JAMESON DUBLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

MONDAY 17TH FEBRUARY
JAMESON DUBLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2014
THE PAST
LE PASSÉ
Following the taut Oscar-winning divorce drama
A Separation, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi returns
with another stunning study of modern family life,
this time set on the outskirts of Paris where Ahmad
(Ali Mosaffa) arrives from Tehran to finalise the end
of his tempestuous marriage to estranged wife
Marie (Bérénice Bejo). The Past, however, is not
simply a variation on a theme; it is a gripping,
emotional detective story, as curious Ahmad
investigates the events of the previous four years,
his interest piqued by Marie’s sulky teenage daughter
Lucie (Pauline Burlet), whose strange contempt for
her mother’s new boyfriend Samir (Tahar Rahim)
sets the story in motion.
‘An intricate and often brilliant drama, with restrained and
intelligent performances’ The Guardian
Mon 17 Feb / Light House 1 / 8.15pm / 130 minutes
Writer-director: Asghar Farhadi 2013 France/Iran
Cast: Ali Mosaffa, Bérénice Bejo, Tahar Rahim
Farhadi’s cast is note-perfect, especially The Artist’s
Bejo, playing beautifully against type as a flaky
suburban mother of three. But the real star is the
script, a masterwork of restraint that drip-feeds one
explosive revelation after another.
Damon Wise
BFI London Film Festival
Winner, Best Actress, Cannes Film Festival
With the support of the French Embassy in Ireland
THE MATCHMAKER
Set in Haifa in the summer of 1968, The
Matchmaker is a tender story of love, loss and
survival in the aftermath of the Second World War.
Director Avi Nesher explores a fascinating juncture in
Israeli history, where an embryonic society still reeling
from the Holocaust is beset by the cultural-sexual
upheaval of the sixties.
‘gripping’
The New York Times
Mon 17 Feb / Cineworld 12 / 8.30pm / 112 minutes
Writer-director: Avi Nesher 2010 Israel
Cast: Adir Miller, Maya Dagan, Tuval Shafir
Winner, Best Actor & Best Actress, Israeli Academy Awards
Winner, Best Director, Chicago International Film Festival
Sixteen-year-old Arik is at loose ends one summer
when he gets a job offer from a mysterious old friend
of his father’s named Yankele Bride. A Holocaust
survivor, Bride makes his living as a matchmaker and
hires Arik to scout potential clients throughout the
bustling port city. The diverse characters he meets on
the job open Arik’s eyes to a world of wonder,
pain and longing, offering him glimpses into
unspeakable darkness and the depths of human
love. There is Clara, a beautiful, fragile woman whom
Bride loves from afar; Sylvia, a survivor of Josef
Mengele’s Nazi experiments who yearns for a partner;
and Meir, a librarian whose search for love leads him
to commit an extraordinary act of malice. Then Arik
falls in love for the first time, a development that
brings surprising consequences.
AICE Israeli Film Festival
With special guest Avi Nesher
56 BOOK ONLINE AT JDIFF.COM