Betty Blue Director comes to Dingle

Dingle Film Festival in Partnership with Media Desk Ireland present
Contemporary Vision in European Cinema: Style and Content

The Dingle Film Festival is proud to announce, in partnership with Media Desk Ireland, that French film director Jean-Jacques Beineix will be a special guest of the festival in March 2011. Jean-Jacques Beineix will visit Dingle, Co Kerry as part of an exciting panel of film directors the festival and Media Desk are putting together to explore Contemporary Vision in European Cinema: Style & Content. The panel discussion will focus on creativity. Each director will be represented at the festival with a screening of their work.

With his intense focus on the power of images, Beineix paved the way for directors like Luc Besson, Leos Carax and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. A self-proclaimed misanthropist who never hid his contempt for producers and was often deemed excessive and irascible, he will go down in history as a director who raised controversy not for the subjects he tackled but for his stylistic approach. With Diva and Betty Blue, he directed two seminal French films of the 1980s that engaged a worldwide audience.

Beineix began his career working with major French directors including Claude Berri and René Clément and even Jerry Lewis. He created the 'new New Wave' of french cinema and influenced directors all over the world in 1981 with his debute feature, a the romantic thriller Diva. Surprisingly, Diva received a poor reception when it was first released and it was not until almost a year later at the Toronto Film Festival that it received a standing ovation, and went on to major success in the US winning four Cesar Awards including Best First Feature. Diva has been described by critics as "…brilliant, a visual extravaganza..", "Divine Madness.." and: "A thriller with a new way of looking at the world".

In 1983 Beineix directed The Moon in the Gutter starring two big names in European cinema: Gerard Depardieu and Natassia Kinsk, Beiniex filmed Cinecitta on a huge stage with a major budget and in great company: Sergio Leone was shooting Once Upon a Time in America on one side and Fellini And the Ships Sails On on the other.

In 1986 International success returned with the wonderful 37°2 le matin (Betty Blue), which was nominated for nine Cesars, a Best Foreign Oscar, and a Golden Globe, and was awarded the top prize at Montréal. Undoubtably, Betty Blue defines a generation, descibed by the crits as "feverish tale of amour fou….", "A sexually explicite tale of a crazy love", " …infinitely delecable" , "An extraordinarily sensual movie" and "A Masterpiece". Beineix then went on to produce the director's cut of the film some years later, which is three hours in duration.

In 1989, Beineix directed Roselyne et les lions (Roselyn and the Lions) followed in 1992, by IP5, which gained popularity as French actor Yves Montand's last role.

Beineix then resurfaced where he was least expected: directing with social documentaries. He did made a film about children in Romania; one on obsession, Otaku, shot in Japan concerning Japanese youth who are obsessed with action figures and video games, and a piece for television about on French magazine editor, Jean-Dominique Bauby. This piece, Locked-In syndrome, Assigné á residence, was later dramised in Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

Jean-Jacques Beineix created his own production company in 1984, Cargo Films, in order to keep artistic independence. In 2006 he published the first volume of his autobiography, Les Chantiers de la gloire published in French only. This title clearly alludes to the French title of Stanley Kubrick's film, Les Sentiers de la gloire (Paths of Glory). Additionally, Beineix is a painter, with several works available to view on his website www.cargofilms.com

Contemporary Vision in European Cinema: Style & Content will take place at the 5th Dingle Film Festival which will open on St. Patrick's Day 2011.

The festival, located on the beautiful Dingle Peninsula, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, once cited as 'the most beautiful place on Earth' by National Geographic. The Festival is also home to The Gregory Peck Award. Recipients of The Award have included 2-time Oscar nominated, Stephen Frears, 6-time Oscar nominated, Jim Sheridan and Golden Globe winner, Gabriel Byrne. Other guests who have participated in the festival include: actor Cillian Murphy, 2-time Oscar nominated, director Sir Alan Parker, Garrett Brown - inventor of the Stedicam, 2-time Oscar winner, sound artist Tom Johnson, 2-time Oscar winner Barbara Kopple; producer Ned Dowd, and Oscar nominated actresses Sarah Miles and Saoirse Ronan.

Labels: Dingle Film Festival, Dingle Things to do, Irish film festival, Jean-Jacque Beineix