In pictures: Programme revealed for Cork Film Festival. Withnail & I star to attend
Sandra Carey, Senior Marketing Executive, Irish Examiner Media Partner, Joachim Krautz Sponsor ASE Cultural Excange, Fiona Clark, CEO CIFF, Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Honore Kamegni and Cian Blackwell, Chair CIFF at the programme launch of the 69th Cork International Film Festival at St. Peter's, North Main Street, Cork. - Picture: David Creedon
The director and one of the stars of Withnail & I are coming to this year’s Cork International Film Festival for a special screening of the classic British movie.
Bruce Robinson, who directed and wrote the 1987 black comedy loosely based on experiences in his own life, will be presented with the Leeside festival’s inaugural Honorary Disruptor Award by Paul McGann, the actor who played ‘I’ in the film.
The programme of the 2024 event, which runs from November 7-17, was revealed on Tuesday evening at a launch at St Peter’s Church in Cork.
Previously, organisers had announced that the opening film would be Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes in the tale of the election of a new pope, and that Cork-born director John Crowley would be back in his native city to introduce the Irish premiere of his We Live in Time, starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh.
Further elements of the eclectic programme were unveiled at the North Main Street venue, with the 11-day event featuring a mix of contemporary Irish and international films, as well as older offerings and strands built around themes such as mental health, the environment, and food.
The latter strand, billed as Culinary Cinema, will include a short documentary on Sally Barnes and her Woodcock Smokery in West Cork. As part of the screening, Aishling Moore of the Goldie restaurant in Cork will present a selection of fish appetisers.
Director Christopher Andrews will also be in Cork to present the Irish premiere of his latest thriller Bring Them Down, starring Barry Keoghan, while hits from recent European festivals include The Brutalist (Best Director for Brady Corbet at the Venice Film Festival), and All We Imagine As Light, an Indian film that won the Grand Prix at Cannes.
The impressive list of films has been largely pulled together over the past year by a team headed by new programmer Aurélie Godet. The French native, who’d previously worked with festivals in Berlin and Locarno, said: “Whether you want to introduce your children to cinema magic or you have been waiting to see this year's buzzy, awarded films.
"Whether you have specific interests such as mental health or geopolitics, or you have an unquenchable thirst for film in all of its geographical, thematic and aesthetic diversity, we cannot wait to share all these gems with you!”
The Irish Examiner is again media partner of the Cork festival, and is also sponsoring the Best New Irish Film Award. Among the five entries in that category is Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story, a documentary that includes an interview with the groundbreaking Irish writer recorded shortly before her death earlier this year.
The Arc cinema on North Main Street will function as the main venue for the 69th incarnation of the festival, with further screenings taking place at the Everyman and Triskel Christchurch. Super Cine Saturday on November 16 will also see the festival branch out from its city base, with screenings in Bantry, Midleton, Mallow and Youghal.
- Cork International Film Festival, November 7-17. For full details and bookings, see corkfilmfest.org
