Yaay! The Film Club is back! The season starts on Thursday October 19. As usual there are films from all over the world including France, USA and Iran. The first film of the season is Junebug (USA 2004). Directed by Phil Morrison and scripted by Angus MacLachlann, this film follows the story of Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz), a sophisticated gallery owner from Chicago, who finally gets to meet her husband, George’s (Alessandro Nivola) family, which includes prickly mother Peg (Celia Weston); taciturn father Eugene (Scott Wilson); cranky brother Johnny (Ben McKenzie) who has always suffered in the shadow of golden boy George; and Johnny's very pregnant, childlike wife Ashley (Amy Adams), who is instantly awestruck by her Yankee sister-in-law. I have no idea who these people are but it sounds great to me! And indeed winning the special Jury award at Sundance suggests it struck a chord or tickled a bone with them too. The rest of the season’s line up is: Ballet Russes (October 26); Offside (November 2); Cockles and Muscles (November 9); The Death of Mr Lazarescu (November 16); L’Enfant (November 23) and District 13 (November 30). Now for the important information: Films are open to members only. Members must rejoin each season. Membership is available to anyone over 18 from the arts centre (€1.50). All films start at 8.15pm and are screened at Century Cinemas, Port Road, Letterkenny. Admission is €7.50 per film. Cracking. There’s a trailer for junebug here http://www.sonyclassics.com/junebug/ or if you are using a mac better use this one http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/junebug.html

and there’s more! apparently the film club is going to Ardara for an an evening of Ardara films will take place in The Corner House Bar, Ardara on Sunday October 8. The evening will consist of three films by Donegal filmmakers. This is a fantastic opportunity to see films on a large screen that have a local and historical element to them. Each film brings their own interpretation to Ardara and its environs.

The first to be screened is called ‘Young Dylan’ and is directed by Peter Alexander. This is a stylish short docu-drama, which tells the story of the great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and retraces his two-month stay in Glenlough, in the summer of 1935. Produced and directed on location by Peter Alexander, it stars James Yates as Dylan Thomas with narration by Tommy O’Loughlin.The next film will be ‘Filí na gCnoc – The Mountain Poets’. This is an inspired film from Genevieve McGill and her father, Dr. Lochlann McGill. With a strong sense of place, they set out to bring to life the ancient Gaelic poetry of the small mountainous Gaeltacht areas of Aighe and Glengesh. T
The final film is a film produced by the Festival’s Film Company In Residence, Sadsack Productions. Sadsack Productions is a Dublin based film company composed of Donegal natives Cormac Cavanagh and Cian McDevitt together with Eimear O’Kane, Padge Tierney and Brian Moran. Over the course of the festival, they have been shooting a film in and around Ardara. This will be premiered on the night.
In conjunction with this evening, workshops have been taking place during the week with local schools, where the art of filmmaking is celebrated and taught to young aspiring filmmakers. Admission to the evening is free and all are welcome. For further information contact Letterkenny Arts Centre on 074 91 29186. Fair play there then.