We are heading towards the final weekend of our 69th edition of the Festival. Stay tuned because there is lots more to come, including our ‘Murphy’s Moments’ Fotogenico afterparty, our Awards Gala Nightbitch, and gripping survival saga The Damned. We will also bring the Festival to Cork County with our Super Cine Saturday screenings at Cinemax Bantry, Gate Midleton & Mallow and the Regal Cinema Youghal on the 16th.
Please note a correction to yesterday’s newsletter: Rory Gallagher: Irish Tour ‘74 will screen at 5.30pm, Thursday 14th at The Everyman.
All Festival tickets and passes are on sale now at corkfilmfest.org and via the myCIFF app.
DISRUPTORS: FOTOGENICO + AFTERPARTY
Fotogenico (8pm, Sat 16th Nov, Triskel):
Raoul arrives in Marseille where he is not welcome with open arms: none of the names and addresses that hid daughter Agnès had given him are a match. Agnès lied to him. The only thing that feels real is the album she recorded, but her band split up. By diving into the ruckus of Agnès’s life, is he rushing towards death or the beginning of something new? Can music bring a broken heart back to life?
Disruptors to the core, filmmaking duo Marcia Romano and Benoît Sabatier take us on a roller-coaster ride of amazement, laughter, madness almost but, most reliably, care and respect for their wonderful lead and his sense of humour in the face of adversity.
Director Benoît Sabatier and Actor Christophe Paou will attend the screening and participate in a post-screening Q&A hosted by Aurélie Godet, Director of Programming.
Celebrate the closing weekend of CIFF with Fotogenico director Benoît Sabatier and actor Christophe Paou at the afterparty in the Festival Club (Intermission bar, The Pav, Carey’s Lane) with complimentary beverages.
AWARDS GALA: NIGHTBITCH
Awards Gala: Nightbitch (7.30pm, Sat 16 Nov, The Everyman):
This Gala screening will include the presentation of CIFF Features Awards (Best New Irish Feature supported by the Irish Examiner, Spirit of the Festival, Best Documentary).
In this wildly entertaining and original exploration of motherhood and identity – somewhere between comedy, drama and dark fantasy – Amy Adams plays Mother, a former artist who has moved out of the city. She says with her toddler in their new suburban home while her husband is away (a lot) for business. Routine defines her life now, from meal time to playground time to Baby Book Time, where she struggles to connect with other mums. Unable to keep her emotions bottled up inside much longer, she begins to see and hear things in the night. Something primal and feral rises up within her.
Director Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me) adapts Rachel Yoder’s 2021 bestselling novel and gives all her attention to the women who can’t quite be content with the limited space society has in store for them. The demands placed on mothers, on wives (…on all women?) are essentially unfair, she tells us, and it is a duty to consider them both with the utmost seriousness and to laugh out loud about them.
CORK LENS: THE FARTHEST
The Farthest (1.45pm, Sat 16 Nov, Arc Cinema):
Emer Reynolds’ enthralling documentary details NASA’s ambitious Voyager programme which, in 1977, launched two probes whose original mission was to study the outermost planets of the Solar System, but went on to become the first human-created object to enter interstellar space.
Director and 2024 Arts Council Film Artist in Residence at UCC, Emer Reynolds, and the film’s producer Clare Stronge will participate in a post-screening ‘in-conversation’.
MOMENTUM: THE DAMNED
The Damned (2pm, Sat 16 Nov, Arc Cinema)Â
In this haunting film set in 1862 against the backdrop of the American Civil War, a group of volunteer Union soldiers sees their mission change course and gradually elude them.
Roberto Minervini is a multitalented artist whose award-winning work has revolved around American rural life and marginalised population. In The Damned, his first fully fictional film, he concentrates everything that makes up the myth of America: wide open spaces and the conquest of new territories by force of fire, the faith in God. But he does so in a way that runs counter to American cinematic dogma.
No heroism, no good and bad guys, and a deliberately anti-spectacular mise-en-scène
Wherever you are, join us on Saturday 16 November for a feast of Festival films!
CIFF is delighted to have teamed up with four cinemas across Cork County: Cinemax Bantry; Gate Cinemas Midleton and Mallow; and Regal Cinema Youghal – who will exclusively show a ‘Taste of CIFF’ with three specially selected feature films from the 69th Festival programme.
CORK FILM TRAIL
Someone or something that seeks to challenge the status quo…
This year’s Cork Film Trail celebrates cinema and Cork’s rebellious and disruptive spirit. Our vibrant installations draw inspiration from our new strand – Disruptors – spotlighting maverick filmmakers, past and present.
Located at five sites across the city centre, the vibrant installations also include a special tribute to the virtuoso who forged a musical revolution in his native city and became an internationally acclaimed folk hero, Cork’s own Rory Gallagher, complementing the Festival’s: 50th anniversary presentation of Rory Gallagher: Irish Tour ‘74 at 5.30pm on Thursday 14th November at The Everyman.
Between Festival screenings, we invite you to explore our Cork Film Trail, showcasing CIFF’s rebellious and disruptive spirit, just like the city itself.
Cork Film Trail locations:
- ARC Cinema, North Main Street
- The Metropole Hotel – To Have & To Hold, MacCurtain Street
- The Irish Examiner, Oliver Plunkett Street
- Debenhams, Patrick Street
- City Hall Atrium, Anglesea Street
Our Trail map and accompanying short podcasts at each site will guide you on your journey of discovery.
The Cork Film Trail is presented by Cork International Film Festival in partnership with Murphy’s and our Creative Partner, BabelfÃs. It is supported by Cork City Council.
   
  
