19/12/2003

The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival will be twice as long this year (from February 12th -22nd, 2004) and will increase both its venues and the number of films being programmed.

Over 100 films will screen next February in the usual three Dublin venues The Screen Cinema, the Irish Film Institute and the Savoy Cinema, but there will also be screenings at Ireland’s biggest cinema, the 17-screen UGC Cinemas on Parnell Street.

Although the full programme won’t be available until late January, seven films have already been announced: Marco Tullio Giordana’s Italian epic , The Best of Youth [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Siddiq Barmak’s Afghan drama Osama, Bernardo Bertolucci’s stylish The Dreamers [+see also:
trailer
interview: Bernardo Bertolucci
film profile], Billy Ray’s drama Shattered Glass [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Russian born Vadim Perelman’s House of Sand starring Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly, Tom McCarthy’s Sundance hit The Station Agent and Emile Gaudreault’s French Canadian comedy Mambo Italiano.

In its inaugural year, the Festival received a crucial €25,000 grant from the Arts Council last February, but it hopes the funding will reach the level of two other major festivals in Galway and Cork (€140,000 and €160,000 respectively).