For many people the most hectic week of the year began on Tuesday night with the opening film of the Dublin Film Festival at the Savoy. Aine O'Halloran, director of the festival, must have been psychic when she programmed Francis Ford Coppola's The Rainmaker - it bucketed down non-stop on the night in question.
This didn't stop the usual film crowd from turning up to the film and then afterwards, to the party at Planet Hollywood. Tom Collins, director of Bogwoman which will be screened during the festival, was there while Rachael Dowling, the film's star, was celebrating her own first short, Stealth, which will also be shown. Director Alan Gilsenan came along, too. His film, All Soul's Day, is currently on release and he is finishing the third series of his popular RTE show, Home Movie Nights, which is produced by the festival's former director, Martin Mahon.
Dancer Jean Butler came along with her partner, Richard Boyle - Jean is an avid film buff who took in plenty of last year's festival screenings. Actors Claudia Carroll and Marian O'Dwyer couldn't make the film as they were on stage at the Gate in Stella By Starlight but they popped up afterwards to enjoy the party. Mick Hannigan came from Cork for the opening night; as director of the Murphy's Cork Film Festival, he is already hard at work programming.