Throughout the weekend at The Irish Cultural Centre there will be an exhibition entitled Images Of Bob Dylan; by leading Irish film-maker John T Davis, who nearly always includes Bob Dylan’s music in his soundtracks. Born in Belfast in 1947, John T Davis's first experience of filmmaking came via a chance encounter with D.A. Pennebaker. In 1966 the legendary filmmaker was on a Belfast street, camera on shoulder, recording Bob Dylan for the seminal documentary Don't Look Back, when a young Davis happened on the scene. Instantly he knew that filmmaking 'was such a cool thing to do. It was rock 'n' roll and it was for me'. However, unsure how to pursue his ambition Davis went off to study at Belfast College of Art. After completing his studies Davis half-heartedly considered a career as an art teacher. However, the death of his Uncle Jack in 1974 was to have a profound and lasting effect on his life. Davis' relative left his house, Ben Edar, in a trust for the young man but more importantly, also left an old 8mm camera. The camera drifted into Davis' hands and gave him the means by which he could start to shoot his films and develop his vision.

As energising and confrontational as the music it examined, John T Davis' first major film, ‘Shell Shock Rock’ (1978), looked at the burgeoning punk music scene in Northern Ireland, and introduced us to a documentary filmmaker unafraid to challenge the conventions of the genre. ‘Shell Shock Rock’ was to be the first of a trilogy which continued with ‘Protex Hurrah’ and ‘Self-Conscious Over You’, capturing the attitude of Northern Irish punk exponents like Stiff Little Fingers, TheUndertones and The Outcasts.

Davis began to focus on what was to be a recurring theme of his work, American culture and sub-cultures. His work was also increasingly innovative as evidenced by the experimental ‘Route 66 ‘(1985). Bringing the viewer on a bizarre celluloid trip, ‘Route 66’ exposed the lie of the American Dream, the lens of Davis' camera the instrument by which he unflinchingly documents the beauty and ugliness of American life in all its guises.

His experiences in America's 'bible belt' were to resonate in his encounters with fundamentalist religion in Northern Ireland with the films ‘Dust On The Bible’ (1989) and ‘Power In The Blood’ (1989). Following Nashville country and western preacher Vernon Oxford as he tries to bring Jesus Christ back to the people of Northern Ireland, ‘Power In The Blood’ uses the figure of the outsider, as represented by the zealous missionary Oxford, to examine Northern Ireland from a new perspective. The film draws attention to the unsettling parallels between the redneck mentality of America's deep south and attitudes displayed by religious fundamentalists in Northern Ireland.

In 1991, Davis made ‘Hobo’, his most famous film, and generally considered to be his finest work. ‘Hobo’ follows the exploits Beargrease - the hobo of the title - as he criss-crosses America, stowing away on freight trains and foraging for food in dump trucks. The film is by turns tragic, farcical and downright bizarre. Davis first meets his subject at a hobo convention. Apparently, although America's vagabonds refuse to be constrained by the structures of established society, they are more than happy to have formalised meetings….

For Davis the experience of making ‘Hobo’ was not to be that of a mere spectator, passively recording the hardships of his subject's life. For his film to display the veracity he desired would require the understanding that could only be attained by direct experience, so for the duration of filming Davis too led the life of the hobo, jumping trains and scavenging for food. Parallels have been drawn between Davis' work on ‘Hobo’ and the earlier ‘Route 66’ and the American Beat movement's obsession with the transitory life, with life lived on the road. However, what Davis shows us is that the Beat dream soured. He removes all the gloss, and through the story of Beargrease, shows us the true price to be paid in attaining a life of 'freedom'. ‘The Uncle Jack’ (1996) is Davis' most autobiographical work to date. It is the fascinating story of Jack McBride Neill, the Ulster cinema architect who in the 1930s and 1940s was to design some 16 cinemas in Northern Ireland. McBride Neill was also Davis's Uncle Jack and the man who was to rouse his passion for the art of film-making.   During the making of ‘The Uncle Jack’ one of the celebrated architect's most beautiful buildings, Bangor's Tonic Cinema, was to be destroyed in a blaze. In 1999 by a cruel and ironic twist of fate, Ben Edar, the house which McBride Neill had bequeathed to Davis, was also ravaged in a fire.

Although the house was rebuilt to stand proud once again on the shores of Belfast Lough some things proved irreplaceable. Ben Edar was also the home to Davis's entire film archive, a repository for three decade's work including the out-takes from all his films. Little of the footage was saved. Davis spent the next two years concentrating on rebuilding his home and saving what he could from the carpet of ashes and celluloid that was left in the aftermath of the blaze.

In June 1989 Davis went to Athens  to shoot some footage for the BBC 2 TV programme “One Irish Rover - Van Morrison In Performance”, which featured Bob Dylan and Van Morrison sharing vocals on Van’s songs “Crazy Love”, “Saw You From A Foreign Window” and “One Irish Rover”. During the days he spent there, some intimate photographs emerged of Bob, relaxing with John Lee Hooker and Van Morrison.. Some of these rare photographs will be on show, along with some more superb photographs by Davis.

Selected copies of John T. Davis’ photographs will be on sale

at The Irish Centre over the weekend.