Things To Do: Defy the orders of Pope Pius XI, attend multiple symposia, follow a pair of curators into a pub

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In June 1936, Pope Pius XI issued Vigilanti Cura, a papal encyclical that was devoted entirely to the issue of the motion picture.

Cinema, the letter said, was the most potent way in which the masses could be influenced. As such, it was of “the supreme necessities” for the faithful to ensure that the medium wouldn’t remain “a school of corruption”.

Instead, he asked his followers to transform it into an “instrument for the education and the elevation of mankind”. Bishops the world over were asked to censor and ban bad motion pictures, and root out those which stood in opposition to the Christian spirit.

The Pope’s letter would have a significant impact on the trajectory of Irish cinema. When the National Film Institute on Eustace Street was incorporated in June 1945, the encyclical was baked into its constitution.

First and foremost, the NFI’s objective was to encourage, promote and acquire films that adhered to the values set out in Vigilanti Cura, the memorandum said.

And that stated purpose would remain in its constitution until 1983, at which point the NFI was renamed the Irish Film Institute, and it became a secular institution.

All of this is a tremendously longwinded way of saying that you should really attend the 4K restoration of Ken Russell’s 1971 film The Devils in the IFI this weekend.

Oh and happy Halloween everybody.

The Devils

Set in the French commune of Loudon during the 1630s, The Devils is a cinematic re-telling of the life of Father Urbain Grandier.

Grandier is an illustrious priest whose gravitas has made him desired by nun Sister Jeanne. But when the sister learns of his less-than-priestly personal life, she accuses him of witchcraft, something which state officials and a power-hungry cardinal are more than happy to exploit.

An adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s 1952 non-fiction book The Devils of Loudun and playwright John Whiting’s 1960 play The Devils, Russell’s film gained immediate notoriety for its scenes of a graphic nature.

That portion of the film holds up too. The restored 4K cut is the only film on the Irish Film Classification Office website – either currently showing in cinemas or due to be released between now and May 2027 – with a certificate of 18.

One doesn’t need to wonder too much whether The Devils would have earned the Vigilanti Cura stamp of approval back in the early '70s.

Art critic Ciaran Carty, reporting in the Sunday Independent on 31 October 1971, said that in that month alone, there were 20 films which were in the process of appealing a rejection from the Film Censors Office, among them John Schlesinger’s Sunday, Bloody Sunday.

The Devils was already banned in Sweden “on the grounds of excessive violence and hysteria”, Carty reported. So its distributor Warner Brothers, wasn’t going to even attempt to release it in Ireland.

Now, 55 years later, the provocative masterpiece is finally arriving on these shores, and will be screening from Friday 30 October.

See it for the sake of making history. Or go because it features set designs by a young Derek Jarman years before he was directing films or music videos for the likes of the Smiths and Sex Pistols.

Tickets are available here.

KiiKO

If however, you have no interest in attending one of the most controversial films of all time (in which case, please accept my sincerest apology for subjecting you to the most convoluted recommendation in this newsletter to date), then let’s offer an alternative plan for Friday.

Over in George’s Street Arcade, the dreamy electronic pop group KiiKO will be playing a set in Spindizzy Records to celebrate the release of their debut album KiiKO Forever.

Fronted by DJ Emmy Shigeta and producer John Anthony McDowell, the group debuted in July 2025 with the bright and breezy, drum ‘n’ bass infused single "July". At the start of this month, they self-released the glitchy cinematic eight-track (and one bonus remix) Long Player KiiKO Forever on vinyl which you can hear here.

If you haven’t had a chance to pick up the record, they will be in Spindizzy from 6pm to perform a few tracks off the album and sign copies.

Admission is free, but booking is advised and can be done here.

Theatre Room: Food for Thought

Beginning next Tuesday, Outlandish Theatre will be holding their performance symposium Theatre Room: Food For Thought.

In the Samuel Beckett Theatre on Tuesday and Wednesday (3 and 4 November), the Kortrijk (Netherlands)-based theatrical group Antigone will stage Wavelength, which re-interprets a real conversation between its performers Haider Al Timimi and Lucius Romeo-Fromm on the topic of polarisation.

Through both words and dance, the duo share their concern about the world, its digital echo chambers, and their place within the cosmos. You can watch a few snippets of the performance over on the Antigone website here. Wavelength will be held at 7pm both nights, and tickets are available here.

Then, on Wednesday 4 November, Outlandish will be in Smock Alley’s Main Space for the central event, which will comprise six individual performances.

Conceived by Outlandish director, Maud Hendricks, the symposium will feature artists, Fióna Bolger, Tara Bredemeier, James Hosty and David Ferreira-Alves, all of whom intend to collapse the “borders between the internal human experience and the external lived experience – the unconscious and the embodied intellectual”.

