John Cusack will be making additional appearances in Belfast after sell out event

The star of ‘Grosse Pointe Blank’, ‘Being John Malkovich’ and ‘High Fidelity’ will take be ‘In Conversation’ with Brian Henry Martin in Movie House Cinemas on March 31 as part of this year’s Festival.

After the event sold out within several hours earlier this week, two additional screenings have been added which John Cusack will attend.

Cusack will take part in Q&A sessions on April 1 following screenings of Max at Strand Arts Centre and High Fidelity at Queen’s Film Theatre.

Tickets go on sale on next Tuesday March 7 at 1pm.

Belfast Film Festival Director Michele Devlin said: “We knew the ‘In Conversation’ event would sell out quickly, but we have been overwhelmed by the positive comments on social media about his visit, and just how much love there is for John Cusack out there! So we are thrilled that John has agreed to take part in these extra Q&A sessions as part of Belfast Film Festival.

“He gave his career-defining role in High Fidelity as a sarcastic record store owner who revisits his “Top 5” breakups to find out why he’s so unlucky in love.

“Two years later, he appeared in Max, a film studying the depiction of a friendship between an art dealer named Rothman and his student, Adolf Hitler.

“I’m sure audiences will be fascinated to hear John talk about these two films and his wider career.”

But John Cusack is not the only hot ticket in town. Already moved to a bigger screen in Movie House, Dublin Road due to demand is Emerald City by Omagh filmmaker Colin Broderick.

Starring boxer John Duddy, Emerald City pulls no punches in its depiction of a hard living crew of Irish construction workers in New York who find themselves at an historical crossroads.

“We started a new strand of programming last year called Northern Ireland Independents,” said Michele.

“The aim is to give aspiring filmmakers the opportunity to have their feature and medium length works premiered on the big screen. The projects are often produced on micro-budgets and developed by the filmmakers in their own time and with their own money. We’re delighted for Colin that his film is proving so popular with local audiences.”

Tickets for some of the highlights of this year’s Belfast Film Festival are on sale at www.belfastfilmfestival.org or by phoning (028) 9024 6609 and in person at Visit Belfast Welcome Centre, 9 Donegall Square North, Belfast.

Belfast Film Festival is funded by Northern Ireland Screen, BFI, Belfast City Council and Tourism Northern Ireland.