JANUARY AT THE IFI
IFI NEW RELEASES, DOCS & CLASSICS
NOSFERATU 35MM FROM WED 1ST
WE LIVE IN TIME FROM WED 1ST
NICKEL BOYS FROM FRI 3RD
A REAL PAIN FROM WED 8TH
MARIA FROM FRI 10TH
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN FROM FRI 17TH
PRESENCE FROM FRI 24TH
THE BRUTALIST 70MM FROM FRI 24TH
BLUE ROAD: FROM FRI 31ST
THE EDNA O’BRIEN STORY
HARD TRUTHS FROM FRI 31ST
C CINEMA ONLY H IFI@HOME ONLY & CINEMA & IFI@HOME
CONTENTS
IFI SPECIAL EVENTS PAGE 4
IFI NEW RELEASES, DOCS & CLASSICS PAGE 12 IFI@HOME PAGE 18
Open Captioned screening
Audio Described screenings available on selected titles, ask at Box Office for details
BOOKING FEES
Online and telephone bookings are subject to a booking fee of €1.00 per transaction. There are no booking fees on any ticket purchase made in person at the IFI Box Office.
POINTS
Members and Loyalty Card holders accrue points which can be exchanged for complimentary tickets.
For bookings and film information, please see our website, www.ifi.ie, or contact the IFI Box Office on 01-6793477 (open 12.30 to 21.00 daily) or at 6 Eustace Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2.
ADMISSION PRICES* Standard Price (Concession Price)
Preview Screening Pricing: Non-Member: €16.00 (€14.00) / IFI Member: €14.00 (€12.50)
*regular IFI screenings, excluding special events ** plus €1.50 Daily Membership Fee
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The F-rating is a classification reserved for any film which is directed and/or written by a woman.
Films not classified by IFCO, including festival, one-off, and special screenings, are exhibited under Club rules and are restricted to persons 18 years and over. If you are not an IFI member, a daily membership (€1.50) is required for unclassified films, and this will be added to your transaction.
The exclusivity of films is correct at the time of print. All films exclusive to the IFI are kindly supported by the Arts Council.
SEASONS & EVENTS AT A GLANCE
FEB 3RD
TUES, FEB 4TH
FEB 6TH
IFI SPECIAL EVENTS JANUARY 2025
IFI Youth Panel Presents: The Virgin Suicides
MEN
DUNCAN COWLES
Why do so many men struggle to show their feelings?
Part therapy, part road trip, BAFTA award winning filmmaker Duncan Cowles asks men how they open up in order to directly address his own difficulties in being intimate and open with his loved ones.
With profound honesty and deadpan wit, Silent Men intertwines awkward conversations and the filmmaking process, asking what makes men tick, and more importantly, how to come to terms with all aspects of health, both physical and mental.
Exploring aspects of masculinity that all too often are little discussed, this film opens the door for other ways of being, communicating and healing, as well as attempting to define masculinity.
THE DAYS OF TREES + Q&A
ALAN GILSENAN
In this highly original documentary, Tomás, a middle-aged film producer, embarks on a journey of discovery with his friend and colleague, film director, Alan. As they progress, Tomás unearths startling childhood happenings which had somehow eluded his memory. What follows is a profound pilgrimage towards uncovering how sporadic crises in adulthood, amidst an otherwise ‘normal’ life, had their roots in sophisticated sexual abuse by Christian Brothers in the late 1960s.
There is considerable beauty in this psychological excavation, the shadowy black and white palette lending intimacy to the unflinchingly honest testimony. This is the story of a man, not seeking vengeance, but seeking to transcend the trauma of his troubled past, ultimately finding redemption.
We explore these issues within the frame of the First Fortnight Festival in a post-screening conversation with Tomás Hardiman and Alan Gilsenan, hosted by Maeve Lewis (former CEO One in Four).
88 mins, UK, 2024, Digital
90 mins, Ireland, 2023, Digital Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn
ARCHIVE AT LUNCHTIME
NORTHERN ROCK
Join us for FREE lunchtime screenings of films from the IFI Irish Film Archive. Simply collect your tickets online (with a small booking fee) or at IFI Box Office.
