Best New Irish Feature
Rooted in Ireland, facing the world. These ambitious and wildly different films represent the quality and diversity of Irish filmmaking this year, whether fully Irish in story and production or in harmonious joint efforts with filmmaking talents from other countries.
The Best New Irish Film Award is proudly sponsored by the Irish Examiner.
2024 Programme
BLUE ROAD: THE EDNA O’BRIEN STORY
Documentary
With the release of her revolutionary 1960 novel The Country Girls, Edna O’Brien sealed her fate as both a revered novelist and a feminist icon. Blue Road explores her life as a literary sensation and social radical. Sinead O’Shea’s thoughtful documentary weaves effectively O’Briens professional and personal triumphs and difficulties, in a portrait of an iconoclast who stood in resistance to the Irish conservative doctrine of the mid-twentieth century.
Featuring an insightful and affecting interview with Edna from just before her passing, the film richly honours her legacy, as well as her profound passion and dedication to art.
A post-screening Q&A will take place with director Sinéad O’Shea, hosted by Aoife Barry, writer, journalist & broadcaster.
Also screening as part of Super Cine Saturday at Cinemax Bantry, Gate Midleton & Mallow, and the Regal Cinema Youghal on Saturday 16th November.
SUN 10 | EVERYMAN | 17:00
BRING THEM DOWN + Q&A
Fiction
Rivalry between farmers, internal strife, hostility within the family,: battles rage on all fronts in this dramatic study of paternalism, heritage, and the generational trauma cycling through the cultural prism of Ireland. Michael (Christopher Abbott), the last son of a shepherding family, lives with his ailing father, Ray (Colm Meany). Burdened by a terrible secret, Michael has isolated himself from the world. When a conflict with rival farmer Gary (Paul Ready) and his son Jack (Barry Keoghan) escalates, Michael is drawn into a devastating chain of events, leaving both families permanently altered. The impressive ensemble cast – with Nora-Jane Noone adding an astonishing female touch – makes Bring Them Down a memorable viewing experience: from the reluctant heir chained to the horrors of his past to the good kid tested by the brutality that surrounds him, living with a legacy of violence proves easy for no one.
Director Chris Andrews, joined by actress Nora-Jane Noone, will attend the screening and participate in a post-screening Q&A hosted by Aurélie Godet, director of programming.
SAT 9 | EVERYMAN | 17:15
CHASING THE LIGHT + Q&A
Documentary
Dzogchen Beara is Ireland’s best-known spiritual retreat centre, built on a remote clifftop.
Initially established in 1974 as a retreat by hippies Peter & Harriet Cornish, this West Cork refuge would go on to become a respected centre of Tibetan Buddhist practice in the West.
But for its Buddhist community, drawn from all over the world, it quickly becomes clear that the road to enlightenment contains many challenges.
When allegations against their revered spiritual teacher force the formerly peaceful haven into an existential crisis, the community must pull together or fall apart.
Chasing the Light powerfully dissects this complicated history with dignity and sensitivity, providing a powerful and meditative account of Dzogchen Beara and its legacy.
Filmmaker in attendance.
SAT 9 | TRISKEL | 20:30
THE DAMNED
Fiction
In this atmospheric drama set in the 19th century, Eva, a young widow, faces an impossible choice when a ship sinks off the coast of her isolated fishing village during an especially cruel winter. With their food supplies dwindling, Eva and her crew must decide whether to rescue the shipwrecked sailors or let them perish to ensure their own survival. As the consequences of their actions begin to manifest, the villagers find themselves grappling with the weight of their decisions and begin to believe they are all being punished.
Drawing inspiration from classic Hollywood tales and thought-provoking morality plays, Icelandic writer/director Thordur Palsson (The Valhalla Murders) explores the complexities of human nature and the fragility of societal bonds in the face of adversity. He does so with accomplished artistry, from striking visuals to a haunting sound design. The cast led by Odessa Young and Joe Cole is as convincing as their characters’ chances to make it through the frozen Winter are slim.
MON 11 | ARC CINEMA | 20:15
FRÉWAKA (FRÉAMHACHA) + Q&A
Fiction
Haunted by a personal tragedy, home care worker Shoo must temporarily leave behind her pregnant partner as she is sent to a remote village to care for an agoraphobic woman. The fearful woman suspects her neighbours as much as the Na Sídhe – sinister entities who she believes abducted her decades before. As the two develop a strangely deep connection, Shoo is consumed by the old woman’s paranoia, rituals, and superstitions, eventually confronting the horrors from her own past. Aislinn Clarke, the award-winning director of The Devil’s Doorway, looks again at the weight of legacy and inheritance, through the prism of a very home-grown terror.
Director Aislinn Clarke will be in attendance and will also participate in our Industry Days
FRI 8 | EVERYMAN | 20:30
SEPTEMBER SAYS + Q&A
Fiction
Sisters July and September are thick as thieves, but they couldn’t be more different: July is open and curious about the world whereas September is protective and distrustful of others. She is, also, strangely controlling with her sister. When “September says” something, July complies. This dynamic is a concern to their single mum, Sheela, who is unsure what to do with them. So when September is suspended from school following a disturbing incident, Sheela takes the family to an old holiday home in Ireland to breath another, fresher air. But July finds her bond with September shifting in ways she cannot entirely understand or control – and a series of surreal encounters test the family to their limit.
Adapted from Daisy Johnson’s gothic novel Sisters, September Says is the confident directing debut of free-spirited actress Ariane Labed. Her independence shows in everything: the choice of the story, of the cast, of locations, with the Irish countryside ideally hosting the film’s eery second part, where interpretations are called into question.
Filmmaker in attendance.
SUN 10 | EVERYMAN | 20:00
