Big screen bonanza for Cork as Film Festival opens for 67th year

The highly-rated refugee tale, Aisha, kicked off this year's Cork International Film Festival

Anna Garcea of Cork International Film Festival, with the costume worn by Olivia Colman in the movie The Favourite. The costume is part of the costume trail that runs as part of Cork International Film Festival. Picture: Dan Linehan

Fri, 11 Nov, 2022 - 08:55

Des O’Driscoll

The Cork International Film Festival opened on Thursday evening at Cork Opera House, with a screening of highly-rated Irish film Aisha.

It’s the 67th incarnation of Ireland’s oldest film festival, which has been rolling out the red carpet on Leeside since 1956, along the way weathering controversies, recessions, and even a pandemic.

The 2022 event was officially opened by Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork, Councillor Derry Canty, on a rainy night in the city, while West Cork-based patron David Puttnam sent a recorded message.

Welcoming attendees at the Opera House, festival director and CEO Fiona Clark said: "Our aim is to bring the best cinema from around the world to Cork each year, giving audiences the opportunity to see these fantastic films first and on the big screen.”

Letitia Wright stars in Aisha, a film about a Nigerian refugee living in direct provision in Ireland.

Also in attendance for the opening night was Frank Berry, director of Aisha, the hard-hitting film about a Nigerian refugee in the direct provision system in Ireland.

Aisha features Guyanese-British actress Letitia Wright in the lead role, a face who will become even more familiar over the next few weeks as a star of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Currently travelling to promote that Hollywood blockbuster, Wright was unable to attend the Cork screening, but did record a message to thank the festival for including the film.

As well as an Irish premiere showing for the opening gala, Aisha will be screened at the Gate Cinema on Friday, accompanied by a panel discussion with director Berry, and various people involved in migrant rights groups.

This is one of a number of discussion events at the festival, with others including a focus on the environmental and social impacts of the fashion industry.

Fiona Clark, festival director and CEO, with director of programming Anna Kopecká on the roof of Cork Opera House. Picture: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision

Cork has long been a festival that has provided an outlet for emerging Irish talent, and a potential star of the future will be in town for the screening of Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical.

Dublin actress Alisha Weir plays Matilda Wormwood in the adaptation of the classic children’s tale and is already being tipped as ‘one to watch’.

The 13-year-old is currently filming her next movie alongside the likes of Jessie Buckley and Olivia Colman.

Fans of Paul Mescal will be eager for a first chance to see the Normal People star’s latest offering, Aftersun, in which he plays a divorced father on holidays with his daughter in Turkey.

As well as a strong children’s and drama features programmes among the dozens of films being shown in Cork over the next 10 days, the event also has an impressive documentary strand.

Highlights include The Ghost of Richard Harris, about the celebrated actor whose personal archives will soon be housed nearby at UCC; and All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, following photographer Nan Goldin’s campaign to expose the billionaire Sackler family for their part in the opioid crisis in the US.