This year, the Cork Film Festival is 54 years old. Fifity-four! To last that long, the festival has had to work hard to stay on top of the game, screening films that are both entertaining and cutting edge. This year, this tradition continues. Here’s a taster.

Dogtooth/Kynodontas – Mon, Nov 2, Gate Multiplex, 4pm

Sex and sexuality ruin a perfect world in this weird and wonderful Greek film. In what seems on the outside to be ideal country home, three teenagers are confined to the house by their nutter parents. They speak they’re own language and anything from ‘outside’ is forbidden. Dad is the only one aloud out to work. At work he hires top relieve the son of his sexual urges. She gets bored of the son and turns her attention to the eldest daughter, and the world spins off its axis.

Trailer

The Sea Wall/Un Barrage Contre Le Pacifique – Tues, Nov 3, Gate Multiplex, 6pm

Nothing homo about this one but Isabelle “hubba hubba” Huppert is in it. Plus, this is a beautiful film telling us about something we don’t usually see on-screen; a French woman trying to make a life in 1930’s French-run Southeast Asia. Isabelle plays a widow who is working her fingers to the bone attempting to keep her land and overcome the obstacles which seem to surround her. This is a gorgeous film, the director drenching the film in the beauty of the Southeast Asian countryside.

Eamon – Wed, Nov 4, Kino Cinema, 9pm

Every once in a while, am Irish film comes out that stuns the industry. If there were any justice in the world, Eamon would be one of them. This is a wonderful little film, full of excellent acting, with a huge, gaping heart pulsing throughout. Eamon is on holiday with his parents. His mother is a selfish cow and his Dad is frustrated as a result. They fight and ignore little Eamon, taking his presence for granted and using him as a pawn in their arguments. Eamon, though, has a lesson to teach them. He’s a person, he’s real and he is love isn’t something to be taken for granted.

Trailer

Outlook

For the past 19 years, the Outlook section of the festival has brought gay movies to the screen. This year, there are a few of male-oriented films for you, plus some documentaries which look interesting. The first is a selection of shorts on Friday, November 6 at 4pm in the Gate Multiplex. The others are:

Japan, Japan – Tues, Nov 3, Gate Multiplex at 6pm

The End of Love – Wed, Nov 4,  Gate Multiplex, 6pm

This is a sort of serious version of But I’m a Cheerleader in China. Ming is in gay rehab pondering his past life as a rent boy with a happy life with his partner , Yen.  Ming’s mother gets in the way and forces the pair apart, but will Yen come good and the pair live happily ever after?

Humpday – Sat, Nov 7, 7.30pm

Two straight mates decide to make a porn film but what to do? What film will they make? The ultimate challenge is for them to have sex together.

Trailer

No End – Thu, Nov 5, Gate Multiplex, 6pm

Wouldn’t you know that the only lesbian film has two huge cliches – lesbians looking for sperm and one finding a lump on her breast. In fairness to No End, this is a tender and touching feature debut from director. Roberto Cuzzillo.

The Mamas and the Papas – Sun, Nov 8, Gate Multiplex, 4.30pm

More homos having kids, this time it’s the real thing though. This documentary follows a lesbian and a gay couple through pregnancy, childbirth and the first months of their newborn. Fascinating film.

Greek Pete – Fri, Nov 6, Gate Multiplex, 6pm

What is it that lesbian films are usually about babies and/or cancer and gay men’s films always have prostitution and/or AIDS? Can’t we have a nice romcom or maybe even a detective story? Anyway, Greek Pete blurs the lines of documentary and fiction, following Pete who wants to become famous as the world’s greatest male escort.

For more info on these and the rest of the films at the festival, or to book tickets, click here. You can also buy tickets from The Foyer, Cork Opera House, Emmet Place or call 021 427 1160.