Category: Exclusives

We take a look at some of the Irish films making their way to screens in 2020. We’ll update films, premieres and release dates  and add reviews and interviews as they come in.

Vivarium

DIR: Lorcan Finnegan • WRI: Garret Shanley

Premiere @ Cannes 2019

In cinema 27th March 2020

A couple looking for the perfect home, find themselves trapped in a mysterious labyrinth-like neighbourhood of identical houses.

CAST: Imogen Poots, Jesse Eisenberg, Jonathan Aris, Jack Hudson

Jihad Jane

DIR: Ciarán Cassidy

Premiere at Galway Film Fleadh 2019

In cinemas 14th February

In March 2010, two American women, including one who named herself ‘Jihad Jane’, were arrested in a number of high-profile arrests in Waterford, Ireland, which were trumpeted by the US attorney’s office as ‘the new face of terrorism’. Facing huge jail sentences, the two women pleaded guilty but now for the first time ever, with unprecedented access, Jihad Jane tells the story of the most absurd terror cell ever to come together.

Jihad Jane tells of the online world and the damaged people who made plans to murder a Swedish cartoonist but reality comes crashing in when they actually meet for the first time. The film captures post 9/11 America and what emerges is a touching and haunting portrait of not only a damaged terror cell but the country and world that they emerged from.

Calm With Horses

DIR: Nick Rowland • WRI: Joe Murtagh

Premiere @ Toronto International Film Festival 2019

13th March 2020

In darkest rural Ireland, ex-boxer Arm has become the feared enforcer for the drug dealing Devers family, whilst also trying to be a good father to his autistic five year-old son, Jack. Torn between these two families, Arm is asked to kill for the first time, and his attempt to do the right thing endangers everyone he holds dear.

CAST: Barry Keoghan, Niamh Algar, Ned Dennehy, Cosmo Jarvis, Hazel Doupe

“outstanding performances from Barry Keoghan and Ned Dennehy”

Irish Film Review: ‘Calm with Horses’ @ Toronto International Film Festival 2019 

Sea Fever

DIR/WRI: Neasa Hardiman

Premiere @ Toronto International Film Festival 2019

 March 2020

The crew of a West of Ireland trawler, marooned at sea, struggle for their lives against a growing parasite in their water supply.

CAST: Connie Nielsen, Hermione Corfield, Dougray Scott.

Rialto

DIR: Peter Mackie Burns • WRI: Mark O’Halloran

Premiere @ Venice International Film Festival 2019

8th May 2020

In the wake of his father’s death, Colm must come to terms with his actions and find the resolve to halt the crumbing facade of his home, his family, and everything he has built.

CAST: Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Tom Glynn-Carney, Monica Dolan

When All Is Ruin Once Again 

DIR: Keith Walsh

Spring 2020

2010: a new motorway ploughs through a community in the west of Ireland, a glaring symbol of our modern age. Over the next 7 years the film weaves an epic tapestry of reflections from bog-lands, fire-sides, race tracks and hurling pitches; all while the country is hit by the worst economic crisis it has ever faced and the realisation that the way we are living on the planet is no longer sustainable dawns.

Wildfire

DIR/WRI: Cathy Brady

TBA

The story of two sisters who grew up on the fractious Irish border. When one of them, who has gone missing, finally returns home, the intense bond with her sister is re-ignited. Together they unearth their mother’s past, but as they uncover the secrets and resentments that have been buried deep down, it all threatens to overwhelm them.

CAST: Nika McGuigan, Nora-Jane Noone

Beards

DIR/WRI: David Freyne

TBA

Set in Ireland during the mid-90s, two closeted teenagers decide to stage a relationship in order to stop everyone speculating about their sexuality.

CAST: Fionn O’Shea, Lola Petticrew, Barry Ward, Sharon Horgan

A Girl From Mogadishu

Mary McGuckian

Premiere at Dublin International Film Festival 2019

March/April 2020 

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

Wolfwalkers

DIR: Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart • WRI: Will Collins

TBA

Robyn Goodfellowe has come from England with her father Bill, who has been tasked by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell to wipe out the last wolf pack. She befriends Mebh MacTire, a native Irish girl, one of a fading pagan tribe rumoured to have the gift to be able to transform into wolves by night.  Mebh is searching for her missing mother MOLL, who has been captured in her wolf form by the Lord Protector and Robyn vows to help her. But when Robyn realises she too is transforming into a Wolfwalker, she is faced with a very difficult decision. Will she turn her back on her friend in favour of the world her father wants for her – a Puritan life in the city where she must suppress her true nature, or will she become the very thing her father is tasked to destroy?

CAST:  Sean Bean

She’s Missing

DIR/WRI: Alexandra McGuinness

Premiere @ Dublin International Film Festival 2019

TBA

When her best friend goes missing at a rodeo, Heidi goes on a search across the desert, digging up secrets and encountering the violence of life on the road.

CAST: Lucy Fry, Eiza González, Christian Camargo

Here Are the Young Men

DIR/WRI: Eoin Macken

TBA

Dublin teenagers Matthew, nihilistic Rez, and the deranged Kearney, leave school to a social vacuum of drinking and drugs, falling into shocking acts of transgression.

CAST: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo

Green Knight

DIR/WRI: David Lowery

TBA

A retelling of the 14^th Century tale, ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’. Sir Gawain, King Arthur’s cousin, beheads the Green Knight easily. His opponent survives, however, and the Green Knight demands that Sir Gawain uphold his half of the oath and return in one year to be beheaded. Gawain leaves the court to spend the year traveling.

