Golden Globe nominee to launch movie festival

Golden Globe nominee Cillian Murphy is to launch Ireland’s biggest movie event, the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, organisers confirmed today.

Murphy, who is currently wowing Irish audiences in Neil Jordan’s Breakfast on Pluto in the cross-dressing role of Kitten Braden, will announce the packed programme for the festival this Wednesday.

The fourth Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, which runs from February 17 to 26, will open with the World Premiere of Paul Mercier’s Studs, starring Brendan Gleeson and David Wilmot.

The film, which follows Gleeson as he attempts to kick a soccer team of no-hopers into cup winning heroes, was shot in west Dublin last year.

The catalogue for the festival, which last year screened around 100 films to over 30,000 people, includes a batch of Golden Globe winning films and BAFTA nominees.

Another film included in the programme is Capote, which already scooped the Golden Globe for Best Actor with Philip Seymour Hoffman and is a hot favourite for the best actor Oscar. The film follows author Truman Capote as he investigates the killings which inspired his well-known non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood.

The programme includes Paradise Now, which won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, whilst another film, Transamerica, starring Desperate Housewife actress Felicity Huffman as a transsexual has received rave reviews in the US.

A political thriller, Syriana, starring George Clooney, will also be shown in the festival. Irish actor, Pierce Brosnan will hit the screens in The Matador as a washed-up hitman.

Other BAFTA Nominees in the festival include Shooting Dogs and Tsotsi.