.

More info HERE.

Helen.

The debut feature from Joe and Christine Lawlor.

AKA Desperate Optimists.

Simply put – it’s a work of total and utter genius.

Thanks to the nice people at New Wave Films, Darklight has DVDs of Helen to give away to the first two people to mail us at info(at)darklight.ie right this minute.

So get cracking.

More about Desperate Optimists and Helen HERE.

While you’re at it… Mark Kermode talks Helen:

FYI: More brilliant Hotel Darklight pics by Ian Tierney HERE.