JDIFF 2014

Sad Professor

That time of the year again.

This year’s programme is being unveiled on the 20th of January with tickets going on sale on the 21st. More info on the website, but the opening film is John McDonagh's Calvary on the 13th of February. Richard Dreyfus and Terry Gilliam are the guests of honour this year.

Any predictions? I guess we can expect most of the stuff that showed at LFF that hasn't been released yet. Richard Ayoade's The Double, Stranger by the Lake, Asghar Farhadi’s The Past, Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem (a lock since he’s attending), Kelly Reichardt’s Night Moves, Lukas Moodysson’s We Are the Best, and Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin to name a few. Hopefully James Gray’s The Immigrant as well and maybe even Sion Sono’s Why Don't You Play in Hell (though JDIFF’s Asian offerings are usually pretty slim). Anything else?

I guess The Raid 2 is (very small) possibility as the surprise film. It’s showing at Sundance next week, so too early to be part of the main programme, I’d imagine. But ya never know, given the hugely positive response to the first film in 2012, they might be able to secure it as the surprise film. It’s out in the US in March anyway, so it’s not like it’s going to have much of a festival run. It depends on Momentum, I guess.

johnny_ultimate

I'd say the Raid 2 is almost a given. Surely they'll be pushing for it given the rapturous reception two years ago!

Along with the ones mentioned above, I'm eager to see A Touch of Sin so hopefully that will make the cut.

Got an email today saying tickets will be going on sale at 10 am in the 21st rather than the usual midnight rush. Hopefully a few more of their web engineers will be awake at that time

Sad Professor

The JDIFF rush is nothing compared to LFF, which I was planning to go to until their payment servers melted down and they sold everything in my basket - not once but several times. Seems it’s an annual thing with the BFI and they don’t care too much since everything sells out anyway. Some of their ticket prices are extortion and there’s no season ticket or discounts for multiple ticket purchases, so I was kind of glad I didn’t get to go in the end.

johnny_ultimate

I once had to try and get tickets for the Berlin film festival. That was "fun".

Sad Professor

The bigger festival the more stressful the whole experience seems to be. Even people with press accreditation from smaller publications at Cannes have to stand around outside theatres begging for tickets. I just don’t think I could do that.

e_e

Hoping for all of the aforementioned, plus:

Beyond Outrage
Closed Curtain
Fruitvale Station
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Norte the End of History
Snowpiercer
The Spectacular Now
The Wind Rises

Think I'll skip the inevitable surprise film though. :P

Sad Professor

Unfortunately I think Weinstein is blocking Snowpiercer from being played or released in Europe at the moment. Thankfully the Blu-ray isn’t far off.

I’ve already seen it, but The Grandmaster may make an appearance. Unless Harvey has decided to shelve it as well.

S.M.B.

Will Stranger by the Lake not be getting a full release around that time anyway? It's getting quite a big push here in London at the moment anyway.

Sad Professor

Perhaps, I didn't realise it was out in February. Although it didn't stop them showing Maragret in 2012 a few days before its official release.

johnny_ultimate

Yeah the IFI mention Stranger by the Lake will be out in February in their January catalogue.

As ever, there'll be a handful of premieres of films out in February or even during the festival itself (like Stoker last year if I recall correctly).

JP Liz V1

I thought Lenny Abrahamson's Frank might also be shown

delbertgrady

Yet again, they have one of their high profile guests (Richard Dreyfuss) attending a competition-winners-only screening, i.e., the Jameson Cult Film Screening of Jaws. Presumably, given their penchant for filling up the schedule with reissues, they'll be showing at least one or two old films from Terry Gilliam as well.

D-FENS

Can't wait for the Zero Theorem, Gilliam always has a interesting take on dystopian futures.
And love to meet the man who brought Fear and Loathing to the big screen so well.

delbertgrady

I actually met Terry Gilliam at one of the Tom Waits gigs in the Phoenix Park a few years ago. A total gent.

dulcet

Hi All,

Long time listener, first time caller here. Be gentle!

Bit of insider info for you about the film fest this year. Gilliams New film will be shown - zero theorem. that'll be the cineworld gala.

The Stag (Irish Film) will be the closing Gala - all the cast will be there.

Grand Budapest is in there (no big guests though).

Other Guists, aprt from those realised, are Brenda fricker & James Fox. Richard Ayode will be there with his new film 'The double'. For all the 90120 fans out there, Jason Priestly will be in attendnce with his new flick Cas & Dylan which he mad with Richard Dreyfus (Q&A Afterwards)

Peter Morgan will be there as well, getting a Volta fur all his writin. Amongst the old films will be The Deer Hunter. No limbs No Limts will be shown also, with herself in attendance.
Noes to raid 2 and frank tho. unlees their the surprise film!

delbertgrady

All the Sherlock fans will snap up tickets to The Stag if Moriarty is going to be there.

vidor

A little bit fed up with this festival but it's tough when you're up against some of the bigger ones out there and you've got it on early in the year. Any use in moving it to a different time or is it still going to suffer?

