Friends of mine organize the Irish Film Festival at 35mm from today until June 1st. They bring you the top 10 Irish films. Here is a list of what they show in the next days:
ONCE (2007)
Dir. John Carney
Starring Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova
Best Song – 2008 Academy Awards, Audience Award – 2007 Sundance Film Festival
ADAM AND PAUL (2004)
Dir Lenny Abrahamson.
Starring Mark O’Halloran, Tom Murphy
Best script – 2005 European Film Awards
THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY (2006)
Dir. Ken Loach
Starring Cillian Murphy
Palme D’Or – 2006 Cannes Film Festival
BLOODY SUNDAY (2002)
Dir. Paul Greengrass
Starring James Nesbitt
Best film – 2002 Berlin Film Festival, Audience Award – 2002 Sundance Film Festival
INTERMISSION (2002)
Dir. John Crowley
Starring Colin Farrell, Cillian Murphy
Best Actor nomination, 2002 European Film Awards
THE BUTCHER BOY (1997)
Dir. Neil Jordan
Starring Eamonn Owens, Stephen Rea, Sinead O’Connor
Silver Bear – 1997 Berlin Film Festival
MICHAEL COLLINS (1996)
Dir. Neil Jordan
Starring Liam Neeson, Julia Roberts
Best film – 1996 Venice Film Festival
I WENT DOWN (1997)
Dir. Paddy Breathnach
Starring Peter McDonald, Brendan Gleeson
Best Film – 1997 San Sebastián International Film Festival
IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER (1993)
Director Jim Sheridan
Starring Daniel Day Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite, Emma Thompson
7 Oscar Nominations – 1993 Academy Awards, Best Film – 1992 Berlin Film Festival
THE FIELD (1990)
Dir Jim Sheridan
Starring Richard Harris, John Hurt
Best Actor nomination 1990 Academy Awards
Irish Film Festival
May 28th – June 1st
35mm
Ulitsa Pokrovka / Sadove
Metro: Krasnye Vorota http://www.irishfilm.ru/
Its a strange thing. Two English teams are battling for the Champions League Cup in Moscow. The trophy is displayed on Red Square, which was converted into a giant fun park with even an improvised small soccer field. Its hard to believe that heavy tanks and nuclear rockets were displayed here only 2 weeks ago in a display of want to be a super power.
This soccer game is the biggest sports event in Moscow since the Olympics. Russians have a reason to participate. Roman Abramovitch, one of Russians richest men, has bought into Chelsea long ago and now his team has the opportunity to become the master of European soccer clubs. The fact that this is a British team is not of interest because its owned by a Russian, so its owned by Russia and so its a Russian team in the eyes of many here. Its this typical outbreak of nationalism again. Sorry, yes I know, its patriotism, but being a German I often view it as nationalism.
So something very strange is happening these days. While the UK and Russia are politically far away from each other and there are deep diplomatic tensions between these two countries, Russia and the UK are actually closer than ever on a private level. More than 40 000 fans are welcomed. The president even waived the visa restrictions for this game. Russian and British fans are kicking the ball on Red Square and even though there are language problems, they give each other a smile. World peace is so easy. If the English fans only knew, why the Russian fans are so enthusiastic about soccer these days and have that very special smile. Don’t get me wrong I am not suggesting that most of the Russian fans think they “own” this English club and therefor own the fans or a piece of it, that would probably go to far.
As for me, I am not a big soccer fan. I have never been. Still, I give my sympathy to Manchester United. Not only because they are the pure English team and not connected to Russia at all, but because it doesn’t have this stupid show off glamor a la Bayern München. Its this glamor that Russians live and like. Its what they look up to, although its just a fake, bought by money. United instead is the real deal. Soccer pure, as it should be. But hey, everybody has his own reasons to favor one or the other team. OK, I am off to work. If you want to read more, check my participation on Paul Handlers sports blog at the Manchester Evening News.
I received a mail from the young German/Russian economists this morning. It had included an interesting research paper of Deutsche Bank, which I would like to share with you…
Over the past ten years, Russia has become one of the leading foreign direct investors among emerging markets. The Russian expansion abroad started in the CIS and has moved forward to industrialized countries as well as Africa. While resource-based industries continue to dominate outward investment, financial, telecom and retail trade companies are also venturing abroad. Expanding abroad provides Russian companies with access to new technologies, know-how and resources and supports the build-up of the capital stock and infrastructure investment within Russia.
