From podcasts to in depth discussion and reviews, from docs to dramas, in this article, we take a look back at the Irish films that were released in 2023.
I Dream in Photos
(DIR: Gary Lennon & Ollie Aslin)
In cinemas 1st December 2023
This documentary profile explores the life and work of Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist Cathal McNaughton, who quit “the best job in the world” at the peak of his career aged just 40. As chief photographer for Reuters in India, McNaughton travelled extensively in Asia covering news stories of world importance. His photographs of the exiled Rohingya Muslims secured him the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in 2018.
Delivers not only a well observed documentary and wonderful homage to Cathal’s impressive career – but also a quiet insight into the conflicted human condition.
Read Gemma Creagh’s review here.
So This is Christmas
(DIR: Ken Wardrop)
Premiered at Cork International Film Festival. In cinemas 17th November 2023
It’s late November and across the country expectations of the impending festive season are growing. Christmas trees are being bought, festive music turned up and presents scrambled for. It’s all getting very bright and loud, excessive and expensive.
A beautifully made documentary making a commentary on the overwhelming and often difficult time of year for so many people in Ireland…
Read Lisa Dempsey’s full review here.
Podcast: Ken Wardrop, Director of ‘So This Is Christmas’
Ó Bhéal
(DIR: Ciara Nic Cormaic)
Premiered at Galway Film Fleadh . In cinemas 10th November 2023.
Ó Bhéal is a cinematic exploration of the rise of Hip Hop and Electronic artists in Ireland, embracing oral traditions of folklore, ancient poetry and sean nós singing to create a new fusion sound, a culture clash through music. An ensemble piece, featuring Irish language rappers Seán ‘Mory’ Ó Muirgheasa and Oisín Mac, producer and multi-instrumentalist Fehdah, and Limerick rapper Strange Boy. This beautiful black & white film delves deep into these four artists’ process and how they are breaking new ground in Irish music.
Encapsulates the essence of a movement, and shines a light on the pockets of creativity and joy found in music around our small island.
Read Gemma Creagh’s review here.
Stolen
(DIR: Margo Harkin)
Premiered at Dublin International Film Festival. In cinemas 3rd November 2023
The documentary tells the story of several mother and baby homes survivors. Revealing details of their treatment in a scandal that sparked a government inquiry, Stolen gives a voice to those silenced for far too long.
Lies We Tell
(DIR: Lisa Mulcahy • WRI: Elisabeth Gooch)
In cinemas 13th October 2023
An orphaned heiress is forced to embrace her family’s dark legacy.
CAST: David Wilmot, Holly Sturton, Chris Walley, Agnes O’Casey
A tale of visual flawlessness and immersive beauty.
Read June Butler’s review here.
Podcast: Lisa Mulcahy, Director of Lies We Tell.
The Miracle Club
(DIR: Thaddeus O’Sullivan • WRI: Jimmy Smallhorne, Timothy Prager, Joshua D. Maurer)
Premiered at Tribeca Festival 2023. In cinemas 13th October 2023
There’s just one dream for the women of Ballygar to taste freedom: to win a pilgrimage to the sacred French town of Lourdes.
CAST: Maggie Smith, Laura Linney, Kathy Bates
Podcast: Thaddeus O’Sullivan, Director of The Miracle Club.
Tarrac
(DIR: Declan Recks • WRI: Eugene O’Brien)
Premiered at Galway Film Fleadh 2022. In cinemas 6th October 2023
A woman returns to her home on the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland’s south west coast, where the film also shot, after her father suffers a heart attack. Here she finds herself returning to the competitive world of Naomhóg (a native Irish boat) rowing.
CAST: Lorcan Cranitch, Kelly Gough, Kate Nic Chonaonaigh
We have been absolutely blessed with some amazing Irish language films the past few years and Tarrac is another one to add to that list
Read Lisa Dempsey’s review here.
Podcast: Eugene O’Brien, Writer of Tarrac.
