Cinema: Accessible Screenings at the Irish Film Institute for June

Upcoming open captioned and audio described screenings on at the Irish Film Institute this month. For booking information and more details, visit ifi.ie.

The Blue Description Project with aemi

Open captioned screenings Wednesday 5 June at 6.30pm
Audio described screenings Wednesday 5 June at 6.30pm

‘The Blue Description Project’ at the BFI in the UK in March, image courtesy of BFI and aemi.This is a screening of Derek Jarman’s 1993 film Blue and will have creative captions and audio description embedded throughout. It will include a specially-commissioned Irish Sign Language (ISL) interpretation of the entire work. The discussion afterwards will also be live-captioned and ISL-interpreted. For more information and booking, click here.

The Dead Don’t Hurt
Open captioned screenings Saturday 8 June at 12.40pm, and Wednesday 12 June at 6pm
Audio described screenings from Friday 7 Junehttps://youtu.be/Xgv25Ni_jv0?si=IIgjMexNpJ6O-NnBThe Dead Don’t Hurt is a story of star-crossed lovers on the western U.S. frontier in the 1860s. Vivienne Le Coudy (Vicky Krieps) is a fiercely independent woman who embarks on a relationship with Danish immigrant Holger Olsen (Viggo Mortensen). After meeting Olsen in San Francisco, she agrees to travel with him to his home near the quiet town of Elk Flats, Nevada, where they start a life together. The outbreak of the civil war separates them when Olsen makes a fateful decision to fight for the Union. This leaves Vivienne to fend for herself in a place controlled by corrupt Mayor Rudolph Schiller (Danny Huston) and his unscrupulous business partner, powerful rancher Alfred Jeffries (Garrett Dillahunt). Alfred’s violent, wayward son Weston (Solly McLeod) aggressively pursues Vivienne, who is determined to resist his unwanted advances. When Olsen returns from the war, he and Vivienne must confront and make peace with the person each has become. Both a tragic love story and a nuanced depiction of the conflict between revenge and forgiveness, The Dead Don’t Hurt is a portrait of a passionate woman determined to stand up for herself in an unforgiving world dominated by ruthless men.

Rosalie

Open captioned screenings Monday 10 June at 6.10pm and Thursday 13 June at 1pm

In France in the 1870s, Rosalie (Nadia Tereszkiewicz) is a young woman unlike any other. Born with a face and body covered in hair, she has concealed her reality all her life, shaving to fit in. When Abel (Benoît Magimel), an indebted bar owner unaware of her secret, marries her for her dowry, the defiant young woman decides to learn how to embrace her unconventional appearance. Rosalie’s only wish is to be truly seen despite a difference she no longer wishes to hide. But can Abel love Rosalie and see her for the woman she is, once he discovers the truth she has so cleverly hidden from him? Inspired by the experiences of actual historical figures, this passionate and empowering drama is a beautifully crafted parable about intolerance and attitudes towards body diversity.

Àma Gloria

Open captioned screenings Friday 14 June at 1pm and Tuesday 18 June at 6.40pm

Paris, present day. Vivacious, personable young Cléo (extraordinary newcomer Louise Mauroy-Panzani) lives with her widowed father (Arnaud Rebotini), but has mostly been raised by her beloved Cape Verdean carer, Gloria (Ilça Moreno Zego), in whose comforting arms she finds refuge and emotional stability. So when Gloria’s mother passes away – a life-changing blow for both of them – Gloria must return to her homeland to care for her own children. To ease the anguish of the impending separation, Gloria invites Cléo to her island community to spend one last summer together… There, the young girl will discover an entirely different culture and a new family, and must learn to understand that the world does not revolve around her.

The Bikeriders
Open captioned screenings Sunday 23rd June at 6pm and Monday 24 June at 3.40pm
Audio described screenings from Friday 21 June

Bikeriders captures a rebellious time in America when the culture and people were changing. After a chance encounter at a local bar, strong-willed Kathy (Jodie Comer) is inextricably drawn to Benny (Austin Butler), the newest member of Midwestern motorcycle club, the Vandals led by the enigmatic Johnny (Tom Hardy). Much like the country around it, the club begins to evolve, transforming from a gathering place for local outsiders into a dangerous underworld of violence, forcing Benny to choose between Kathy and his loyalty to the club.

Wild Strawberries: The Birdcage

Open captioned screenings Wednesday 26 June at 11am

In this remake of the classic French farce “La Cage aux Folles,” engaged couple Val Goldman (Dan Futterman) and Barbara Keeley (Calista Flockhart) shakily introduce their future in-laws. Val’s father, Armand (Robin Williams), a gay Miami drag club owner, pretends to be straight and attempts to hide his relationship with Albert (Nathan Lane), his life partner and the club’s flamboyant star attraction, so as to please Barbara’s father, controversial Republican Sen. Kevin Keeley (Gene Hackman).

Eternal You
Open captioned screenings Friday 28 June at 6pm and Tuesday 2 July at 1.45pm

If you had the chance to talk to a loved one who died, would you take it? Eternal You delves into the world of startups using AI to create avatars of the deceased. A film about what might become one of the greatest human experiments of our time.

Kinds of Kindness
Open captioned screenings Saturday 29 June at 1.05pm and Monday 1 July at 8pm

Kinds of Kindness is Yorgos Lanthimos’s second film to be released this year, coming hot on the heels of the all-conquering Poor Things; it represents, however, a shift away from the crossover appeal of that baroque, multi-Oscar-winning extravaganza, and a return to the bleak absurdity and chilly aesthetics of his earlier Greek-language films, such as Dogtooth and Alps. A coterie of actors (Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau) essay all roles across a triptych of independent tales: a man without choice tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was presumed lost at sea has returned a different person; and a woman is determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a spiritual leader.

The Irish Film Institute provide regular audio description and open captioning for selected screenings. For more information about accessible screenings visit www.ifi.ie/accessible.

Images courtesy of BFI, Cannes Film Festival, Pyramide International, and United Artists.