PROGRAMME ONE
GREENISLAND ROCK
Members of the Rock’n’Roll society in the village of Greenisland, County Antrim prepare for the weekly gathering with a visit to a tailor and a Carrickfergus record shop, before jiving the night away to the music of The Alley Cats, a Belfast rockabilly band. Dir. Roy Spence. 22 mins, Northern Ireland, 1982, Digital
PROGRAMME TWO
PROTEX HURRAH
Belfast punk band Protex are captured in playful mode on a US tour in 1980 – at the St Patrick’s Day parade, and performing at New York’s Hurrah Club. Dir. John T. Davis. 15 mins, Northern Ireland, 1980, Digital
FLYING SAUCER ROCK ‘N’ ROLL
This hilarious pastiche of 1950s B movies sees small town rock ‘n’ roll rebel farmer (Ardal O'Hanlon) confront a mutant from another galaxy. With special effects by Roy and Noel Spence, and flawless 35mm Black & White scope cinematography by Seamus McGarvey. Dir. Enda Hughes. 12 mins, Northern Ireland, 1998, Black & White, Digital
See also Irish Focus: Gama Bomb: Survival of the Fastest on pg. 7
Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn
FROM
THE DEAD
MON 6TH (18.20)
Join us on the Feast of Epiphany for our annual screening of John Huston’s pitch-perfect adaptation of James Joyce’s The Dead
As the New Year dawns in 1904, the elderly Misses Morkan and their niece Mary Jane, a music teacher, prepare for their annual dinner and musical soirée. Among their guests are friends old and new and young Miss O’Callaghan, one of Mary Jane’s students. John Huston’s subtle direction, a wholly distinguished ensemble of Irish actors, and Angelica Huston and Donal McCann’s delicately wrought performances perfectly capture the social atmosphere and emotional nuance of Joyce’s original text. For Huston, the film served as an elegant and melancholic farewell to Ireland and to life itself.
Screening on original 35mm film.
With an introduction by Maria Hayden (Miss O’Callaghan).
83 mins, UK-USA-Ireland, 1987, 35mm
Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn
JOHN HUSTON
THE BIGGER PICTURE
PETITE MAMAN
CÉLINE SCIAMMA
WED 15TH (18.30)
Eight-year-old Nelly has just lost her beloved grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother’s childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods where her mother, Marion, used to play and built the secret hut she’s heard so much about. One day her mother abruptly leaves. That’s when Nelly meets a girl her own age in the woods building a treehouse. Her name is Marion. After playing together, they go back to Marion’s house, which appears to be a mirror-image of Nelly’s mother’s childhood home. Céline Sciamma’s enigmatic fifth feature is a perfectly formed miniature – delicate, elegant, and jewel-like in its refined understatement.
The screening will be introduced by filmmaker and writer Sinéad O’Shea.
IRISH FOCUS
GAMA BOMB –SURVIVAL OF THE FASTEST
KIRAN ACHARYA
THUR 16TH (18.20)
When their seventh album Sea Savage hit the American Billboard charts, cult Irish thrash band Gama Bomb were trapped by lockdowns, missing a drummer, and unable to tour.
Survival of the Fastest captures their quest to make it to Hellfest in France, the 'Glastonbury of heavy metal', and the story of decades-long friendships, packed full of the band's trademark humour, warmth, and popculture references. Joe McGuigan and Philly Byrne, the band’s founding members, reflect on 20 years of misadventure as the film explores the bizarre worlds of punk and metal in locations including Tokyo, Newry, London, the Netherlands, Glasgow, Dublin, Derry, and Belfast.
This charming and unexpected documentary portrait from director Kiran Acharya is a joyous addition to the story of Irish heavy metal.
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Kiran Acharya and producer Sara Gunn-Smith.
72
UK-Ireland,
mins,
2024, Digital Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn
73 mins, 2021, France, Digital, Subtitled Notes by David O’Mahony
WALLACE & GROMIT DOUBLE BILL
NICK PARK
SUN 19TH (11.00)
With the latest adventures of Wallace & Gromit hitting our screens, it’s time to look back at the early adventures of the titular hero himself and his indomitable dog. In their first outing, A Grand Day Out , the folks at Aardman Animations created an adorable pair who wreaked hilarious moments from a trip to the moon.
A few years after, they returned in The Wrong Trousers, a diamond heist featuring a mysterious penguin and a pair of automated trousers. Gromit turns detective in this madcap adventure with a spectacular, hilarious climax.
MYSTERY MATINEE
60 mins approx., UK, 1989/1993, Digital Notes by
SUN 19TH (13.00)
Join us for this month’s screening at 13.00 on Sunday, January 19th. The film chosen could be anything from throughout the history of cinema, from a silent classic to a preview of a hotly anticipated upcoming release.
