Pyjama Girls to have exclusive release in IFI as part of a Special Still Films Season
The IFI will host a special showcase of films produced by Still Films from 20th - 26th August which will include the exclusive release of the critically acclaimed feature documentary Pyjama Girls. During the weeklong season The Room will have its world premiere and there will be a chance to see the acclaimed Seaview as well as attend a Q&A session with the production company ‘In Conversation with Still Films'.
Pyjama Girls, directed by Maya Derrington, examines the phenomenon of girls who wear pyjamas as daywear, a topic in Dublin that generates controversy. This intimate portrayal slips behind the confrontational façade, following two teenagers from Ballyfermot, their families, friends and the claustrophobic urban spaces they inhabit, touching on profound challenges of drugs, family breakdown, and social exclusion they experience.
Produced by Nicky Gogan and financed by the IFB, Pyjama Girls had its world premiere as the opening film at the IFI Stranger Than Fiction Festival in April, selling out all three of it's screenings. Described as "A beautifully underplayed yet utterly haunting film" by the Irish Examiner and "touching, absorbing...had the audience transfixed beginning to end" from Film Ireland, it will be screening daily in the IFI from the 20th- 26th August.
Seaview tells the moving and harrowing stories of the trauma, expectation and fear of exportation inside a holding centre for asylum seekers which was once an Irish holiday camp. The documentary was produced by Paul Rowley, Derrington and Gogan and was co-funded by the IFB, NYSCA and Darklight. The IFTA-nominated film has previously been officially selected for the Berlinale Film Festival, the Hot Docs Festival in Canada and had its U.S premiere at the prestigious Silverdocs International Film Festival. It will be showing this Saturday 21st August.
The Rooms is an experimental feature directed by Paul Rowley and Tim Blue, produced by Nicky Gogan which will have its world première on Sunday 22nd August. Looking back at the remnants of the 20th century through the eyes of the 21st, watching the film is like wandering through a ghosted world.
On Tuesday 24th August the founders of Still Films, Nicky Gogan, Maya Derrington and Paul Rowley will discuss their collaborative practice and screen a selection of short films during their ‘In Conversation with Still Films'.
It was also announced this week that the film A Childish Place, directed by Tom Slater and produced by Aisling Ahmed, Nicky Gogan and Paul Rowley has been selected as one of a slate of projects for the 32nd Project Forum, which runs as part of Independent Film Week in the U.S from 19th- 23rd September, with an aim of building industry and audience interest for new work. A Childish Place is about 10 year old Tazim who fights to hold on to power against his rival 9 year old newspaper editor Sameer; the project received funding from the IFB and Creative Scotland.
The Still Films Season in the IFI:
- Pyjama Girls 20th-26th August
- Seaview Saturday, 21st August at 16:40
- The Rooms Sunday, 22nd August at 16:40
- Still Films In Conversation Tuesday, 24th August at 19:00 (this is a free event)