Tell your friends to hit the road. Check your goldfish into the kennel. Put a ‘sling your hook’ notice on your MySpace page. It’s that wonderful time of the year again – a time when one can sit alone in the dark and screw up your circadian rhythms for weeks on end. After a time you’ll be a twisted wreck. You won’t know the day or time. But you’ll be happy.

This year’s programme, the last from festival folk hero Michael Dwyer, offers plenty of delights. Not least among them is Woody Allen’s latest Britcentric confection Scoop, which, like last year’s return to form Match Point, features the director’s latest youthful muse Scarlett Johansson, plus the not inconsiderable talents of Hugh Jackman and Deadwood’s Ian McShane. Those who feign no interest in the Academy Awards may be appalled to learn how heavily Awards Season is represented at JDIFF ‘07. There’s Clint Eastwood’s Letters From Iwo Jima, crack addiction drama Half Nelson, Peter O’Toole’s latest comeback Venus, and the sumptuous period piece Curse Of The Golden Flower. Foreign language films in the running for a bald gold statuette include Stasi drama The Lives Of Others, Canadian hopeful Water and the Algerian entry Days Of Glory.
Protesters should take particular note of Deliver Us From Evil, the chilling paedophile priest documentary. Normally, when a film such as this one, which is partly shot in Ireland, receives an Oscar nod, we’d organise some jingoistic display. In the appalling circumstances, however, it’s hard to start waving your inner-tricolour.
Oh well. You can always cheer yourself up by catching big Hollywood movies before they arrive, including Steven Soderbergh’s The Good German and Freedom Writers with Hilary Swank. More indie-fied choices include Richard Linklater’s Fast Food Nation, Taxidermia and A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints starring Robert Downey Jr.
Exotically minded folk can enjoy seasons from France and Germany and films from such far flung locations as Mongolia. Completests meanwhile should be alerted to the fantastic Tony Takatani, the compellingly slow-paced thriller (no, really) Mountain Patrol and Woody Allen’s Scoop, as none of these great films will get a theatrical outing in the Republic.
Irish titles, as ever, are strongly represented and for once, they’re a genuinely exciting prospect. In addition to Niall Heery’s Small Engine Repair and Robert Quinn’s Irish language feature Cré na Cille, you can catch John Carney’s Sundance-conquering Once, starring Glen Hansard.
When they’ve caught the Frames’ frontman in action, loyal readers of rock periodicals should be thrilled by the inclusion of Scott Walker 30 Century Man and the occasionally car-crash spectacle of The Thrills as they attempt to record their third album.
Now, here comes the science bit. As with previous years, the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival (JDIFF, see?) will run between Friday 16th – Sunday 25th of February, sprawling between all the the Dublin city centre cinemas, including the Screen D’Olier Street, Cineworld, the Irish Film Institute and the Savoy. Relevant prices are below. Book early and book often. If it all seems too confusing then no matter. We’ve put together this handy guide to selected highlights just for you. Aren’t we super?
See you in the daylight on the other side.

• Once upon a time in Dublin - A musical set in modern Dublin? Starring The Frames’ Glen Hansard as a love-struck busker? Nobody believed in John Carney’s Once but, following a rave debut at the Sundance film festival, it might just prove to be the biggest Irish movie of the year
• Movies you can't afford to miss - With so many quality movies being screened, buffs will be spoilt for choice at this year’s Jameson Dublin International Film Festival. To help you out, Hot Press has picked its 20 essential flicks, with appropriate ‘tasting’ notes.
• Vroom with a view - Small Engine Repair may be Niall Heery’s first feature film, but having picked up an award for best first feature at Galway last year and several other shiny trinkets, it’s one of the most keenly anticipated Irish titles in years.
• Republic of recluse - Getting inside the head of one of modern music’s deepest enigmas was both a challenge and a privilege, says documentary maker Stephen Kijak, director of Scott Walker 30 Century Man