Start your week with a full day of film and conversation! Monday 10th festival highlights features filmmaker Q&As, an immersive dome 360° experience, a moving documentary and discussion on COVID, and two vibrant short film programmes that spotlight fresh voices and bold storytelling.
Ready to dive into the 70th Cork International Film Festival?
- All Festival tickets are on sale now.
- Grab a Festival Pass, including our new ‘7 for €70’ film pass and a 15-Film CineSaver Student/U25 for just €70, and unlock more films for less.
THEOCRACY: THE EMIGRANTS ARTIST + Q&A
Sé Merry Doyle | Ireland | 2025 | 97mins | Documentary
MON 10 | TRISKEL | 17:00 | WITH Q&A
Can art help one make sense of a life started on the wrong foot? Can art help us survive?
An exploration of London-based artist Bernard Canavan, who was given up by his unmarried parents to an orphanage in Dublin. Theocracy – The Emigrants Artist charts Bernard’s extraordinary journey in trying to find out who he really is as he turns his gaze away from painting the emigrants to compose a whole new collection, “Theocracy”, through which he dares to confronts what the Catholic Church did to him and thousands of other unfortunates who found themselves in orphanages and Mother and Baby homes in 20th century Ireland.
Preceded by A PLACE AWAY (Ellie O’Sullivan | United Kingdom| 1989 | 10 mins), introduced by Best New Irish Feature Award juror Charlotte O’Sullivan, daughter of the filmmaker.
The director Sé Merry Doyle will introduce this film and a Q&A with Sé and Bernard Canavan will follow the screening.
BLAME + POST SCREENING DISCUSSION
Christian Fei | Switzerland | 2025 | 122 mins | Documentary
MON 10 | TRISKEL | 20:15
When the world is engulfed by the COVID-19 pandemic, three scientists who long predicted its arrival must battle not only the virus but also a wave of misinformation, conspiracy theories, and political blame that threatens to eclipse the truth. This is their story. Part investigation, part thriller, Blame investigates the relationship between science, politics and the media.
Followed by a discussion with Niamh Griffin, Health Correspondent at the Irish Examiner, and Dr Kelly Dean, Principal Investigator in the School of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at University College Cork.
This screening is supported by the Embassy of Switzerland in Ireland.
MUSIC FOR DOMES
Róis, Hosta Projects | Ireland, Northern Ireland | 2025 | 60 mins
MON 10 | ST. PETER’S | 18:30
TUE 11 | ST. PETER’S | 13:30, 16:00, 18:30
In this immersive documentary experience, screened in a 360° dome, award-winning Irish artist Róis joins forces with the visionary Hosta Projects for a journey unlike any other. Combining archival footage, sonic folklore and celestial cartography, the film draws uncanny parallels between two ancient cultures – Ireland and Cambodia – and how both map memory, myth and survival across the stars.
INTERNATIONAL SHORTS 1: DOCUMENTARY
91 mins MON 10 | ARC CINEMA | 16:00
From small steps taken in a museum in Kyiv to giant steps in Neil Armstrong’s ancestral home, stories of evolution and revolution.
PALEONTOLOGY LESSON – Sergei Loznitsa
BLIND, INTO THE EYE – Atefeh Kheirabadi, Mehrad Stephanie
I’M RECORDING – Ina Knap
HAPPILY EVER AFTER – Élodie Beaumont Tarillon
NEIL ARMSTRONG & THE LANGHOLMITES – Duncan Cowles [RU]
INTERNATIONAL SHORTS 2: FICTION
91 mins MON 10 | ARC CINEMA | 18:00
Behind the surface of the world we see, there is another world…
WHAT IF WE RUN OUT OF STONES? – Nora Štrbová [RU]
WORLD AT STAKE – Susanna Flock, Adrian Jonas Haim, Jona Kleinlein [RU]
ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF LOVE – Gabriel Abrantes [RU]
S THE WOLF – Sameh Alas
WONDERWALL – Róisín Burns
LITTLE REBELS CINEMA CLUB – Khozy Rizal
International premieres are eligible for Grand Prix International Short Award and Grand Prix Documentary Short Award. Films eligible for the Redbreast UNHIDDEN Short Award are indicated with [RU]. All films are from 2025 except where indicated.
Awards presentation supported by Murphy’s.