Whether it’s a title that one might expect to see at the IFI, or a film more at home in the multiplexes, the secret, closely guarded even from IFI staff, will be kept until the title appears onscreen. Expect the unexpected and take a chance, with tickets costing just €6.50 for IFI Members, and €7.00 for non-members.
A full list of previous screenings is available from www.ifi.ie/mystery-matinee-archive
Alicia McGivern
THE VIRGIN SUICIDES
SOFIA COPPOLA
MON 20TH (18.00)
This month, the IFI Youth Panel has selected Sofia Coppola’s 1999 debut film, The Virgin Suicides. Centring around the lives of the beautiful and wonderfully mysterious Lisbon sisters, their stories are told by a group of lustful onlooking boys. The Virgin Suicides is an exploration of Girlhood, born from Coppola’s desire to talk about femininity and to see “a quality art film made for young people”.
With a star studded cast (including Kirsten Dunst, Josh Harnett, and Danny DeVito) and an iconic soundtrack, this film’s mark can still be felt 25 years later.
Following the screening, the Youth Panel will have a book club discussion on Jeffrey Eugenides’s 1993 novel the film is based on. Copies of the book are available from the IFI Film Shop.
Tickets: €5.00 with 22 & Under cardsee more at ifi.ie/22under
BLITZ
STEVE MCQUEEN
WED 29TH & FRI 31ST (11.00)
Director Steve McQueen has gained his reputation from tackling tough subjects, such as Hunger, but also an ability to range from genre to genre, such as Widows and 12 Years a Slave. In this Second World War-set drama, he chooses to focus on the experience of Londoners seeking refuge from German bombs in underground shelters and tunnels. Saoirse Ronan excels as a young woman who has sent her son to the country for safety but the boy, George, decides to make his own way back to the city. A powerful historical drama, filled with atmosphere of the period in costume and sets. McQueen doesn’t shirk from showing the realities of war but also glimmers of normal life that people were desperate to keep.
The screening on Wednesday 29th will be Open Captioned.
97 mins, USA, 1999, 4K Digital
120 mins, UK-USA, 2024, Digital
Notes by Alicia McGivern
IFI & TRADFEST
WED 22ND (18.20)
WE HAVE OUR OWN SONGTHE FILM OF MUSIC
(VI HAR VÅR EGEN SÅNG - MUSIKFILMEN)
Stockholm 1975 – an alternative music festival is organised to disrupt the cultural takeover by the Eurovision Song Contest. A top-class range of international musicians from both events includes Phil Coulter, Geraldine Brannigan, Kevin Coyne, Ewan McColl and Peggy Seeger.
Dir. Dick Idestam-Almquist, Jan Lindkvist, Lennart Malmer and many others. 40 mins (extracts), Sweden, 1975, Digital
PIPES AND PORTER (PORTER OCH PIPA)
In 1965, Lennart Malmer, a young filmmaker from Sweden, travelled to Ireland in search of music. In Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare, he met singer Joe Heaney and uilleann piper Willie Clancy who invited him to his home on the Flag Road. The resulting film, Porter Och Pipa, recently rediscovered by the Irish Traditional Music Archive, is a fascinating snapshot of the lives and artistry of some of Ireland’s finest traditional musicians.
Dir. Lennart Malmer. 20 mins, Sweden, 1965, Digital, Black & White. Notes by Sunniva O'Flynn
Followed by Q&A with Lennart Malmer, hosted by the Irish Traditional Music Archive.
SUN 26TH (12.30)
NEIL MARTIN: BÓTHAR AN CHEOIL
DAMIAN MCCANN
The work of Belfast composer Neil Martin has been performed across the globe, from Ground Zero to Mostar Bridge, from the Royal Albert Hall to the International Space Station. Producer, arranger and musician, Neil is an artist who thrives on collaboration with performers, writers, and thinkers from all walks of life. Damian McCann’s feature documentary follows Neil through grief, celebration and new ambitions to ask whether the work of being an artist ever feels finished.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Damian McCann and Neil Martin.
Ireland, 80 mins, 2024, Digital
FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI
(HAI SHANG HUA)
HOU HSIAO-HSIEN
SAT 18TH (12.00)
East Asia Film Festival Ireland (EAFFI) is delighted to be partnering with Asia Market and DLNY, to present Flowers of Shanghai (1998) in a beautiful digital 4K restoration for the Lunar New Year 2025: Year of the Snake.
Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s (EAFFI guest of honour, 2017) hypnotic human comedy, based on Han Ziyun’s 1894 masterpiece novel, Hai Shang Hua, depicts life in the elegant brothels or ‘flower houses’ found in Shanghai’s foreign concessions in the late Qing dynasty in 1884, where prominent figures were received by ‘flower girls’ in an enclosed world with its own codes, money negotiations, romantic intrigues, and tensions. One of Hou’s most celebrated and stunning works, shot in exquisite long takes by Hou’s longtime collaborator, Mark Lee Ping-Bing creates a ‘glamorous realism’.
113 mins, Taiwan-Japan, 1998, Digital, Subtitled
Notes by Marie-Pierre Richard
IFI CAFÉ BAR
Bookings on OPEN TABLE or the IFI Website
Super Keen Rates and Packages for Group Bookings Include Heated Terrace for Large Parties/Receptions
Mezz overlooking the Main Foyer available for Hire
Café Bar Hire Available
Café Bar Bookings on our website via Open Table
Keep an Eye out for our Meal/Movie Pairings
IFI Members Discount on all Food in the Café Bar
IFI NEW RELEASES DOCS & CLASSICS
Nosferatu 35mm
NOSFERATU WE LIVE IN TIME
ROBERT EGGERS
FROM WED 1ST
1838; Estate agent Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) is tasked with securing a property in the town of Wisberg for the mysterious Count Orlok, a commission that takes him to his client’s castle in the Carpathian Mountains where nothing is quite what it seems, least of all his sinister host who betrays a macabre fixation for Hutter’s new wife, Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp). With the Count bound for Wisberg, and the bodies piling up, Thomas rushes home to find Ellen succumbing to the Count’s malign influence. Robert Eggers’s remake of Murnau’s 1922 classic, itself an unauthorised take on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, is a visually resplendent gothic feast with natural lighting and in-camera effects creating an overwhelming atmosphere of dread. As the blood-sucking Orlok, Bill Skarsgård is suitably repulsive, a growling, wraithlike presence, the very embodiment of death itself.
There will be digital Open Captioned screenings at 13.00 on Monday 6th, and 20.30 on Thursday 9th.
JOHN
CROWLEY
FROM WED 1ST
The new film from Irish director John Crowley (Brooklyn, 2015), an unabashed weepie, tells the love story of Almut (Florence Pugh) and Tobias (Andrew Garfield, with whom Crowley previously worked in 2007’s Boy A). Doing so across jumbled timelines, the film is a clever mixture of the big and small moments of their relationship, beginning with Almut receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis. From there, we witness the traditional milestones, from the two’s meet-cute when Almut hits Tobias with her car, to a short-lived break-up, and eventually, unexpectedly, becoming parents, the creation of a life together which the audience knows in advance will end prematurely. As the film progresses and the details of the characters and the richness of the tale emerge, freshness is found in familiar tropes, helped largely by the committed and engaging performances of its leads.
There will be Open Captioned screenings at 12.50 on Thursday 2nd, and 18.00 on Wednesday 8th.
132 mins, USA, 2024, 35mm & Digital Note by David O'Mahony
107 mins, France-UK, 2024, Digital Notes by Kevin Coyne
NICKEL BOYS A REAL PAIN
RAMELL ROSS JESSE EISENBERG
FROM FRI 3RD
Elwood (Ethan Herisse) is an idealistic Black high school student in Jim Crow-era Florida whose dreams of attending college are derailed when racist law officials falsely accuse and then convict him of a crime, taking him away from his beloved grandmother Hattie (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor). At Nickel Academy, a reformatory school, Elwood forms a close friendship with fellow inmate Turner (Brandon Wilson), who has adopted a cynical attitude in response to the abusive treatment at the hands of the corrupt administrators. RaMell Ross’s adaptation of The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, tells a powerful coming-of-age story in a formally audacious manner; the film plays out as a series of first-person impressions, the perspective switching periodically between characters as the story progresses from the 1960s to the 2010s. The effect is immersive, inventive, and deeply moving. There will be Open Captioned screenings at 15.10 on Friday 3rd, and 20.20 on Tuesday 7th.
FROM WED 8TH
Multi-hyphenate Jesse Eisenberg’s second film as writer-director also sees him take on the roles of producer and star. Sharing lead acting duties with Kieran Culkin (best known for his television work, most notably as Roman Roy in Succession), the pair play cousins David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Culkin), who are on something of a pilgrimage to Poland, the homeland of their recently deceased grandmother, who fled to the US to escape the Second World War. While David has settled down into career and family, the more peripatetic Benji has yet to make his mark. Despite his seeming aimlessness, Benji is charming and easily likeable, though prone to outbursts of anger when his sensibilities are offended. The two join a tour group (that includes Dirty Dancing’s Jennifer Grey) around Poland, excavating painful histories distant and recent in this thoughtful and deeply empathetic film.
