Mark Kermode, a film critic with Manx roots, is to take part in an event that will be one of the first to take place under the ‘Island of Culture’ banner.
An Evening with Mark Kermode will take place at Ballakermeen High School’s studio theatre on Saturday, June 29, at 8pm.
Mark Kermode is resident film critic for BBC Radio 5Live and the BBC News Channel. He is a presenter on BBC2’s The Culture Show, and writes for The Observer and Sight and Sound. He is the author of It’s Only A Movie, The Good, the Bad and The Multiplex, and the forthcoming Hatchet Job.
Mark will talk about his life in movies, from getting shot at in Hollywood with Werner Herzog, to being handbagged at the Baftas by Helen Mirren and being thrown out of the Cannes film festival for heckling in very bad French.
Along the way he’ll discuss the future of film criticism, explain why 3D is a thing of the past, and attempt to prove that Zac Efron is actually a better actor than Marlon Brando. There’ll also be a chance for questions from the audience.
Mark, whose mother Audrey was born and grew up in Douglas, said: ‘One of the great treats of our summer holidays was going to Strand Street for a regular family outing to the cinema.
‘We saw Bond movies, Indiana Jones movies, even a revival of the 1935 George Formby perennial No Limit which my mum had seen umpteen times before.
‘At the time, as a young cinema-lover, I had no idea that the island would become such a hive of film-making activity, producing some of my favourite movies of recent years – ranging from the gripping psychological thriller The Disappearance of Alice Creed to the nailbiting documentary Closer To the Edge (TT3D).’
Tickets priced at £10 are available from the box office on 600555.