In Festivals

Preview of Irish Films @ Dublin International Film Festival 2019

24th January 2019 7 Mins Read

It’s always the best way to kick the new year into gear when the Dublin International Film Festival announce their schedule. This year there are treats, goodies and film fun for all. Below we take a gander at the Irish films hitting the festival screens.

The festival runs 20 February – 3 March 2019.

Papi Chulo (DIR/WRI: John Butler)

WED 20 FEB/6:00PM/8:30pm CINEWORLD

A solitary and alienated television weatherman “hires” a middle-aged Latino migrant worker to be his friend, in this darkly comedic reflection on class, ethnicity, and companionship in contemporary Los Angeles.

CAST: Matt Bomer, Alejandro Patiño, Elena Campbell-Martinez

Tickets (8.30pm)

When Hitchcock Met O’Casey (Brian O’Flaherty)

THU 21 FEB/6:15PM/ LIGHT HOUSE CINEMA

It was a collaboration between one of Ireland’s most noted playwrights and cinema’s greatest directors, yet the 1930 release of Juno and the Paycock is often neglected in the repertoire of both men. Brian O’Flaherty’s documentary aims to find out why.

Dublin on Screen

The First Was a Boy (Shaun Dunne) / Confinement(Trish McAdam) / There’s No Place Like Home (Mia Mullarkey and the Screen8 Participants)

FRI 22 FEB/6:30PM/ LIGHT HOUSE CINEMA

A Girl From Mogadishu (Mary McGuckian)

Fri 22nd/8:30pm/Odeon Point Village 2

Based on the real life story of Ifrah Ahmed – youth leader and advocate against Female Genital Mutilation in Somalia and Horn of Africa.

Cast: Aja Naomi King, Barkhad Abdi, Martha Canga Antonio

Dub Daze (DIR/WRI: Shane J. Collins)

SAT 23 FEB/2:00PM/ CINEWORLD

Dan and Baz are two friends looking for kicks on their last day of school. Cork medical students Jack and Seán arrive in the capital to find their way amongst Ireland’s affluent youth, while songwriter Fi struggles to break through on the cut-throat Dublin music scene.

CAST: Jack Hudson, Derek Ugochukwu, Abdul Alshareef

Virgin Media DIFF Shorts 1 (Various)

SAT 23 FEB/6:00PM/ LIGHT HOUSE CINEMA

Virgin Media DIFF Shorts 1

Virgin Media DIFF Shorts 2 (Various)

SUN 24 FEB/8:15PM/ LIGHT HOUSE CINEMA

Virgin Media DIFF Shorts 2

Virgin Media DIFF Shorts 3 (Various)

MON 25 FEB/6:00PM/ LIGHT HOUSE CINEMA

Virgin Media DIFF Shorts 3

Floating Structures (Feargal Ward, Adrian Duncan)

MON 25 FEB/6:30PM/ IRISH FILM INSTITUTE

Floating Structures

A researcher travels across Europe, exploring an array of buildings and structures that seem other-worldly. Drawing on the ideas and visions of the great Irish engineer Peter Rice, the film explore the hinterlands that gave rise to these structures. Wandering from a quiet Bavarian town, to the streets of Paris, to the city of Seville, our past is sifted through and interlinked with precision and wonder

What Time is Death? (Paul Duane)

TUE 26 FEB/6:30PM/ IRISH FILM INSTITUTE

What Time is Death?

In 2017 Bill Drummond & Jimmy Cauty, formerly The KLF, returned after 23 years of silence – but they were no longer a pop group. They were now undertakers, planning to build a monument, the People’s Pyramid, out of 34,952 bricks made from the remains of dead people.

Virgin Media DIFF Shorts 4 (Various)

TUE 26 FEB/8:45PM/ LIGHT HOUSE CINEMA

Virgin Media DIFF Shorts 4

Dark Lies the Island (DIR: Ian Fitzgibbon WRI: Kevin Barry)

WED 27 FEB/6:15PM/ CINEWORLD

Dark Lies the Island

If you’re going to get involved with men in a small Irish town, they might as well be the Mannions – and Sara is involved up to her neck. The Mannions are a feuding family in the town of Dromord who are all set at each other. Sara is married to Daddy Mannion but holding a candle for her first love, his son Doggy. When she also gets involved with his brother, trouble looms.

