Cork Film Festival 2019 Programme - Cork International Film Festival

Programme Highlights: Documentary, Irish and Family Galas

3 Irish Premieres Announced for
Documentary, Irish and Family Galas

The Cave (Feras Fayyad): Documentary Gala

Feras Fayyad (‘Last Men in Aleppo’, CFF 2017) once again celebrates the nobility and resilience of his country-folk in ‘The Cave’ which follows Dr Amani, a young woman in war-ravaged Syria, working in a subterranean emergency medical centre in the city of Ghouta, near Damascus. As bombs drop and lethal chemicals fill in the air, she has to treat injured patients, while also enduring the casual chauvinism of those who think no woman should be running a hospital.

‘The Last Right’: Irish Gala

‘The Last Right’ is a bold and original debut feature by Irish writer/director Aoife Crehan, a road movie caper which follows Daniel Murphy (Michiel Huisman) who has been left in charge of a corpse – the body of someone he never knew. He is persuaded to take on the challenge of getting a coffin from his home in Clonakilty to Rathlin Island by his autistic younger brother Louis (Samuel Bottomley) and Mary (Niamh Algar), a flighty young mortician.

‘Frozen 2’: Family Gala

Surely the biggest family event of the year! We are delighted to announce that our Family Gala screening is the Irish Premiere of highly anticipated ‘Frozen 2’. Together with Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven, Elsa sets out on a dangerous but remarkable journey. ‘Frozen 2’ reunites the cast and creative team from the Oscar-winning 2013 film ‘Frozen’ to create a beautiful magical adventure for audiences of all ages.

Programme Highlights: International Features

Christian Bale and Matt Damon take on the gruelling endurance race of ‘Le Mans ’66’ with an engineering marvel, while Steve Coogan revels in marvelous excess in the absurd satire ‘Greed’. An altogether different type of absurdity awaits in Taiki Waititi’s ‘JoJo Rabbit’, that places a stellar cast including Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell and Stephen Merchant, in the midst of the last days of Nazi Germany, in this riotous, whip-smart, anti-hate satire.

Programme Highlights: Documentaries

Three stand out documentary highlights which explore political history and its present day ramifications, at home and abroad, will be presented as part of our documentary programme. Academy Award®-winning director Alex Gibney’s acclaimed ‘Citizen K’ about Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once believed to be the richest man in Russia, reveals the dark, compelling history of post-Soviet Russia; ‘Lost Lives’ directed by Dermot Lavery and Michael Hewitt documents the lives of those who died during the Troubles; Patricio Guzman’s stunning exploration of the legacy of Pinochet’s era in Chile, ‘The Cordillera of Dreams’ will grip audiences with his powerful and emotive film.

Relive the Magic of Classic Films

We invite you to explore this specially selected programme of significant classic films, from new digital restorations to those which have been carefully chosen to complement the new work presented in the Festival, to rediscover – or experience for the first time on the cinema screen.

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman are reunited for a 20th anniversary screening of Stanley Kubrick’s swansong, the taut psychological drama, ‘Eyes Wide Shut’. Cult Japanese horror ‘Tetsuo the Iron Man’ celebrates its 30th anniversary with an atmospheric late night screening in the Triskel. In this centennial year of her birth, Cork Film Festival pays tribute to game-changer film critic Pauline Kael with the new documentary ‘What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael’, introduced by chief film correspondent of The Irish Times, Donald Clarke, and presented alongside ‘Bonnie and Clyde’, the film that she famously championed against the grain of critical consensus at the time.

What a glorious feeling to see Gene Kelly’s iconic ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ in The Everyman Theatre, a classic musical and an ode to Hollywood. A musical of an entirely different beat is Ken Russel’s ‘Tommy’, with music by The Who and also starring Elton John, Eric Clapton and Tina Turner.

Family Films for the Young and Young at Heart!

We can’t wait to bring you the biggest family event of the year – the Cork Film Festival Family Gala Irish Premiere of ‘Frozen 2’!

But before we revisit Elsa and Anna, there’s lots more to look forward to in our Family Programme. From beloved Irish Classic ‘Into the West’ to new stunning feature animation ‘Away’ and from classroom antics in the Himalayas in ‘Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom’ to ‘Family-Friendly Shorts’ from around the globe, our Family Programme offers you the chance to introduce your little ones to whole new worlds on film, without ever leaving your cinema seat!

Whether introducing your family to favourites from your childhood or finding new favourites together, there’s something for everyone, from the young to the young at heart, in all our Family Features and Family Friendly Shorts this year. Don’t forget our special Family Pass and Family Gala Pass to see more for less!

Programme Highlights: Shorts

Cork Film Festival has championed short film for decades through our extensive Festival Shorts Programme. From over 3,600 shorts submitted from over 100 countries, Cork Film Festival will present the cream of the crop in 12 Irish and international short programmes, alongside specially curated programmes celebrating local filmmakers, Irish and international short filmmakers.

Cork Film Festival is the only film festival in Ireland, and one of only a handful internationally, which has 3 Oscar®-qualifying Awards – of the 10 Awards the Festival presents, the winners of our Grand Prix Irish Short Award, Grand Prix International Short Award and, newly in 2019, the Grand Prix Documentary Short Award will qualify for the Oscars® longlist. See them first at Cork Film Festival.