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SHOCKIN'LY SPAIKED O'ER SMOT 
In response to recent media coverage, a comment from Jameson Belfast Film Festival... thank you.
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THURSDAY 12TH MARCH 2009
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Firstly it is important to stress that Flesh Gordon is not a porn film. It is a parody of the porn genre. The film is no more pornographic in nature than mainstream pictures like ‘Basic Instinct’ or ‘Confessions of a Window Cleaner’. Flesh Gordon is Certificate 18. Those seeking X-rated thrills should look elsewhere!
In reference to concerns raised that public money has been spent on this performance, Belfast Film Festival would like to point out that no funding the Festival receives has gone toward this event. The Festival works with a number of different arts organisations in the city and some events are managed and run by these groups. The ‘Flesh Gordon’ night has been organised by the group Re-Direction who have promoted a number of film related nights in Belfast throughout the past three years. Whilst we have not contributed funding, we would like to point out that we stand by it as a comedic event in our programme, one which sits alongside Paul Merton’s ‘Silent Clowns’ and the Bad Film Club screening of one of the worst musicals ever made ‘Xanadu’, in our festival.
For the event, three local comedians will provide a live translation of the film Flesh Gordon in Ulster Scots. Juxtaposing the language against the bawdy Americana of ’Flesh Gordon’, the event will prove a useful exercise in determining the diversity of Ulster Scots and the extent to which it can be utilised in modern culture. The use of ‘Flesh Gordon’ may seem at first a peculiar choice of film in which to parody Ulster Scots, but on further review seems an almost logical preference. Contrasting Ulster-Scots against such a coarse and roguish piece of film will optimally highlight the extent of the detachment between the culture of the tongue and the culture of the film.
Ulster-Scots is something over which we all can claim ownership and having enjoyed a raised profile in recent times, it seems only appropriate that it should be developed and used in a variety of manners. This event, should, bring Ulster-Scots to a whole new audience and strengthen its position as a modern cultural phenomenon.
Chairman of Jameson Belfast Film Festival Brian Henry Martin commented: “This event does not intend to alienate or offend, on the contrary the intention is to be inclusive, entertaining and humorous. Jameson Belfast Film Festival prides itself on being a celebration of cultural diversity, and through its programme reflects many different aspects of Northern Irish culture.”
Re-Direction’s SHOCKIN’LY SPAIKED O’ER SMOT satirises Ulster Scots, in the same tradition as Flann O’Brien’s 1941 Classic ‘The Poor Mouth’ which offers a satire of Irish Language culture. It is in this comedic lineage that Redirection’s satire sits. ‘Redirection’ are also working on an Irish language version of zombie classic ‘Night of the Living Dead ‘ for October 2009.
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