There will be Open Captioned screenings at 13.10 on Sunday 12th, and 18.30 on Wednesday 15th.
140 mins, USA, 2024, Digital Notes by David O’Mahony
90 mins, Poland-USA, 2024, Digital Notes by Kevin Coyne
MARIA
PABLO LARRAIN
FROM FRI 10TH
With Maria, Chilean director Pablo Larrain completes his thematically linked triptych of portraits of famous, isolated women, having observed Jackie Kennedy before turning to Diana Spencer; Natalie Portman and Kristen Stewart received Best Actress Oscar nominations for their respective performances, and Angelina Jolie should make it a hat trick with her passionate portrayal of La Callas at the frail end of her extraordinary life. In common with the earlier films, Maria is an introspective, haunted, slightly hallucinatory experience that retains a tight focus on one key moment, the final week of Maria Callas, internationally feted opera diva, as she reflects upon her life from her beautifully appointed Paris apartment, in the company of butler and housekeeper (Pierfrancesco Favino and Alba Rohrwacher), who do what they can to stay on top of the diva’s prodigious drug intake.
There will be Open Captioned screenings at 18.00 on Monday 13th, and 13.00 on Tuesday 14th.
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
JAMES MANGOLD
FROM FRI 17TH
It would take an epic saga to do justice to the long, storied career of cultural icon Bob Dylan. James Mangold’s excellent biopic hinges instead around his first major reinvention, when he plugged in his electric guitar at 1965’s Newport Folk Festival, the folk equivalent of the premiere of Stravinsky’s Rites Of Spring. The film builds towards this climax by following the young singer (a superb Timothée Chalamet, capturing Dylan’s voice perfectly) at key steps along the way, from meeting heroes Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) and Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) to relationships with Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning) and Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro). In no way a hagiography, this hugely enjoyable portrayal sees Dylan’s enigma survive the experience intact.
There will be Open Captioned screenings at 20.00 on Monday 20th, and 13.20 on Wednesday 22nd.
118 mins, UK-Italy-Germany, 2024, Digital
140mins, USA, 2024, Digital
Notes by David O’Mahony
Notes by Kevin Coyne
THE BRUTALIST 70MM
STEVEN SODERBERGH
FROM FRI 24TH
Despite his prolific and diverse output over the last 35 years, Presence marks director Steven Soderbergh’s first foray into the supernatural. From a screenplay by David Koepp, writer of films such as Carlito’s Way (Brian De Palma, 1993), the story is told from the point of view of an entity that observes a family newly moved into the house it too inhabits. The interest it takes in the dramas and relationships between father Chris (Chris Sullivan), mother Rebecca (Lucy Liu), and son Tyler (Eddy Maday) is secondary to its seeming fascination with daughter Chloe (Callina Liang). Chloe, grieving the recent, sudden death of her best friend, is more attuned to her home’s ghostly denizen, and tries to connect with it. Soderbergh ratchets the tension to almost unbearable levels before the nature and intentions of the presence are finally revealed.
There will be Open Captioned screenings at 18.30 on Sunday 26th, and 13.00 on Tuesday 28th.
BRADY CORBET
FROM FRI 24TH (PREVIEWS FROM SAT 18TH)
In 1947, architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody) flees persecution in Budapest for the US; initially forced to toil in poverty, circumstances thrust him into the orbit of Harrison van Buren (Guy Pearse), a millionaire businessman who comes to recognise the spark of revolutionary genius in the Hungarian’s innovative contemporary designs, and engages him to build a spectacular structure in honour of van Buren’s recently deceased mother, a sprawling project that will consume both men as their tumultuous relationship grows ever more co-dependent. With ambition to match that of his protagonist, Brady Corbet has fully realised the potential he displayed with his first two films, The Childhood of a Leader, and Vox Lux ; shot and presented on 70mm, The Brutalist , though modernist in its sensibilities, is redolent of epic event pictures of old. This is enthralling, maximalist, exhilarating cinema. There will be exclusive preview screenings of The Brutalist on 70mm on Saturday 18th, Sunday 19th, Tuesday 21st, and Thursday 23rd.
Digital Open Captioned screenings coming soon!