Here is the direct link to the research paper: DOWNLOAD
but be sure to check Deutsche Banks Research Site. There are many interesting articles, not only about Russia. http://www.dbresearch.com
Russia not only invests into CIS countries and the 3rd World, but also into corporations in Germany and elsewhere. Often the investing companies are privately held, which could be seen as a problem further down the road, especially if these investments are done in the media sector. I just want to point to the Bertelsman discussion in Germany, a privately held company which should be public in the opinion of many Germans. The livejournal takeover by the Russian SUP group also caused great concern among livejournal users and the international press. That of course is just an example. There are other examples in other areas such as Aviation, Automobile, Aluminium, Energy, Telco and many more.
Moscow is a chaotic place these days. Streets are closed all over the place and even companies like the advertising agency TBWA, which have their offices just near Red Square, are completely closed. No, its not because of the typical May holidays, its because people simply can’t get to work. The military sealed of many of Moscow’s largest and most popular streets. No, we don’t face another revolution, although the revolution days may be remembered by a few Moscovites, witnessing the military show-off in power with all of these tanks in the city. The streets are closed in part to park large military equipment like rocket launchers, tanks and helicopters, in part because the streets are needed for rehearsals of the upcoming May 9th military parade.
Yesterday I walked up Tverskaya, one of Moscows most famous and largest streets and vital life line for Moscows traffic. The street was empty and somewhat remembered me of New Yorks Broadway the days and weeks after 9/11, when kids were playing in this large street that is usually clogged with traffic. In Moscow its not the kids, who are playing. Its the military and the police and they take their tasks very serious. The streets are lined with OMON (riot police), normal militia, traffic cops, police cadets and some strange police unit I have never seen before, wearing black leather jackets and berets. In between you’ll see lots of military personal.
Moscow is in chaos these days. The only way to get from A to B is the metro. Metro stations are partly closed and the ceilings are re-inforced to cope with the heavy trucks and tanks that will roll on teh streets above. People are confused about which streets are closed (its just too many) and Moscow is in a crisis with collapsed traffic. The city has a hard time in normal times to deal with its 4 million plus cars, but nowadays its unbearable and totally out of control. Its somewhat positive that many Moscovites have left the city for the may holidays to spend them on vacation or their datchas. The remaining Moscovites as expats are shaking their heads and asking themselves what this is all for. It seems to me that the parade preparations and the parade itself are much more intense as in the past years. They even exceed the 60th anniversary parade of 2005. Day by day the military is rehearsing the parade. Day by day the city is sealed of and turned into chaos.
Nobody really knows why the government and the Army is preparing for such a showoff. For the first time in years the army will show heavy tanks and rocket launchers. Moscow is usually closed for any kind of air traffic, but these days we have flyovers of all kinds of helicopters, jets, transporters and heavy bombers. You can see anything from the old propeller Tu-95 Bear to the modern Tu-160 long range bomber. In between the worlds largest cargo plane Antonov 320 flanked by the Mig 29 of the Strizhi or Su-37 of the Russian Knights (Russkie Vityazi) airforce acrobatics teams.
There is no doubt that Russia is going to show some serious military power on next Fridays parade. Again, this parade exceeds by far what we have seen in the past years and even at the 60th anniversary. Why do you ask yourself? Well, there can only be speculation. I assume, while most of Muscovites are pretty pissed off about it already, this should show the rest of the country that Russia is a super power again. It should unite Russia and mainly address the patriotic Russian souls. It should show Russia competing with the US, China and Europe. Medvedev is taking over tomorrow (Wed) and it should show off his power as well. Furthermore this will be a demonstration of power to the world. There is a new kid on the block and only 2 days after he takes over, he is showing his teeth and tells the world: Don’t fuck with me or (my) Russia. You better take me serious!
Here is a video from the Russian news. It shows yesterdays rehearsal. That should give you a taste of what is shown next Friday.
A video of Russia Today
And here is some more from You Tube. Some users are proud and others seem to be shocked to see tanks inside Moscow again.