The Hurler: A Campion’s Tale
(DIR/WRI: Tony Kelly)
In cinemas 6th October 2023
When Ireland’s most notorious amateur sports star becomes the first man in history to fail a test for PEDs, he agrees to coach the country’s worst team in order to try and rebuild his shattered reputation.
CAST: Tony Kelly, Elva Trill, Jon Kenny
Well adapted into an engaging and familiar story by Kelly, with comedy that is constant throughout.
Adelaide Thermes Kane tackles Tony Kelly’s comedy here.
Podcast: Tony Kelly, Writer/Director of The Hurler (A Campion’s Tale).
Ballywalter
(DIR: Prasanna Puwanarajah • WRI: Stacey Gregg)
Premiered at Belfast Film Festival 2023. In cinemas 22nd September 2023
Eileen makes ends meet by working as an unlicensed driver in her ex-boyfriend’s minicab. When Shane calls a taxi to get him to his classes, Eileen answers and a surprising connection is made.
CAST: Seána Kerslake, Patrick Kielty
Prasanna Puwanarajah in his feature directorial debut has steered this absolutely stunning film with a mastery that suggests a far greater body of work lies in his curriculum vitae
Read June Butler’s review here.
Podcast: Prasanna Puwanarajah, Director of Ballywalter.
Dublin Crust
(WRI/DIR: Baz Black)
In cinemas 22nd September 2023
Worn Out, Played Out, Strung Out. 10 Years after Punk band Crust split up the band members lives have fallen apart. Drummer Bonehead has just been released from prison and sets about reforming the band for one last show.
CAST: Baz Black, Johnny French, Barry John Kinsella
Flora And Son
(WRI/DIR: John Carney)
Premiere at Sundance Film Festival. In cinemas 21st September 2023
Flora, a single mom is at war with her son, Max. Trying to find a hobby for Max, she rescues a guitar from a dumpster and finds that one person’s trash can be a family’s salvation.
CAST: Eve Hewson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Apocalypse Clown
(DIR: George Kane • WRI: Shane O’Brien, James Walmsley, Demian Fox)
Premiered at Galway Film Fleadh 2023. In cinemas 1st September 2023
A troupe of failed clowns and an ambitious reporter embark on a chaotic adventure of self-discovery after a mysterious solar event plunges the world into anarchy.
Cast: David Earl, Natalie Palamides, Amy De Bhrún, Fionn Foley, Tadhg Murphy, Ivan Kaye
Apocalypse Clown promises an unhinged road trip that embraces laughter-for-laughter’s-sake
Read June Butler’s review here.
Puffin Rock and the New Friends
(DIR: Jeremy Purcell, Lorraine Lordan • WRI: Sara Daddy)
In cinemas 11th August 2023. 
Follow the disappearance of the final Little Egg of the season in strange circumstances, leading Oona and her friends to embark on a race against time to try to save it before a big storm hits Puffin Rock and puts the island in danger.
Cast: Chris O’Dowd, Amy Huberman, Beth McCafferty
The Future Tense
(WRI/DIR: Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor)
Premiered at Telluride Film Festival 2022. Streaming on MUBI from 23rd August 2023
Structured around a plane journey from London to Dublin, the latest essay film by Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor finds the pair weighing up whether to move to Ireland from the UK, uncertain about where they would feel most at home.
Face Down – The Disappearance of Thomas Niedermayer
(DIR: Gerry Gregg • WRI: David Blake Knox )
In cinemas 11th August 2023.
On 27th December 1973, a nightmare began for an entire family. On that night, Thomas Niedermayer, Germany’s Honorary Consul to Northern Ireland and the Manager of the Grundig Factory in West Belfast, was kidnapped from his home in Belfast. He was never seen alive again by his friends or family. He became one of the ‘disappeared’, and it seemed that no-one knew what had happened to him.
Based on the book FACE DOWN by David Blake Knox.
The Deepest Breath
(DIR: Laura McGann)
Premiere at Sundance Film Festival. In cinemas 14th July 2023
A free diver trains to break a world record with the help of an expert safety diver. This film follows the paths they took to meet at the pinnacle of the free diving world, documenting the rewards and risks of chasing a dream through ocean depths.
