Stars align for JDiff 2015

Don’t be surprised to see the likes of Julie Andrews roaming the streets of Dublin in the coming days

This year’s Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, which began yesterday, will be buzzing about the city for another 10 hectic days.

As ever, celebrities are milling about with loyal punters. Tomorrow, Kenneth Branagh, the Belfast-born multi- tasker, is to present his version of Cinderella at the Savoy on O'Connell Street. On Sunday at lunchtime, Ryan O'Neal will be among those attending a 40th-anniverary screening of Stanley Kubrick's lushly beautiful Barry Lyndon.

Next weekend, Julie Andrews is at the festival for a public interview and a closing screening of The Sound of Music. On Thursday, following an unveiling of her new TV series Sensitive Skin in Movies@Dundrum, Kim Cattrall will be in conversation with this newspaper's Tara Brady.

Many of these high-profile events will sell out, but be aware that there is a wealth of other premieres worthy of the connoisseur's attention. Do not miss Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy's remarkable The Tribe on Tuesday evening. The Ukrainian film, delivered in sign language without subtitles, tells a grimly thrilling story set in a school for the deaf.

READ MORE

Ana Lily Amirpour's A Girl Walk's Home Alone at Night, playing on Wednesday, is surely the most impressive Iranian vampire film you'll see this year. Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story Of Cannon Film, screening this Sunday, presents a journey into the world of Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus's notorious schlock cinema of the 1980s.

There is further madness in Dennis Rodman's Big Bang In Pyongyang, which examines that basketball player's amateur diplomacy in North Korea. It will be a busy, busy week. jdiff.com