20 Cork Film Festival highlights: An impressive mix of Irish and international offerings
Some of the highlights of the Cork Film Festival this year.
British filmmaker Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank) directs our own Barry Keoghan in a coming-of-age story set in a marginalised society. It tells of an adolescent who lives with her dad and brother in a squat, whose life becomes transformed when she meets a mysterious stranger. Arnold blends fantasy with social reality in the film, lensed by Irish cinematographer Robbie Ryan.
Aislinn Clarke’s feature, told in Irish and English, centres on a homecare worker named Shoo who is sent to a remote village to look after an agoraphobic woman. As the two form a connection, Shoo must confront horrors from her own past in the film, in competition for the CIFF Best New Irish Feature Award, supported by The Irish Examiner.
The last son of a shepherding family is burdened by a dark secret in this Irish-set drama. Michael lives with his ailing father and has isolated himself - but when a conflict with a rival farming family threatens to escalate, he is drawn into a dramatic chain of events. Bring Them Down is also nominated for Best New Irish Feature at Cork.
Marianne Jean-Baptiste - nominated for an Oscar for Mike Leigh’s Secrets & Lies - reunites with the filmmaker in another awards-fancied turn. She plays Pansy, a cynical woman who verbally lashes out at those around her, in Leigh’s character-driven drama.
Filmmaker John Crowley returns to his native Cork to present his new romantic drama. It follows the unconventional love story between Almut (Florence Pugh) and Tobias (Andrew Garfield) as their union unfolds through snapshots of their lives together.
When her novel The Country Girls was released in 1960, Edna O’Brien emerged as both a gifted novelist and iconic feminist. Sinéad O’Shea’s documentary, a nominee for Best New Irish Feature, includes an interview with the author shortly before her passing earlier this year.
French director Alain Guiraudie’s darkly funny thriller revolves around a man who returns to his hometown for the funeral of his former boss, a man he loved. His arrival provokes reactions in the small-knit community as he becomes wrapped up in a mysterious disappearance.
Sisters July and September are very close but very different. The protective September is also controlling of her sister, to the concern of their mother. When the family returns to an old holiday home in Ireland, a series of surreal events test them to the limit. Adapted from the gothic novel Sisters, September Says is the directing debut of actress Ariane Labed.
A young widow is forced to make a difficult choice when a foreign ship sinks off the coast of her remote village. Amid a particularly harsh winter, locals must choose to save the crew or themselves in this horror, shortlisted for Best New Irish Feature.
The classic and crazy antics of two out-of-work actors returns to the screen as part of Cork’s new Disruptors strand, which also includes screenings of My Own Private Idaho and The Severed Sun. The much-loved movie follows the hapless duo as they embark on a weekend break in the country. Director Bruce Robinson will attend and be presented with CIFF's inaugural Honorary Disruptor Award by actor Paul McGann.
CIFF’s special presentation of Tony Palmer’s music documentary comes to Cork in celebration of its 50th anniversary.
Filmed during Rory Gallagher’s tour of Ireland, the documentary captures Ireland’s first rock star at his very best, and is still regarded as one of the great music films half a century after it first came to our screens.
The first Indian film to be screened at Cannes Film Festival - where it won the prestigious Grand Prix - centres on two roommates who also work together in a city-centre hospital, and their colleague. It follows the three protagonists as they navigate the constraints of their daily lives.
Produced by CIFF patron and West Cork resident David Puttnam, Pat O’Connor’s drama centres on Cal McCluskey (John Lynch), an IRA member who forms a connection with Marcella (Helen Mirren), the widow of a protestant police officer. The film has been newly restored to mark its 40th anniversary.
This documentary from Maurice O’Brien focuses on Dzogchen Beara, a Tibetan Buddhist retreat built on a clifftop on the Beara peninsula. Its Buddhist community travels there from all over the world, as they find the road to enlightenment involves many challenges. The film is nominated for Best New Irish Feature at CIFF.
Japanese-British filmmaker Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s documentary follows the pupils of a public elementary school in Tokyo over the course of a year. In doing so, audiences learn of the traits that shape Japanese society.
Audiences in Bantry, Mallow, Midleton and Youghal will have an opportunity to enjoy a taste of CIFF with screenings of animated feature The Magic Reindeer: Saving Santa’s Sleigh, Blue Road: The Enda O’Brien Story, and French thriller Misericordia.
Younger children are catered for in this tale of strange goings-on following Fox and Hare’s party with their friends. The duo are determined to find out what’s going on in CIFF’s animated family gala.
Set during the 1972 Munich Olympics, September 5 follows the story of the Israeli hostage crisis through the eyes of the sports broadcasting team that covered it. It tells the story of the ABC sports crew who covered the attack, bringing live events to the world as they grapple with their own difficult decisions.
Amy Adams is generating awards-season heat for her role as Mother in Marielle Heller’s (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s bestselling novel. On pausing her career to be a stay-at-home mother, her character’s life takes a surreal turn.
A holocaust survivor and talented architect aims to build a new life and rebuild his family in filmmaker Brady Corbet’s tale of the immigrant experience. As they travel to post-WW2 America, their lives are transformed by the actions of a mysterious client in the drama, regarded as an awards-season favourite.