This is a film so honest, thrilling and emotionally charged, you will be left equal parts speechless and breathless.
Read Jack Murphy’s review here.
Podcast: Laura McGann, Writer/Director of The Deepest Breath.
Sunlight
(DIR: Claire Dix • WRI: Ailbhe Keogan)
Premiered at Glasgow Film Festival 2023. In cinemas 16th June 2023
A recovering addict is caring for his terminally ill sponsor.
CAST: Ericka Roe, Barry Ward, Lydia McGuinness, Maureen Beattie
Sunlight is fervent filmmaking at its finest with terrific lead performers,
Read Liam Hanlon’s review here.
Podcast: Claire Dix, Director of Sunlight.
406 Days
(DIR: Joe Lee)
In cinemas 26th May 2023.
The film tells the story of the 1,000 Irish Debenhams workers who were made redundant through a generic email on the 9th of April 2020 after Debenhams UK Retail Ltd closed all 11 Irish stores including their flagship store on Henry St. Dublin 1. The workforce, 95% female, had been denied an earlier agreed redundancy package.
Incredibly evocative…this film is, at its core, a film about the amazing women and men at the heart of this movement
Read Lisa Dempsey’s review here.
Podcast: Fergus Dowd, Producer of 406 Days & Carol Ann Bridgeman, Ex-Debenhams worker
Follow Up Podcast for Still Voices: Joe Lee, Director of 406 Days.
Lakelands
(WRI/DIR: Robert Higgins, Patrick McGivney)
In cinemas 5th May 2023. Premiered at Galway Film Fleadh
Cian is a young Gaelic footballer struggling to comes to terms with a career-ending injury after an attack on a night out. He undertakes a search for his own identity in a small town where Gaelic football is a religion, and identity is defined by what you can do on the pitch.
CAST: Éanna Hardwicke, Danielle Galligan, Lorcan Cranitch
A solid directorial debut…the performances of Éanna Hardwicke and Danielle Galligan linger most in the memory.
Read Stephen Burke’s review here.
Podcast: Robert Higgins and Patrick McGivney, Writers & Directors of Lakelands.
Who We Love
(DIR: Graham Cantwell • WRI: Graham Cantwell, Katie McNeice)
Premiered at Galway Film Fleadh. In cinemas 28th April 2023.
A film about coming of age and coming out, Who We Love tells the story of Lily and Simon, best friends who navigate the troubled waters of school life and explore Dublin’s vibrant and sometimes dark LGBTQ+ scene under the sharp eye of reluctant mentor Oonagh. When a misunderstanding with the beautiful and popular Violet leads to a vicious attack, Lily is faced with the greatest challenge of her young life.
CAST: Clara Harte, Dean Quinn and Amy-Joyce Hastings, alongside Paul Ronan, Danielle Galligan, Norma Sheahan
Castro’s Spies
(DIR: Gary Lennon, Ollie Aslin)
In cinemas 28th April 2023. Premiered at Cork International Film Festival.
Tells the story of an elite group of Cuban intelligence agents sent undercover to the U.S. in the 1990s. From their recruitment, training and eventual capture on U.S. soil; this film peers into a secret world of false identities, love affairs and betrayal. Using never seen before footage from the Cuban Film Institute’s archive and first-hand testimony from the people at the heart of this story, Castro’s Spies gives a rare glimpse into the shadowy world of a spy – where the stakes are life and death.
Pray For Our Sinners
(DIR: Sinead O’Shea)
In cinemas 21st April 2023. Premiered at TIFF.
Confronts Ireland’s recent history of brutality against children and women ranging from corporal punishment to state-sanctioned mother and baby homes.
Podcast: Interview with Sinéad O’Shea, Director of Pray for Our Sinners.
Evil Dead Rise
(DIR/WRI: Lee Cronin)
Premiered at South by Southwest. In cinemas 21st April 2023.
A twisted tale of two estranged sisters whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable.
