Joyce and the Cinema presented by Kurt Palm

As a modern writer, James Joyce was very familiar with the new medium of his time. A "cinematic" style was not only an integral part of his writing strategy; he also ran a cinema in his native Dublin. Later on, his literature presented a constant challenge for adventurous filmmakers who adapted his work for the screen.

 

The Film Museum will be showing three programmes on James Joyce, each of which will be presented by Kurt Palm.  The "Volta Programme" reconstructs Joyce's perspective as a cinema manager: all the short films in this programme were shown in 1909 at the Volta cinema in Dublin. Finnegans Wake (1965) is American filmmaker Mary Ellen Bute's Herculean endeavour to adapt the uncharted landscape of Joyce's text for the medium of film. Finally, John Huston's last film, The Dead (1987), represents the most successful attempt to construct a classical – and very moving – tale for the cinema based on a work by Joyce.