FILM: ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE CINEMA/THE SONG CYCLE/HOKUM
A big weekend for new Irish cinema! Writer and director David Gleeson's Once Upon a Time in a Cinema is an autobiographical love letter to the joys of moviegoing, set over the course of one eventful evening in 1980s Ireland, celebrating the charm and chaos of a small-town cinema (Selected cinemas nationwide). Damien McCarthy's Hokum is the latest scary movie from the talented Corkonian writer/director of Oddity: when reclusive novelist Ohm Bauman (Severance's Adam Scott) retreats to a remote Irish inn to scatter his parents' ashes, the staff's tales of an ancient witch haunting the honeymoon suite take hold of his mind (Cinemas nationwide). DIY documentary The Song Cycle tells the story of musician and filmmaker Nick Kelly's novel attempt to travel by bicycle from Ireland to perform at the 2022 Glastonbury Festival, accompanied by his friend and fellow musician Seán Millar - it's a meditation on art, mortality and friendship, with some killer tunes (IFI Dublin, then nationwide)
EVENT: FESTIVAL OF FOOLS
Over 50 free performances will take over Belfast's city centre as the fantabulous Festival of Fools returns, bigger than ever as streets, squares and hidden corners become an open-air stage for world-class circus, street theatre and comedy - all free over the Bank Holiday weekend. Celebrating its 21st year, audiences might expect an action-packed programme of acrobatic performances, local legends, interactive games and lots of clowning, with a special focus on celebrating female performers. It's a joyful, family-friendly spectacle for all ages (Various locations, Belfast, Saturday 2nd to Monday 4th May)
MUSIC: BALLYDEHOB JAZZ FESTIVAL
The West Cork bash returns for its 20th edition, welcoming an estimated 8,000 visitors to the tiny (yet mighty) village of only 345 residents, filling the streets with music, street performances, dance, circus, puppetry and creativity a go-go. The Festival Hall plays host to the Paul Dunlea Quintet with their Loch Trasna Suite and Benji Bower's new work Trasnaíocht, while the late-night club sessions feature an appearance from RTÉ lyric fm's own Donal Dineen. A free music trail presents performances across venues throughout the village, while additional events include an aerial circus show (plus children's circus school), a craft and food market, puppet shows, lindy hop dance classes and even a jazz funeral parade. It's a unique event, and a total hoot to boot (Various venues, Ballydehob, West Cork, until 4th May)
ART: STAC @ 30
2026 marks the 30th anniversary of the opening of South Tipperary Arts Centre (STAC) and STAC @ 30 is a major celebration of artists from, or living in, Tipperary who feature in the National Collection: featuring works from the past three decades by Aideen Barry, John Burke, Ursula Burke, Sheenagh Geoghegan, Patricia Hurl, Alice Maher, Austin McQuinn, and Bridget O'Gorman, the exhibition celebrates the local community in South Tipperary who fought to keep their centre afloat for a decade when funding was withdrawn following the banking crisis and their proud handover to a talented new generation. It's the first exhibition of a yearlong programme that will focus on the artists and work that continues to come out of the region. Fair play, in fairness (South Tipperary Arts Centre, Clonmel, until 20th June)
partly funded by David Kronn and the American Friends of the Arts in Ireland, 2024)
BOOK: CTRL
In this fascinating (and illuminating) new anthology, writers turn their focus to one of the most influential – and persistently misunderstood – art forms of the modern era. Through memoir, criticism, and choice narrative digressions, these eclectic essays explore the miriad of ways video games intersect with the complicated business of being human. Contributors include Sheila Armstrong, Úna-Minh Kavanagh, Darragh McCausland, Lisa McInerney, John Patrick McHugh, Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan and Stephen Sexton, writing about games like Final Fantasy IX, Fallout: New Vegas, Pokémon, Doom, Tomb Raider and Red Dead Redemption. It's a book that captures the emotional and cultural force of video games, and the stories we carry with us when we finally put the controller down - RTÉ Arena takes a deeper dive below (Out now, Lilliput Press)
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