2019 IFI Documentary Festival Programme Announced

Culture vultures and music amateurs in Dublin may want to take a closer looks at this! The IFI Documentary Festival has a lot to offer for its 17th edition. It will feature Bill Drummond, PJ Harvey, and the late Mic Christopher amongst a long list of subjects, invited guests and Q&A pannelists.

It will open with the Irish premiere of Benjamin Berman’s The Amazing Johnathan Documentary. Benjamin Berman filmed the comeback tour of magician-comedian The Amazing Johnathan who, given a year to live in 2014, retired from public life, only to find himself still alive three years later.

This year’s line-up will also include the world premiere of Peter Kelly’s Journey to the Edge. It follows the epic voyage of Galway businessman Enda O’Coineen, the first Irishman among an elite group of sailors aiming to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe as part of the extremely challenging Vendée Globe Race. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with O’Coineen and Peter Kelly.

Paul Duane’s Best Before Death, made in collaboration with Bill Drummond, focusing on his visits to Kolkata and North Carolina to build beds, bake cakes, make soup and shine shoes. The screening will be followed by a live performance from the artist, along with actor Tam Dean Burn, in the form of a short play in two parts, White Saviour Complex.

Other guests include Alan Leonard and Niall Carver, directors and producers of Heyday, a portrait of late musician Mic Christopher.

Director Ziad Kalthoum will also take part in a Q&A following the screening of Taste of Cement, a look at the lives of Syrian labourers working on skyscrapers in the searing heat of Beirut.

Renaud Barret will also be present as the director of the festival’s closing film, Système K, which examines the emerging art scene in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, amid social and political unrest.

As per usual, a lot of other current issues will be addressed in this year's IFI Documentary festival. Rachel Leah Jones and Philippe Bellaiche’s Advocate follows Lea Tsemel, an Israeli lawyer who has defended the human rights of Palestinian prisoners for five decades.

In the breathtaking A Dog Called Money, award-winning photographer Seamus Murphy chronicles the creative process of acclaimed musician PJ Harvey. Travelling together on some of his worldwide reporting trips to Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Washington DC, Murphy collects images of vast and varied landscapes while Harvey collects words which will form the basis of her album, The Hope Six Demolition Project.

There is a lot more to discover in the IFI Documentary Festival's rich programme, which you can check out below.

FULL SCHEDULE

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25th
20.30 The Amazing Johnathan Documentary

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26th
18.15 Advocate
20.30 A Dog Called Money + Q&A

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27th
18.30 Los Reyes
20.20 Best Before Death + White Saviour Complex performance

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28th
13.30 Irish Shorts Programme
14.10 Gods of Molenbeek
15.40 Citizen Europe + Q&A
15.50 Talking About Trees
18.00 Push + Panel discussion
20.30 Heyday + Q&A

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29th
13.00 Journey to the Edge + Q&A
15.10 Taste of Cement + Q&A
15.20 The Pit
17.30 Cold Case Hammarskjöld
20.00 Système K + Q&A

Tickets are available here.