Manufacturing Mirages

These photographs, taken by Bill Mousoulis, show me oustide 'Hotel La Mirage' on Omonoia Square in Athens. This place gave the title to the six-minute Super-8 film I've just completed. It was shot half in Cork, half in Greece, and entirely hand-processed in Athens at Laba, a wonderful do-it-yourself Super-8 lab set up by Vassily Bourikas and Yannis Yaxas.

A melancholy vision of cinema-as-mirage, Hotel La Mirage again stars Mollie Anna King, with Bill Mousoulis for once in front of my camera in the only supporting role!

Gazing in Galway

At the link below are some wonderful photos which Rouzbeh Rashidi took earlier this week while we were in Galway for our recent (An)Other Irish Cinema screening. They feature the (An)Other Irish Cinema gang and our good friend, critic and filmmaker Fergus Daly.

http://www.fotopedia.com/albums/D_iaWWT8KS8

Who's That Showing Such an Interest in My Hat?

A photo roman starring Abel Ferrara, Donal Foreman, Your Humble Servant and his hat.

Photographs courtesy of Andrea Bernardini.

(AN)OTHER IRISH CINEMA in Galway

The (An)Other Irish Cinema saga continues with a screening courtesy of Galway Arts Centre at Nun's Island Theatre in Galway on Tuesday 19th at 7pm.

To see the trailer for the event, by Rouzbeh Rashidi, please visit:

http://vimeo.com/15825644

Cinematon 2303

Whilst at the Lucca Film Festival last week, I became the 2303rd of Gerard Courant's ongoing series of film portraits, the Cinematons. Gerard embarked on this project in October 1978 (which makes it five weeks older than I am...) The rules of this series remain unchanged: a silent close-up of the subject running the length of an 8mm film cartridge (a little over three minutes...) It is now the longest film in history and has included portraits of, amongst others, such filmmakers as Godard, Paradjanov, Oliveira, Garrel, Straub, Dwoskin, Arrieta, Ossang, Kramer, Pialat, Mekas... and, coming in at 2304, (An)Other Irish Cinema comrade Donal Foreman.

For more information, visit www.gerardcourant.com

BIPEDALITY Essay

A piece I've written on Rouzbeh Rashidi's recent feature Bipedality can be read here.

After Morocco

After Morocco, Úna Quigley's playful and elegant re-working of Sternberg's masterpiece Morocco is now complete. This 20-minute video stars George Hanover, Gavin McEntee and Conor Tallon. I did camera duty on it. It was a great project to be involved in and Úna has edited it into a very engaging film.

For more details (and some striking stills which nicely convey the atmosphere of the piece), please visit:

www.aftermorocco.blogspot.com

And for more about Úna's work:

www.unaqart.blogspot.com/