USA,
215 mins, USA-UK-Hungary, 2024, 70mm & Digital
85 mins,
2024, Digital Notes by Kevin Coyne
Notes by David O’Mahony
BLUE ROAD –THE EDNA O’BRIEN STORY HARD TRUTHS
SINÉAD O’SHEA
MIKE LEIGH
FROM FRI 31ST FROM FRI 31ST
In 1960, a young Irish woman, Edna O’Brien, wrote The Country Girls, the first of a sexually-frank trilogy of novels. Though the books were banned in Ireland, she became an international literary sensation and gained notoriety for her marriage and acrimonious divorce from Ernest Gebler and a glamorous London lifestyle filled with star-studded parties and numerous love affairs. Her writing continued to stir controversy throughout her life.
This documentary portrait, completed shortly before her death at 93 last year, features extracts from her journals (read with verve by Jessie Buckley), contributions from a range of luminaries, and a remarkable final interview as O’Brien reflects with dignity and candour on her extraordinary life.
The screening on Saturday, February 1st at 16.30 will be followed by a Q&A with director Sinéad O'Shea.
There will be Open Captioned screenings at 13.00 on Tuesday, February 4th, and 18.10 on Thursday, February 6th.
Hard Truths reunites Mike Leigh with Marianne JeanBaptiste, the star of his Secrets And Lies (1996), and marks his final collaboration with cinematographer Dick Pope, who passed away following filming. Beginning in media res, we meet Pansy, the flipside to Happy-Go-Lucky ’s Poppy, a woman so full of rage that every interaction she has devolves into lashing out, whether at her utterly cowed husband and son, or random strangers who have the temerity to address her. In contrast, her sister Chantelle (Michele Austin) lives with her two vivacious daughters and plies a successful trade as a hairdresser, putting clients at their ease all day long. Yet beneath Pansy’s abrasive exterior are hints of a more fragile psyche, one motivated by fear and damaged by repressed pain. As always, Leigh views even the most flawed of characters with generosity and understanding.
There will be Open Captioned screenings at 13.00 on Friday 31st, and 18.20 on Monday, February 3rd.
100 mins, Ireland, 2024, Digital Notes by Sunniva O'Flynn
97 mins, UK-Spain, 2024, Digital Notes by Kevin Coyne
KING FRANKIE THE RENT STRIKE
AZZY O’CONNOR, DR FIADH TUBRIDY, DECLAN MALLON DERMOT MALONE
STREAMING NOW!
Between 1970 and 1973, over 350,000 tenants throughout Ireland withheld rent in protest against rent increases, poor housing conditions and a lack of facilities. The story of this national movement is told for the first time here. Anger over housing issues had been brewing since the late ‘60s and in March 1970 a wave of rent strikes began, first in Ballyphehane in Cork and Ballymun in Dublin and then, over the next two years, the campaign, coordinated by the National Association of Tenants Organisations, spread throughout the country.
Celebrating the inspiring story of this working-class campaign, and particularly the women who led the protests, The Rent Strike provides a timely lesson in how communities can be effectively mobilised against injustice.
STREAMING NOW!
Following the death of his father, Frankie Burke (Peter Coonan), a kindly taxi driver living a quiet life in a Dublin suburb, is forced to confront the ghosts of his past when an unexpected stranger arrives at his door. Ten years earlier, Frankie was living a wildly extravagant life, losing money as quickly as he could make it, deaf to the concerns of family and friends, until matters came to a tragic head and his world came tumbling down.
Dermot Malone’s ultimately hopeful parable about greed and guilt and redemption, is served well by the ever-versatile Peter Coonan who conjures the many faces of Frankie – from repugnant to repentant –with ease.
45 mins, Ireland, 2024, Digital Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn
94 mins, Ireland, 2024, Digital Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn
IFI@HOME PRESENTS
FRI, JAN 17TH – MON, FEB 17TH
With the huge success of November’s IFI French Film Festival still fresh in our minds, we are delighted to offer audiences a chance to explore even more of the best of contemporary French cinema in the comfort of their own homes, courtesy of the IFI@Home streaming service.
In partnership with the fifteenth edition of Unifrance initiative, MyFrenchFilmFestival, IFI@Home will host a varied selection of titles, many of which will be receiving their first Irish outing on our platform. The full line-up will be announced on our websites on January 17th, with all titles becoming available on the same date, for a period of one month. Featuring a host of talents behind and in front of the camera who will be familiar to IFI audiences, this year’s selection will offer cinephiles a warm and welcome beginning to 2025.
