The Ornithologist

(Dir. Joao Pedro Rodrigues, 2016)

The ornithologist of the title is looking for some rare birds in a wild forest area in North Portugal, and a series of unforeseen events and unexpected encounters will turn his quiet day-out into a desperate and terrifying struggle to stay sane, and possibly alive. The story is a mixture of adventure, thriller, wild-life documentary, horror, black humour, hallucination, and spiritual quest. The film is genuinely strange, in the way it thinks itself up. Reviewers have compared Rodrigues to Tarkovsky and Buñuel, but The Ornithologist seems closer to Kurosawa’s Dreams (and a scene in a train tunnel looks like a quote from it). It is certainly beautifully filmed, and its scenes are set-pieces which seem to jump from one reality to another. Portugal has, like Ireland, a history of Catholic control – and this is a story of demonic forces running amok in nature. An exorcism may be required.
We are delighted to present the Irish premiere of this remarkable film.

SEASON 9: OFF THE WALL!

Join us as we celebrate the weird and wonderful and forgotten heritage of unclassifiable queer films. Unique propositions, with just one thing in common: a touch of divine madness.

Queer films have been thrilling and enlightening audiences since the prehistory of cinema (two women kissing in 1888 in Muibridge’s Plate 444, or two men dancing together in 1895 in Dickson’s Experimental Sound Film), and will continue to do so in the future of cinema (see Ximena Cuevas’ experimental lesbian videoart, or Yobert Yang’s cottaging simulation videogame The Tearoom, of 2017). Queer-friendly and LGBTQ filmmakers have made movies in every genre: romance, documentary, thriller, fantasy, drama, adventure, horror, musical. AND they have also made movies that are impossible to classify… Because they don’t want to be classified. Because they rather invent their own genres. Because they want to use a secret code. Because they don’t care if they’re seen as camp, mad, fab, or ‘gas’. The word “queer” originally meant ‘weird’. Join us as we celebrate the weird and wonderful and forgotten heritage of unclassifiable queer films. Unique propositions, with just one thing in common: a touch of divine madness.