International Jameson Festival, 2015, Dublin by Belen Delgado (Cinderella , meeting Kenneth Branagh and "Gente de Bien")

One of the things I love about living in Dublin is its cultural life. I'm a big fan of the International Jameson Festival and I do my best to go every year to a couple of movies. It is a great opportunity to meet famous actors or directors and to listen from them about the film you have just seen in a premiere. I would have never had an opportunity like this if I'd have stayed in my city back in the South of Spain.

This year I have seen 2 films: Cinderella (the premiere in Savoy) and a Colombia-French movie "Gente de bien".

I have admired the director of Cinderella (2015), Kenneth Branagh since college when I used to watch his movies from Shakespeare ( Henry V, Otthelo  & Hamlet) and I couldn't believe that he was actually coming to the festival to present the premiere of his last movie as a director: Cinderella. He introduced the film at the very beginning and then at the end there was a Questions and Answers session. We were lucky to be in the 4th row in the Savoy cinema . I could see him perfectly. He is such a great way and good speaker, i could be listening to him all day. You can see that he is really passionate about his job. Cinderella is done with such a respect and elegancy , it was beautifully directed. Kate Blanchet plays the excellent role of Cinderella's mean step mother. There are a few scenes that seem theatrical due to the Kenneth Branagh's touch. The film brought me back to my childhood where I used to love to read tales and also my dad and grandpa used to read those to me before going to bed. I was smiling throughout the film, loved the humour touch of the mice talking in their own language, the colours, the beautiful costumes (in the ball). Even Kenneth said that his favourite part of the film was the one from the Ball. I felt as part of the audience of an American program called "Insides the Actors Studio" that I used to watch via cable during my college times. See below a few photos and videos of the premiere. I truly recommend the film, I voted with a 4-star rating during the festival!

Last Thursday we went to see the French-Colombia movie: Gente de Bien (2014) at the Light House Cinema, one of my favourite cinemas in Dublin, by the way. It was a very short film about the huge gap difference between classes in Colombia. The protagonist is a 10-year old boy that goes with his poor, low-class father who works as a carpenter for a high-class family. It's a realistic drama set in Bogota ( Colombia). If you belong to the low-poor class, it is very hard to change your situation and a very different reality stays in front of you. This little kid is born into that reality and can see what the high class have, he still decides to go back to his father's poor place and live with their dog in very poor conditions. My husband and I ended up crying in the end. It is a movie that won't become a blockbuster, it won't be seen by many but by those who see it, you will be touched, specially if you have been to Colombia and you know that is true. According to my Colombian husband, he said that it's a movie for European, for people who live in Colombia it would be boring to watch, it's something they live with and you get used to that gap, you can rescue all the poor people and everyone gets on with their lives.