Absences and (Im)possibilities, is a programme of experimental Irish film curated by the Experimental Film Club (Aoife Desmond, Alan Lambert, Donal Foreman and Esperanza Collado), commissioned by Irish Film Institute International and supported by Culture Ireland. The programme features a selection of films from 1897 to 2013, chosen for their relation to the possibility of an Irish experimental cinema. This touring programme, in partnership with LUX, presents a selection of films from the full programme. Filmmakers include the Lumiére brothers, Samuel Beckett, Vivienne Dick, Maximillian Le Cain, Dónal Ó Céilleachair and Jesse Jones.

IFI & Experimental Film Club present:
Devoted Songs, The Films Of Nathaniel Dorsky

The devotional cinema of American filmmaker Nathaniel Dorsky is a rare treasure that allows for a distinct experience of time and meditation. His films blend a poetic and introspective view of his environments with an exploration of the different cognitive and emotional associations that can be established between one shot and the next.

Available to view only on 16mm, this programme of Dorsky’s films, curated by EFC member Esperanza Collado in collaboration with Lumiére magazine, represents a truly unique opportunity to experience this important work. The programme features three films: The Visitation, the first of Dorsky’s Devoted Songs; Winter, a seasonal portrait of New York; and Alaya, one of the filmmaker’s most radical and structural works.

A collaborative project by Esperanza Collado and Maximilian Le Cain.

The project Operation Rewrite started in January 2011 as an online video work in which both artists contributed a number of pieces of 45 seconds according to a set of rules, of which the most important was that a third of each video should be black screen. This peculiarity - the fundamental presence of negative spaces as expropriation, displacement of meaning and projection of thought- became the focus of the project, which soon expanded its activities to other areas of development, such as installation and performance, thanks to a grant from the MUSAC Artistic Creation. The film concept we examine in and out of the film medium is continuously reevaluated, so that perception and projection technology, as well as the articulation of signs, the body, the materiality of film and domestic consumer goods are part of our work. The project explores the mechanisms of editing, suspension and interruption understood as associating principles that connect to the movies with the act of reading. As the project progresses, certain objects, images and actions are repeated and reconfigured, gaining resonance and meaning. Operation Rewrite occupies an area between dreams, film and mundane ritual.