Ballina Film Club’s spring programme kicks off on Tuesday February 9 with Everlasting Moments. Jan Troell’s period drama tells the story of Maria (Maria Heiskanen ), a simple woman married to a charming but hopeless redneck, who became a photographer at a time when no woman would have dreamt of embracing such a profession and no man, certainly not the kind of working class lout she had for a husband, would condone it. Maria wins a camera in a lottery, but ignores it for years, being far too busy working her fingers to the bone, first as a cleaning woman and then as a seamstress. One day she tries to sell the camera to the local photographer (Jesper Christensen ), who insists she should try it first before getting rid of it and offers her some useful tips. This is the beginning of a beautiful platonic friendship which her husband hates and distrusts. Told in a precise, authoritative, manner, the dense fabric of the plot and all its various ingredients are put together in an exemplarily clear narrative, accompanied by a spectacular visual style. Film starts at 8pm. Admission is €7 and seasonal membership rates are available.
Portico Quartet for Ballina date
Pioneering jazz group The Portico Quartet will be making a stop off at Ballina on their current tour of Ireland, when the play Ballina Arts Centre on Wednesday February 24, at 8pm. The Portico Quartet are four young musicians from London who sound like nothing you have ever heard before. The Quartet - Jack Wyllie (soprano and alto saxophone ), Duncan Bellamy (hang and percussion ), Milo Fitzpatrick (double bass ), and Nick Mulvey (hang and percussion ) – have a distinctive sound from their use of the hang, a 21st century percussion instrument used on all their tracks.
Their strange, beautiful, sound was honed busking at the South Bank in London and playing in unusual spaces: Churches, galleries, and chill-out zones. The band, who all live together in east London, describe their ethos as indie meets post-jazz, and their unique, hook-based, sound has won them fans from DJ Gilles Peterson to Radio 4 as well as catching the ear of Real World Records’ head honcho Peter Gabriel. Their debut album Knee-Deep In The North Sea was named Time Out's Jazz, Folk, and World music album of the year for 2007 and was one of the Nationwide Mercury Prize albums of the year for 2008. Presented in association with Music Network. Admission is €12 or €10 with concession.
Ballina Arts Centre is open from 10am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, and 10am to 3pm on Saturdays. For further information contact Ballina Arts Centre, Ballina Civic Offices, Arran Place, Ballina, Co Mayo. Tel: 096 73593; e-mail: [email protected] or online at www.ballinaartscentre.com