CAST: Barry Keoghan joins Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander

The Castle

DIR: Lina Lužytė

TBA

Set in Dublin, Monika has a dream to play a one in a lifetime concert. Her mother is sceptical and reluctant to support her daughter’s dreams, and so she sells their keyboard and forbids Monika from attending the concert. However, Monika stops at nothing to pursue her dream.

CAST: Barbora Bareikyte, Gabija Jaraminaite,  Jurate Onaityte

End of Sentence

DIR: Elfar Adalsteins • WRI: Michael Armbruster

Premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019

TBA

After being widowed, Frank Fogle reluctantly embarks on a journey to honor his wife’s last wish of spreading her ashes in a remote lake in her native Ireland and a promise of taking his estranged son, Sean, along for the trip. As Sean steps out of prison the last thing on his mind is a foreign road trip with his alienated father.

CAST: John Hawkes, Logan Lerman, Sarah Bolger

Rose Plays Julie

DIR/WRI: Joe Lawlor, Christine Molloy

Premiere @ BFI London Film Festival 2019

May 2020 

Rose  is at university studying veterinary science. An only child, she has enjoyed a loving relationship with her adoptive parents. However, for as long as Rose can remember she has wanted to know who her biological parents are and the facts of her true identity. After years trying to trace her birth mother, Rose now has a name and a number. All she has to do is pick up the phone and call. When she does it quickly becomes clear that her birth mother has no wish to have any contact. Rose is shattered. A renewed and deepened sense of rejection compels her to keep going. Rose travels from Dublin to London in an effort to confront her birth mother, Ellen and learns a secret that has been kept hidden for over 20 years.

CAST: Ann Skelly, Orla Brady, Aidan Gillen, Annabell Rickerby

Arracht

DIR/WRI: Tom Sullivan

Premiered at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2019

March 2020 

Set during the famine, a man loses everything and is accused of a murder. On the run for three years and with the help of a mysterious girl he attempts to rebuild his life. However, his past however comes back to haunt him.

CAST: Dónall Ó Héalaí, Saise Ní Chuinn, Michael McElhatton, Peter Coonan

Broken Law 

DIR/WRI: Paddy Slattery

Dave Connolly is a respected member of the Garda Síochána but his loyalty to the law gets tested by his ex-convict brother Joe who is in desperate need of his help following a botched robbery. Dave finds himself embroiled in a cover-up that somehow leads to a secret relationship with Amia, an unhappily married woman who also happens to be the victim of his brother’s crime.

CAST: Tristan Heanue, Graham Earley, John Connors, Gemma Leah Devereux, Ryan Lincoln, Ally Ni Chiarain, Gary Lydon

Pure Grit

DIR: Kim Bartley

A documentary set against the captivating backdrop of the Wyoming wilderness, Pure Grit follows Sharmaine, a Native American bareback racer, and her girlfriend Savannah, as they strive to overcome the ghosts of past abuse.

Finky

DIR: Dathai Keane, Pierce Boyce • WRI: Dathai Keane, Diarmuid de Faoite

Premiere @ Galway Film Fleadh 2019

TBA 

Micí Phincí Ó Foghlú is a young musician with a tragic past who is crippled in a car accident and given a chance at redemption when he is recruited by a violent, avant-garde circus.

Herself 

DIR: Phyllida Lloyd  • WRI:  Clare Dunne, Malcolm Campbell 

Premiere at Sundance Film Festival 2020 

TBA

The story of Sandra (Clare Dunne), who on the surface of it, is a young Mum struggling to provide her two young daughters with a warm, safe, happy home to grow up in. Beneath the surface, Sandra has a steely determination to change their lives for the better and when it becomes clear that there are no other options left to her, she decides to build it herself from scratch.

CAST: Clare Dunne, Harriet Walter, Conleth Hill

The Nest

DIE/WRI:Sean Durkin

Premiere at Sundance Film Festival 2020 

TBA

Charismatic entrepreneur Rory relocates his wife Allison and their children Sam and Ben from suburban America to his native England with ambitious dreams of profiting from booming 1980’s London. While Rory thrives chasing lofty deals in the city, Allison and the kids struggle to adapt. Once a businesswoman in her own right, Allison finds herself idle and resuming the role of housewife in a run-down mansion they can’t afford to furnish. As the eerie isolation of their new home drives the family further apart, and the promise of a lucrative new beginning starts to unravel, Rory and Allison have to face the unwelcome truths lying beneath the surface of their marriage.

CAST: Jude Law, Carrie Coon

Dirty God

DIR: Sacha Polak • WRI: Sacha Polak, Susie Farrell

Premiere @ Sundance Film Festival 2019

A young woman rebuilds her life after an acid attack leaves her with severe facial burns.

CAST: Vicky Knight, Katherine Kelly, Rebecca Stone, Bluey Robinson, Dana Marineci

“Sacha Polack, as director and producer of this truly beautiful film has wrought a stunning piece of cinematic mastery”

Review of Irish Film @ DIFF 2019: Dirty God

Borderland

DIR: Brian Kirk • WRI: Ronan Bennett

TBA

An IRA member hunts for his wife’s murderer, while also being tracked by the same killer.

CAST: Jamie Dornan, Sam Claflin

Irish Films To Look Out For in 2019