CAST: Peter Coonan, Charlie Murphy, Pat Shortt, Moe Dunford

Virgin Media DIFF Shorts 5 (Various)

WED 27 FEB/8:40PM/ LIGHT HOUSE CINEMA

Virgin Media DIFF Shorts 5

Land Without God (Gerard Mannix Flynn, Maedhbh McMahon, Lotta Petronella)

THU 28 FEB/8:50PM/ LIGHT HOUSE CINEMA

Land Without God

This deeply personal documentary feature is a culmination of Mannix Flynn’s writings and experiences spanning over four decades. The film centres on Flynn and members of his own family as they recall the effects of decades of institutional abuse, and the impact it has had – and continues to have – on their lives. The film asks the question: How does one exit the trauma buried deep in the bones of generations? A family’s journey into the dark side of the Irish State.

She’s Missing (DIR/WRI: Alexandra McGuinness)

FRI 1 MAR/8:40PM/ LIGHT HOUSE CINEMA

She’s Missing

Heidi’s best friend goes missing at a rodeo after meeting a mysterious man. Determined to find out what happened to her, she sets out across the desert, unveiling astonishing secrets and encountering the unexpected violence of life on the road. Crossing paths with several characters along the way, Heidi is determined to find her friend – but there’s an ominous presence on her tail.

CAST: Lucy Fry, Eiza González, Josh Hartnett, Christian Camargo

GAZA (Garry Keane, Andrew McConnell)

SAT 2 MAR/2:00PM/ CINEWORLD

GAZA

A portrait of the resilience of people in the most challenging of circumstances. Set among the communities who live in Gaza, the documentary aims to go beyond the reach of television news and politics in its account of these people and their daily lives. It’s the story of eloquent, funny and above all ordinary people as they endeavour to live meaningful lives in the shadows of perpetual conflict

Prisoners of the Moon (Johnny Gogan)

SAT 2nd Mar/4:30PM/Light House Cinema

This drama/creative documentary brings to life the story of Arthur Rudolph, a scientist who played a key role in NASA’s historic 1969 moon landing. He was one of a number of Nazi rocket scientists who assisted America as they tried to win the space race. The film examines Rudolph’s work and alleged involvement in war crimes, and screens as the fiftieth anniversary of the moon landing approaches.

CAST: Jim Norton, Cathy Belton, Marty Rea

Greta (DIR: Neil Jordan WRI: Neil Jordan, Ray Wright)

SAT 2 MAR/8:10PM/ LIGHT HOUSE CINEMA

A sweet, naïve young woman is trying to make it on her own in New York City, Frances doesn’t think twice about returning the handbag she finds on the subway to its rightful owner. That owner is Greta an eccentric French piano teacher with a love for classical music and an aching loneliness. Having recently lost her mother, Frances quickly grows closer to widowed Greta. The two become fast friends – but Greta’s maternal charms begin to dissolve and grow increasingly disturbing as Frances discovers that nothing in Greta’s life is what it seems.

CAST: Chloë Grace Moretz, Maika Monroe, Isabelle Huppert

Shooting the Mafia (Kim Longinotto)

SAT 2 MAR/8:20PM/ CINEWORLD

This documentary strips back the glamorous image of the Sicilian Mafia, showing the harsh reality of life, death and business at the hands of those who wield it. It does so through the eyes and lens of photographer Letizia Battaglia, who captured their brutality on her own terms. Fear and threats did not prevent her from documenting what has been described as her “archive of blood” in all of its raw power.

Dirty God (DIR: Sacha Polak WRI: Susie Farrell, Sacha Polak)

Sun 3rd MAR/ 5:30pm/Light House Cinema

A young mother aims to rebuild her life following a vicious acid attack which left her seriously injured and with life-changing facial burns. As the impacts of her trauma on family life and relationships make themselves felt, she must dig deep to get her life back. In the lead role, Polak has cast newcomer Vicky Knight, herself a burns survivor.

CAST: Eliza Brady-Girard, Dana Marineci, Wendy Albiston

Download programme here

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