The Isle was due to open at UGC Cinemas in Dublin on September 10th as part of the touring Asia Extreme seasonorganised by the London-based distributors, Tartan Films. On that date, showings of the South Korean film were listed in all the daily UGC advertisements, and a display ad for the film was run in The Ticket, as was Donald Clarke's review. But the film never opened and has yet to receive a public screening in Ireland.
The Isle was submitted to the censor's office on September 8th, just two days before it was due to be released - very late notice at an exceptionally busy period for new releases. John Kelleher, the film censor, made time to view it the next day, but found that some elements of the film required serious consideration.
"We contacted Tartan and drew attention to scenes of sexual violence and explicit self-mutilation that were causing us concern," he says. "It was entirely up to Tartan Films if they wanted to resubmit the same version of the film, or a different version."
Tartan subsequently submitted an altered version of the film, which was viewed by Kelleher on Wednesday morning and passed with an 18 certificate. The film had already been cut by 110 seconds by the British Board of Film Classification because of a scene of animal cruelty.
In his three-star review, Donald Clarke noted "the notorious scene ... in which the female lead, part avenging angel, part lady of the lake, inserts fishhooks into her vagina and then, as if that were not uncomfortable enough, hauls them out again". He also noted that in the film's "envelope-pushing shock therapy ... the hero does something similar to his oesophagus".
The Isle will probably open at the end of the Asia Extreme season, on November 5th.
Farrell the sole Irish choice
Nominated for Intermission, Colin Farrell is one of the 10 actors shortlisted for Best European Actor in the Jameson People's Choice prizes at this year's European Film Awards, to be presented in Barcelona on December 11th. His fellow nominees include Hugh Grant (Love Actually), Fele Martínez (Bad Education), Daniel Bruhl (Love in Thoughts), Daniel Craig (The Mother) and Colin Firth (Girl With a Pearl Earring). The nominees for Best European Actress include Isabelle Huppert (Ma Mère), Anne Reid (The Mother), Penelope Cruz (Don't Move), Eva Green (The Dreamers), Samantha Morton (Code 46), and Fanny Ardant and Emmanuelle Béart (Nathalie).
Once again, there are no Irish productions on the long shortlist of 24 films for the awards presented by the European Film Academy. That line-up again includes Love Actually, Bad Education and Girl With a Pearl Earring, along with Jean-Luc Godard's Notre Musique, Gianni Smelio's Le Chiavi di Casa, Christophe Barratier's Les Choristes, François Ozon's 5X2, and Alejandro Amenábar's Mar Adentro.
Documentaries encouraged
Filmbase has launched two new documentary schemes. The RTÉ/ Filmbase Pilot Documentary Awards is for 24-minute documentaries, for which there will be two awards of €10,000 along with facilities. The organisers are keen to seek out new talent and new directions from established directors.
Fiosru is a new TG4/Filmbase initiative, which is open to all forms and formats of Irish-language documentary production, especially those that embrace experimentation. There will be up to six awards of €8,000 each along with facilities. The deadline for all submissions is November 5th. www.filmbase.ie
mdwyer@irish-times.ie