Last few programmes have been too weak in my opinion. A bit scattered (have they ever screened a proper retrospective?) and not all that inspiring in their selections. Festival might need a bit of a shake up.

e_e

dulcet wrote: »

Noes to raid 2 and frank tho. unlees their the surprise film!

I can't imagine it being The Raid. Not sure the surprise audience will fully embrace an ultra-violent 2.5 hour martial arts epic and it's clearly something that will draw a huge audience if advertised on the program.

The surprise tends to be more "acceptable" crowd-pleasers, just something watchable that won't get too many complaints.

delbertgrady

More recently, the Surprise Film just tends to be whatever junk a distributor is willing to part with. It has gone from being a potentially exciting prospect to being an object of ridicule. The batting average has been awful, especially in the last few years. At this stage, it should probably be scrapped altogether. You can't please all the people all the time, but you know you're in trouble if the film's subsequent general release is met with scathing reviews, as has been the case with many of them.

fitz

In my opinion JDIFF has been in decline since Michael Dwyer handed over the reins.
I used to go every year, and see at least 10 screenings.
I've gone to one or two screenings in total over the last two years.

There used to be a good handful of big movies that would be getting pre-release screenings at the festival, but that seems to have dried up to a large extent.

Don't get me started on how the Surprise Film has been turned into a complete omnishambles.
Hamlet 2 was the death-knell of JDIFF for me as a regular attendee.

e_e

It shouldn't be judged by the big films that they get really, to me it's the unexpected smaller films that really make an impact. Like Post Tenebras Lux/Pieta last year, as long as there's really unexpected stuff like that in the program I'll keep going.

Unless they get the films very early the surprise is always going to be a gamble anyway. I quite enjoyed Cedar Rapids and This Must Be the Place at least.

delbertgrady

fitz wrote: »

In my opinion JDIFF has been in decline since Michael Dwyer handed over the reins. I used to go every year, and see at least 10 screenings. I've gone to one or two screenings in total over the last two years.
There used to be a good handful of big movies that would be getting pre-release screenings at the festival, but that seems to have dried up to a large extent.
Don't get me started on how the Surprise Film has been turned into a complete omnishambles. Hamlet 2 was the death-knell of JDIFF for me as a regular attendee.

I could have written this post myself, and - in fact - I probably have written something very similar in previous years. I don't expect a return to the halcyon days of the original festival, which - back in the 1990s, in particular, was very impressive - but the mix that the much-missed Michael Dwyer used to have, including the aforementioned "big movies" was very balanced indeed. Gone are the days when I used to occasionally hit three or four films a day. And don't get me started on the reissues that keep being wheeled out to plug gaps in the schedule.

Sad Professor

Looks like a good line-up. Better than last year anyway. But like e_e said, it’s the smaller films that really make the festival.

Among the notable films showing: Only Lovers Left Alive, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Visitors, Strangers by the Lake, The Past, The Congress, Under the Skin, We Are The Best, The Double, The Zero Theorem, A Touch of Sin.

But unfortunately no Night Moves, The Immigrant and Why Don’t You Play in Hell. No Snowpiercer or The Grandmaster either (TWC appears to be trying to bury both of them out of spite) and no Raid 2 (too soon).

e_e

Good stuff. Might tag along to the preview in the Lighthouse tonight to see the full list too.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Tickets for The Grand Budapest Hotel will be harder to come by than Garth Brooks tickets.

e_e

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Tickets for The Grand Budapest Hotel will be harder to come by than Garth Brooks tickets.

Which is why you oughtta book your ticket first thing tomorrow.

johnny_ultimate

Delighted with the lineup this year, best I can recall. A considerable majority of the films I hoped would be there are, and plenty of small films that sound great as well (The Reunion sounds particularly fun, although is in conflict with We Are the Best!). A few I had forgotten about also made the cut, like Mark Cousin's A Story of Film and Children and Gondry's Mood Indigo. Shame the usual lack of Japanese cinema is out in force again. But I walked out of the preview with 16 tickets based on a glance at the programme alone A couple more I'll be booking tonight as well.

The last Sunday is looking like the only silly day for conflicts. The Fake, At Berkeley and a live accompaniment screening of Safety Last all on at the same time that morning, all of which I'd have gone to if they had their own slot.

Edit: missed it first time, but the new Hong Sangsoo film Our Sunhi is there as well

delbertgrady

The Grand Budapest Hotel clashes with the Wrecking Crew documentary.
Thanks a lot, Grainne...

