New Cillian Murphy film Small Things Like These to open Berlin Film Festival tonight
Cillian Murphy in Small Things Like These.
A film produced by and starring Cork actor Cillian Murphy will open one of the largest public film festivals in the world tonight.
Small Things Like These will become the first Irish film to open the prestigious Berlin Film Festival (the Berlinale) when it screens there this evening.
Starring Murphy and Eileen Walsh and directed by Tim Mielants from a screenplay by Enda Walsh, the film is an adaptation of Claire Keegan’s novel of the same name which was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize. Keegan also wrote Foster, the short story that inspired the Oscar-nominated film An Cailín Ciúin.
Matt Damon and Drew Vinton also produce alongside Small Things Like These executive producers Ben Affleck, Kevin Halloran, and Michael Joe for Artists Equity. Director Mielants previously worked with Murphy on series three of Peaky Blinders.
The Berlinale is one of the largest public film festivals in the world, attracting tens of thousands of visitors from around the globe each year.
Shot on location in Wexford, Wicklow and Dublin last year, Small Things Like These is produced by Alan Moloney and Cillian Murphy and is set in a small Wexford town in 1984 during the weeks leading up to Christmas. It sees Bill Furlong, a coal merchant make a discovery in the local convent which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the Church.
“With Small Things Like These, Tim Mielants tells the story of a man of few words, with wide open eyes, as clear as the skies of Ireland. In The Quiet Girl we already had sense of Claire Keegan’s skill in portraying small, apparently simple characters and making them unforgettable; here her delicate, rich and yet down-to-earth writing finds a great interpreter in Cillian Murphy,” said the Berlinale’s artistic director Carlo Chatrian.
“We are confident that this story that allies the kindness to be directed to the more fragile, and the willpower to stand up against injustice, will resonate with everyone. We are looking forward to launching this ‘quiet’ yet quite exceptional film at the start of Zeitgeist Irland 24, a year-long celebration of Irish culture in Germany.”
The Berlinale attracts tens of thousands of visitors from around the globe each year. Irish films have found critical and audience acclaim at the festival in recent years, including Colm Bairéad's An Cailín Ciúin, which was the first Irish language feature film to win a major award at the festival.
“Our huge congratulations to producer and actor Cillian Murphy, producer Alan Moloney, screenwriter Enda Walsh and director Tim Mielants, as well as the entire creative team behind Small Things Like These,” said Désirée Finnegan, chief executive of Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland.
“Having an Irish independent film chosen to open the Berlinale is an incredible achievement, and a testament to the cultural strength of the Irish screen industry.”
The 74th Berlin International Film Festival runs from February 15 to 25, 2024.
