Foyle Film Festival 2016 Intercultural & Anti-Racism Programme
Date Posted: March 22, 2016
Foyle Film Festival’s Intercultural & Anti-Racism Programme will return for its 11th year with two-weeks of special screenings and exciting digital workshops from Monday 4 to Friday 15 April.
The annual programme offers primary and post-primary schools and the public an opportunity to explore local and global issues such as racism, discrimination and harassment through the medium of film.
Highlights include a special preview of one of Disney’s highly anticipated films for 2016, The Jungle Book, in Brunswick Moviebowl on Sunday, April 10 – five days before its general release. Starring Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray and Christopher Walken, the upcoming film is an all-new live-action re-telling of the 1967 classic animation film about a boy who grew up in the jungle under the care of a wolf family.
Primary school students will have a unique opportunity to see Roald Dahl classics such as James And The Giant Peach, Willy Wonka and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Matilda on the big screen to commemorate the centenary of the celebrated author’s birth.
The Nerve Centre’s Creative Learning Centre team will bring the Intercultural & Anti-Racism Programme right into primary classrooms across Derry and Strabane, where students will use iPad animation, green screen technology and editing software to explore this year’s themes. Workshops are limited and teachers are encouraged to contact the Festival Education Coordinator Christopher Morrison on 02871 260 562 to book.
The post-primary programme marks the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare with a special 20th anniversary screening of Baz Luhrmann’s Oscar®-nominated Romeo & Juliet in Brunswick Moviebowl. Featuring the Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, this timeless classic tells the tale of two star crossed lovers, set in a modern day Verona Beach.
Two of last year’s biggest releases Suffragette and Macbeth are on offer in the post-primary outreach programme. With an all-star cast including Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter and Meryl Streep, Suffragette tells the remarkable untold story of the real foot soldiers of the Suffragette movement, while Michael Fassbender chills as Shakespeare’s greatest anti-hero with Marion Cotillard as his lethally ambitious wife in the latest adaptation of Macbeth.
Other highlights include digital workshops, delivered by the Nerve Centre’s award-winning Creative Centenaries project, exploring and learning about the Easter Rising and Battle of the Somme using 3D animations, comic books and film-making activities.
Bernie McLaughlin, programme Director and Programmer said: ‘This year’s Intercultural & Anti-Racism Programme offers something for all ages and tastes across two main venues – Nerve Centre and Brunswick Moviebowl – with additional events taking place in primary and post-primary schools and colleges throughout the city and beyond. We’ve brought together a wide-ranging programme of thought-provoking films and documentaries from around the world that will prompt some interesting conversations’.
Cinema-goers are also welcome to attend two weeks of unflinching feature films every night in the Nerve Centre at 8pm, from the Sundance Film Festival Special Jury award-winning We Come as Friends (Tuesday 5 April) and documentary The Hunting Ground (Thursday 7 April) to Salute (Monday 11 April), focusing on Australian athlete Peter Norman who stood on the podium alongside Tommie Smith and John Carlos as they courageously showed support for the Black Power movement.
Saoirse Ronan’s acclaimed performance in Brooklyn, the epic adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s novel, offers viewers a rare female portrayal of Irish emigration on Friday 8 April, while Carol (Tuesday 12 April), starring Cate Blanchett, follows the beautifully elegant Carol, who is spotted perusing the aisles of a 1950’s Manhattan department store by the alluring Therese, played by Rooney Mara. The two women develop a bond and quickly find themselves involved in an unexpected love affair with complicated consequences.
The evening programme draws to a close with Spotlight (Friday 15 April); the riveting true-story behind the Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Globe investigation into allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church which recently won two Oscars®.
Foyle Film Festival is a flagship project of the Nerve Centre. Foyle Film Festival’s Intercultural & Anti-Racism Programme is funded by DCAL through Northern Ireland Screen and venue partner is Brunswick Moviebowl.
To book a Nerve Centre and/or outreach screening or workshop, please contact Christopher Morrison: email: [email protected]; tel: 028 71373456/71260562. Tickets for all public screenings are available to book on www.nervecentre.org.