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Do all the films only have one showing each? I know they want some of them to be big events and that but don't other festivals have a few showings?

e_e

What's going on with season tickets? Can I use mine to book online or do I have to go into filmbase with it? Don't want to head in tomorrow evening and find that several films I wanted were booked out already.

budgemook

Turns out I'm away for a couple of the ones I'm interested in.

A long way down - didn't know it had been made. Was a Nick Hornby fan not so long ago and they have a writer that was involved in High Fidelity involved. Should be good but I'll have to wait.

Zero interest in The Stag, won't be around for Zero Therom or Grand Budapest Hotel and don't know any of the others at this stage. Usual JDIFF for me so!

johnny_ultimate

e_e wrote: »

What's going on with season tickets? Can I use mine to book online or do I have to go into filmbase with it? Don't want to head in tomorrow evening and find that several films I wanted were booked out already.

You're meant to be able to book online (from half three this afternoon), but it surprise surprise seems borked at the moment. It's definitely recognising me as a season ticket holder as I can access booking pages but it won't let me progress without a promo code.

You should be fine though, they reserve tickets for all screenings for season ticket holders until Friday. There was an email sent out about it last week. I'm glad I grabbed most of the big tickets this afternoon at the programme preview, but there's still a couple more I'd like to reserve ASAP just in case!

Sad Professor

Online booking seems to be working for me. I can add films and they are being discounted by a 100 percent. But it still wants to charge me the 1 euro booking charge per order. I don’t mind paying this once for the convenience of booking online, but I don’t want to have decide on everything now.

e_e

Great stuff, fully decided on the two dozen or so I want to see.

johnny_ultimate

They offered to discount the one euro online booking fee for me at the Filmbase box office last year :pac:

Sad Professor

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

They offered to discount the one euro online booking fee for me at the Filmbase box office last year :pac:

So you have to pay it otherwise?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

So.... if there's tickets sold at the preview and there's season ticket pre booking thing too.... what are the chances of me actually getting tickets tomorrow morning? Can't be that many left for general public?

johnny_ultimate

Sad Professor wrote: »

So you have to pay it otherwise?

Yeah I think so, just an annoying quirk of the booking system I'd say.

Definitely can't book anything at the moment which is a pain, glad I went into the programme briefing earlier to book then and there. I'll give them a call tomorrow if they don't reply to my email / tweet combo

johnny_ultimate

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

So.... if there's tickets sold at the preview and there's season ticket pre booking thing too.... what are the chances of me actually getting tickets tomorrow morning? Can't be that many left for general public?

You'll be fine, the preview as just for season ticket holders which there aren't that many of (there was only around twenty at the preview, I wouldn't say there's any more than fifty or so all in all). It's always chaos when tickets go on sale but if you're on first thing you'll more than likely get what you want. It's only the really big films - which I'd say this year will be Budapest, opening / closing, and maybe the Dreyfus screenings - that tend to go really quickly. I don't think I've ever had a problem getting a ticket when I've been online when they go on sale generally.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

You'll be fine, the preview as just for season ticket holders which there aren't that many of (there was only around twenty at the preview, I wouldn't say there's any more than fifty or so all in all). It's always chaos when tickets go on sale but if you're on first thing you'll more than likely get what you want. It's only the really big films - which I'd say this year will be Budapest, opening / closing, and maybe the Dreyfus screenings - that tend to go instantaneously.

Yeah. I'll try for Budapest but I won't hold my breath. One or two others I wouldn't mind seeing but won't cry over if I can't get tickets. Just wondered was there any point in even trying in the morning, but I'll give it a go.

Sad Professor

I had no problems getting tickets last year. Book as soon as it opens in the morning or within the first hour and you should get everything you want. At most you might miss out the surprise film and maybe one other. And even if you do, extra tickets will be released after the 27th.

johnny_ultimate

Ah, just tried the site in another browser and it let me book no problem. That's the core two dozen films booked anyway, really looking forward to it now

e_e

The only thing left for me to book now is Calvary, and maybe a few of the morning screenings.

Liam McPoyle

The one I'm most interested in is the original Dawn of the Dead getting screened with a live soundtrack performance by Goblin.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I had a big long list of ones I wanted to see but after going through it properly I realised that a lot of them clash with each other, so that kind of cuts my list in half

Any ideas what the secret film is?

johnny_ultimate

Be aware that the printed programme doesn't have Only Lovers Left Alive listed, at least on the main timetable. I'm using that page for scheduling and almost forgot about Mr Jarmusch as a result!

mystic86

Website not loading for anybody else?

Squelchy

Website's bunched for me. Which is truly shocking.

Noise Annoys

Website down! I feel a 'Twitter storm' a-coming....!

Cardex

Yeah website down. Booking line has a recorded message to say office is now closed. Called the other number to the main office and a nice chap called Kevin is calling me back as soon as he's figured out what's going on.

e_e

Got in the queue at half 9 to book my remaining tickets and was fine.