The street date for the program is the beginning of next week, around the same time the super-duper new Darklight website is ready to do. Some of the program highlights:

1. Darklight Guest Of Honour: Crispin Hellion Glover.
For more than two decades, actor, writer, filmmaker and all-round Renaissance Man Crispin Hellion Glover has been one of the most iconic presences in American cinema, collaborating with directors such as David Lynch, Jim Jarmusch, Oliver Stone, Milos Foreman and Robert Zemeckis and lending his considerable talents to an eclectic array of projects that cover every imaginable genre film has to offer, from indie classics such as River's Edge to Hollywood blockbusters like Charlie's Angels; whatever the project, Crispin Glover can always be depended upon to steal the show. In recent years, however, Glover has turned his attentions behind the camera, delivering the first two chapters of an intended trilogy of self-produced masterworks that confirm him as be one of the most unique voices in filmmaking today. Darklight welcomes Crispin Glover to Ireland as the Darklight 2008 Guest Of Honour, for a series of unmissable screenings and live performances at the Irish Film Institute.

2. Dublin: The Movie (AKA The Darklight 4-Day Film Project)
In a rare and potentially fatal feat of cinematic daring, Darklight will present a feature length film on the evening of June 29th – the last day of this year’s festival – shot entirely on June 26th – the first day. The film will be an eclectic, multi-authored impression of Dublin (within the M50) as it lived, died, breathed, fucked, filled up and emptied, consumed, wept, was rained or shone on, grew bright and then darkened again ... from 12.01am to 11.59pm on that day. Whatever is true, however big or tiny, static or dynamic, animate or inanimate, in this place, over this time is fair game. Darklight will
be inviting a mixed and excellent bunch of artists – narrative film-makers, documentarians, visual artists and the like – to watch, meditate on, interfere with or otherwise interrogate material of their choice in whichever style makes sense to them. Each filmmaker will be required to deliver a finished piece, between three and five minutes long, to curator/supervising editor Lenny Abrahamson, who will then be free to use the films intact or cut them up, order them and reorder them, to produce, we hope, an original, intense and exciting film; a kind of Frankenstein archive of the city and the lives it contains on Thursday, June 26th 2008. What will emerge? Who knows. Whether it’s the life of a particular corner or a whole district, circuits of water or electricity, burials or births, or five continuous minutes in the presence of a single person, what is certain is that the Darklight 4-Day Film will be a unique event and one of the highlights of the festival.

3. Focus On: Warp Pictures
To coincide with the Irish release of their latest feature, A Complete History Of My Sexual Failures - which screens at the Irish Film Institute over the Darklight weekend – we celebrate prolific UK production company Warp Pictures. We're delighted to welcome regular Warp collaborator Paddy Considine to Dublin for a special Darklight/Screen Training Ireland Masterclass, and to introduce a screening of Shane Meadows' modern masterpiece Dead Man's Shoes, which he co-wrote and stars in. The screening also features Considine's directorial debut Dog Altogether, a winner of the Best Short Film prize at the Venice Film Festival and the BAFTA Awards. Considered by many (Darklight included) as one the finest actors working today, Paddy Considine's screen credits include A Room For Romeo Brass, My Summer Of Love, Hot Fuzz and The Bourne Ultimatum. Joining Paddy at Darklight '08 is Barry Ryan, the Head Of Production of Warp's new offshoot Warp X, who will be participating in a low-budget filmmaking symposium.

4. FALL By Paddy Jolley
Tedium breeds its own reverie. Here becomes like there becomes like could be anywhere. This forms a coincidence with the generic: Repetitions erode sense of place and make buildings seem less substantial. The logic of these displacements causes objects to be set adrift. Little houses sink and burn. Furniture smashes in an empty car park. A series of destructive actions, pathetic and momentarily cathartic.

Darklight 2008 is delighted to host the World Premiere of artist and filmmaker Paddy Jolley's latest film, Fall, at Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, on the Opening Night of this year's Darklight Festival; Paddy will also be present for a retrospective screening of his previous work and a Public Interview with independent curator Aileen Corkery.

5. Tron
An unmissable big-screen outing for the original CGI classic! Computer programmer Jeff Bridges hacks the mainframe of his evil ex-employer... And finds himself beamed inside the computer by a power-hungry master control program! Tron is a true cult sci-fi classic, a visionary work of considerable beauty, a true style icon – and one of Darklight's very favourite movies. The screening will be introduced by effects wizard and Oscar winner Ken Perlin, Professor Of Computer Science at New York University; Ken worked on Tron, and since then has been developing new computer graphics techniques widely used in the motion picture special effects industry. Ken will also be giving a workshop at Darklight '08: don't miss the opportunity to enjoy a rare audience with a true FX pioneer.

But let's not jump the gun here – there are many more fabulous events to tell you about – screenings, exhibitions, seminars, workshops and the odd happening... So watch this space! In the meantime, we just found 1973 French animated masterpiece Fantastic Planet (La Planete Sauvage) in its entirety on-line – so we're happy. For now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys8AkwMRvgo

Enjoy!
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Team Darklight

Darklight 2008: The Future Is Now