CAST: Mirabai Pease, Richard Crouchley, Anna-Maree Thomas
Barber
(DIR: Fintan Connolly • WRI: Fintan Connolly, Fiona Bergin)
In cinemas 14th April. Premiered at DIFF 2023.
Val Barber, a private investigator, is hired by a wealthy widow to find her missing granddaughter Sara. As initial investigations into her disappearance begin to darken, secrets surface in unexpected ways. Before too long, Barber finds himself entangled with powerful men of shady morals determined to thwart his investigations. Has he bitten off more than he can chew?
CAST: Aidan Gillen, Aisling Kearns, Gary Lydon, Helen Behan, Deirdre Donnelly, Liam Carney
A fresh take on the classic form…This film deviates from the classic Noir format due to the warmth of the writing and depth of the relationships.
Read Gemma Creagh’s review here.
Podcast: Fintan Connolly, Director and Co-Writer of Barber.
LOLA
(DIR: Andrew Legge • WRI: Andrew Legge, Angeli Macfarlane)
Premiered at Locarno International Film Festival. In cinemas 7th April 2023.
2 sisters in 1940 build a machine that can intercept broadcasts from the future.
CAST: Emma Appleton, Stefanie Martini
Between the striking visuals and that soundtrack, LOLA is really one to catch on the big screen.
Read Larissa Brigatti‘s review here.
Podcast: Interview with Andrew Legge, Co-Writer & Director of LOLA.
God’s Creatures
(DIR: Saela Davis, Anna Rose Holmer • WRI: Shane Crowley)
Premiere at Cannes Film Festival. In cinemas 31st March 2023
In a windswept fishing village in Kerry, a mother is torn between protecting her beloved son and her own sense of right and wrong. A lie she tells for him rips apart their family and close-knit community in this tense, sweepingly emotional epic.
CAST: Emily Watson, Paul Mescal, Aisling Franciosi
Podcast: Shane Crowley, Writer of God’s Creatures.
My Sailor, My Love
(DIR: Klaus Härö • WRI: Jimmy Karlson, Kirsi Vikman)
In cinemas 10th March 2023.
Set on the beautiful Achill Island, off County Mayo it’s a romantic tale of a second chance at love and the power of redemption. Becoming concerned about her father Howard (James Cosmo), Grace (Catherine Walker) hires a caretaker in the form of Annie (Bríd Brennan). As a result of his recluse nature, Howard initially rejects any help from Annie, but gradually the pair begin to bond, and Howard re-considers opening his heart to love and to be loved once more.
My Sailor, My Love points the lens at the sinister tendrils of emotional abuse, neglect and unaddressed intergenerational trauma between Howard and Grace.
Read Gemma Creagh’s review here.
The Artist & The Wall of Death
(DIR: Maurice O’Brien)
In cinemas 10th March 2023
When Glaswegian performance artist Stephen Skrynka learns that a life-long obsession with building and riding a century-old fairground attraction, the ‘Wall of Death’, was shared with Michael Donohoe and Connie Kiernan (who built a wall in 1979 and inspired the film Eat the Peach), he heads to their farm in Granard, Co. Longford with an audacious proposal: construct a new ‘Wall of Death’ with him and take it on tour.
Atomic Hope
(DIR: Frankie Fenton)
In cinemas from 17th February 2023
Could nuclear energy be the solution to the climate crisis? The film is an observational documentary which follows a tiny group of highly unpopular “pro-nuclear” activists who controversially believe we now need to urgently re-address our feelings on nuclear power if we are to have any hope of decarbonising our energy systems before the effects of catastrophic climate change wreak havoc.
Let The Wrong One In
(WRI/DIR: Conor McMahon)
Premiered at Dublin International Film Festival. In cinemas 20th January 2023
A young supermarket worker discovers that his older brother is a vampire and must choose whether to save or slay him.
CAST:Anthony Head, Karl Rice, Eoin Duffy.
Let The Wrong One In is a playful nod-and-wink to the classics of the genre resulting in an entertaining romp of ridiculous gore, Irish jokes and practical effects.
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