To accompany Jeremy Deller’s Procession, held on MIF’s first weekend, Cornerhouse will be staging a major exhibition, documenting both the Procession itself and the ideas that informed its creation. A specially commissioned film of Procession will play as part of the show, alongside a programme of other events.
‘A love song to opera’ The Times, 4-stars
‘Disarmingly beautiful’ New York Times
‘Thrilling’ Manchester Evening News
‘Breathtaking design’ The Guardian
Imagine walking into a disused building. You find yourself inside a film. It is a ghost story where unexpected forces, veiled by the American Dream, come out from the dark to haunt you…
Created for the intimate surroundings of the Festival’s Pavilion Theatre, True Faith is a celebration of established and emerging cultural talent, all of it made right here in Manchester. An Audience with… offers an opportunity to get up close and personal with Elbow’s Guy Garvey…
Following the iconoclastic Il Tempo del Postino in 2007, MIF returns to the crossroads of visual art and performance, inviting world-renowned artist Marina Abramović to curate an epic group show featuring some of the most innovative live artists working today. Quite unlike anything staged before in the UK, this will be a provocative and visceral experience.
Walking or driving the same streets every day, many of us take our surroundings for granted. Artist Gustav Metzger will be challenging this sense of security with Flailing Trees, an arresting and poignant new piece of public art that will stand in the Manchester Peace Garden for the duration of the Festival.
In Albert Square, the Festival Pavilion is the heart of this year’s Festival and the perfect place to eat, drink and relax, with music, fresh food, free internet access and Festival information and box office.
A genuine one-of-a-kind performer, Antony Hegarty shot to fame in 2005, when I Am A Bird Now beat a host of big names to win the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. Exclusively for the Festival, Antony is returning to his homeland for a pair of special concerts.
20 advocates present their solutions to the problem of climate change to a panel of experts and a live audience at Manchester Town Hall. The results form the basis of The Manchester Report to be published at the end of the Festival.
The Beating Wing Orchestra (BWO) returns to the Festival for a unique collaboration with Malian superstars Amadou & Mariam.
Celebrate the launch weekend of MIF by lining the Deansgate mile to witness a free and uniquely Mancunian procession, created by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller.
Manchester’s favourite sons return to their cherished home town to collaborate with another of the city’s artistic powerhouses in the shape of The Hallé, Manchester’s own multi-award-winning symphony orchestra and the city’s original cultural icon.
Live relay of the Elbow and The Hallé concert on Thu 9 July, to a big screen in Castlefield Arena.
Free and unticketed.
Following his sold out shows at this year’s Festival, Carlos Acosta will perform ‘Apollo and Other Works’ at Sadler’s Wells (London) 1 – 5 December 2009.
One of the great successes of the first MIF, The Great Indoors is back with a brand new and awfully big adventure that lasts an entire weekend. It’s suitable for children aged 3-11, but there’s also plenty of stuff that’ll appeal to grown-ups. What’s more, it’s all entirely free. Event guide now available to download, see more info…
In their only full-scale UK shows of the year, De La Soul celebrate the 20th anniversary of their era-defining album 3 Feet High and Rising.
In 1978, Vini Reilly’s Durutti Column were the first band signed by Tony Wilson to his fledgling Factory label. Now, three decades after Reilly’s first Factory releases and nearly two years after Wilson’s death, the Festival are proud to premiere Reilly’s very personal tribute to his former friend and mentor.
by No Theater
On Tour Now:
23, 24, 25 Sept 2009
Vooruit, Ghent (Belgium)
21 April – 2 May 2010
St Ann’s Warehouse, New York (USA)
Performing for the first time together in the UK, American artists Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed share classic and recent works in this intimate evening of music, stories, songs and poems.
To close the 2009 Festival, MIF will be offering 2,000 people the chance to taste the city as they’ve never tasted it before. Internationally renowned culinary experts and chefs from Manchester’s diverse range of communities will create five special dishes…
Transforming the iconic Royal Exchange into a working bingo hall for the occasion, Everybody Loves a Winner tracks a group of twenty players through their night out. It’s all here: the cheap jokes, the unspoken thoughts, the empty handbags and the sheer disbelief…
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‘18 utterly exhilarating days’ Manchester Evening News |
‘An ambitious and exciting programme’ The Telegraph |
Click here to visit the gallery of photographs of last year’s events.