Judging by the opening performance, which is titled "How to Peel and Orange" and which lists the audience as its main performer, they also intend to collapse the border between themselves and the spectator too.

The symposium will begin at 2pm on Wednesday. Tickets area available here.

Eileen Leonard Sealy and Two Curators

Following her debut show In The Ticking Room at The Lab last year, painter Eileen Leonard Sealy is returning with her new exhibition next Thursday.

Limecast is the second solo show by Leonard Sealy who, back in February, scooped up the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts’ Hennessy Craig Award 2026. Opening on 6 November in Taylor Two, the secondary exhibition space in Taylor Galleries on Kildare Street, the exhibition will run until 31 January 2027.

It is also scheduled to coincide with Dublin Gallery Weekend, the citywide celebration of contemporary art. As part of this, the Limecast curator Eamonn Maxwell will be hosting the latest edition of Two Curators, a monthly conversation between two art curators.

If you are interested, attendees will congregate from 7pm at Taylor Two, before proceeding to the Kerlin Gallery for Elizabeth Magill’s exhibition the Nick Drake-inspired Northern Sky, which is set to feature a newly commissioned text by author Colm Tóibín.

Then Maxwell will take his audience to an unspecified local pub where he will be speaking with Medeia Cohan-Petrolino, head curator for the University of the Arts London for an “arty pub chat.”

Tickets are free and can be booked here.

CTRL // LIVE

Finally, the Dublin Book Festival is returning next week too, and DCU’s St Patrick’s Campus will be holding a special live version of video game anthology book CTRL.

Edited by Dean Fee, this collection of essays will be brought to life by its contributors Rob Doyle, Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan, and Paul Whyte. Re-christened for the night CTRL // LIVE, the event will consist of readings, discussions and a question and answer session.

CTRL // LIVE will cap off a day-long symposium in DCU which explores literature and the digital age.

The symposium starts at 11am, and will include contributions from Colin Barrett, Kit Fryatt, Christodoulos Makris, Bebe Ashley, Roisin Kiberd, Dorothy Kenny and Michael Hinds. For more information, visit the event page here.

CTRL // LIVE will start at 7pm. Tickets are free and can be reserved here.

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The Caretakers, in Inchicore

Australian artists Elizabeth Woods and Kevin Leong are creating an experimental community meeting space, The Caretakers, in the De Mazenod Centre, Bulfin Road, D08 YR89, Inchicore. 

The Caretakers will host the local community and explore new ideas for building connections across a diverse community in an evolving social environment from 3 November to 27 November, between 10:00am and 2:30pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursdays and Fridays.  

The Caretakers will serve free cakes and hot drinks from 10am, and free lunch from noon. And artists Woods and Leong will be inviting everyone to a free, healthy community lunch with a menu designed by Arrernte chef Tanika Orr, bringing her indigenous Australian bushtucker sensibilities to meet Irish ingredients and tastes.

Over the course of the month, Orr will be building local community capacity to sustain the operations of the kitchen in future social spaces by training community cooks and by adapting the menu to be practical and affordable for ongoing operations.

The Caretakers is a socially engaged arts project developed in partnership with Common Ground, a local arts development organisation based in Inchicore.

In 2025, Woods and Leong studied the practices of a diverse group of 13 collective caretakers in Ireland, during their original residency with Common Ground.  Returning in 2026, they have involved the caretakers as co-designers of and advisors to the meeting space and its evolution.

The group of caretakers includes community development workers, political and community activists, local residents, gardeners and cultural custodians working across Dublin 8.

Who do THEY think you are? quiz night

Back by popular demand, the quiz about what the internet knows about you is returning to Lucky’s on Monday 9 November.

Who Do THEY Think You Are? is an eye-opening table quiz that puts your knowledge of the hidden world of online tracking to the ultimate test and hopefully leaves you with a better understanding of how to be more in control of your digital life.

The quiz will start at 7pm, and you can reserve a spot here.

Assembly: Contentious Spaces

On Wednesday 11 November, Pavee Point with co-host Assembly will be holding Contentious Spaces, a panel discussion in which Traveller creatives and artists will talk about belonging, creativity and public space.

The talk will begin at 6pm in the Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre on Charles Street Great in Dublin 1.

Tickets are free and available here.

Research on data centres in Blanchardstown

Trinity College Dublin’s Department of Geography is looking for research participants to share their view on data centres in the Blanchardstown area.

Participants over the age of 18 and living in the Dublin 15 area are invited to take part in a conversation which will look at their awareness and views on the development of data centres.

This study is an undergraduate dissertation in the Department of Geography. If you are interested, get in touch with Sarah Eogan at Eogans@tcd.ie.