Green carpet at Cannes as Irish make their presence felt 

Green carpet at Cannes as Irish make their presence felt 

From second left: Andrea Arnold, Jasmine Jobson, Carlos O'Connell, Jason Buda, Frankie Box, a guest, Franz Rogowski, Nykiya Adams, and Barry Keoghan attend the Bird red carpet event during the 77th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France.

Just as they’ve been doing industry-wide for a handful of years, the Irish film contingent are making waves at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival this week. Their presence, indeed, will be more pronounced than ever.

Five Irish-produced films will make their world premiere at the Olympics of film festivals with over 20 other projects selling on the Cannes marketplace. This is an unprecedented number.

Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn and Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump in The Apprentice.
Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn and Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump in The Apprentice.

The five debuting include a couple supported by Screen Ireland. The first is Ali Abassi’s The Apprentice, selected for official competition, and Ariane Labed’s September Says, playing in the Un Certain Regard section.

The Surfer, Irish director Lorcan Finnegan’s fourth feature, will receive its world premiere in the Midnight Screenings section. 

Actor Nicolas Cage and director Lorcan Finnegan attend The Surfer photocall at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals  in Cannes, France.
Actor Nicolas Cage and director Lorcan Finnegan attend The Surfer photocall at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals  in Cannes, France.

Finnegan teams up with screen anomaly Nicolas Cage —  and Dublin production company Tailored Films — for a thriller set on the Australian coast. This isn’t Finnegan’s first foray onto the Croisette. He brought his sci-fi horror Vivarium to Cannes in 2019. For fans of genre cinema, The Surfer this will be one to watch out for.

For an Irish production company to have three movies showcased at Cannes is a considerable feat and Element Pictures have managed it this year. Visionary Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos has struck up quite the partnership with Element over the years. They have co-produced his previous four films ( Poor Things, The Favourite, Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Lobster) and now they have helped him bring his latest, Kinds of Kindness, to fruition — and to the Official Competition at Cannes.

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl will screen in Un Certain Regard, another highly-anticipated title that Element has helped see the light of day. 

A still from On becoming a Guinea Fowl.
A still from On becoming a Guinea Fowl.

From director Rungano Nyoni, the film was shot in Zambia with post-production taking place in Ireland. September Says, which was also filmed in Ireland, rounds out Element founders Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe's contributions to this year's festival.

Further Irish talent in front of and behind the camera are on show across the festival this year, with Andrea Arnold’s Bird in Official Competition, starring hot commodity Barry Keoghan. Arnold once again acquired the services of Academy award-nominated cinematographer Robbie Ryan to shoot her film. Ryan has worked with Arnold on all of her films, going back as far as 2003 before the director was making feature films when he shot her short film, Wasp.

The Irish Pavilion at this year’s festival will promote over 20 projects actively selling in the marketplace including Irish co-production The Damned, award-winning documentary The Flats, the animated Niko: Beyond the Northern Lights, and Irish-language horror film Fréwaka.

Screen Ireland’s presence at Cannes is and always has been key to promoting national film projects — most crucially highlighting Ireland’s filmmaking talent. This talent has enjoyed success at major festivals already in 2024 including at Sundance and Berlinale.

Culture Minister Catherine Martin, who attended the business marketplace of the Cannes Film Festival on Friday to meet with international industry stakeholders, congratulated "the creative teams behind the five Irish films, and to Barry Keoghan and Robbie Ryan whose work will also be showcased at the festival".

"The Irish screen industry continues to go from strength to strength and Cannes is an important annual promotional and business platform. The Cinematic Co-Production Agreement we signed with France has now come into effect and will support the development of closer working relationships with French producers and production companies."

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