Irish Film Institute -AUGUST 2023 AT THE IFI

AUGUST 2023 AT THE IFI

July 25th 2023: This August, the Irish Film Institute (IFI) presents a selection of Irish and international releases, including Paris MemoriesThe Future Tense, and Face Down. From August 18th to 20th, the IFI Family Festival returns, offering a jam-packed schedule of films, workshops, and activities for families in our Dublin 2 venue. See the August monthly programme here. See the full schedule here.

From Friday 4th, Kokomo City, a trans-made cinematic venture that follows the lives of a group of Black transgender women in America, and Paris Memories, an emotionally resonant new film directed by Alice Winocour, open at the IFI.

Coming to IFI Cinemas from Friday 11th are Face Down, a new documentary which investigates the kidnapping of German businessman, factory manager, and honorary consul Thomas Niedermayer from his home in Belfast in 1973, and L’immensità, Emanuele Crialese’s vibrant family drama starring Penelope Cruz. The opening night screening of Face Down on Friday 11th will be followed by a Q&A with director Gerry Gregg and writer David Blake Knox.

Screening from Friday 18th is Sidney Lumet’s Serpico, starring Al Pacino, to mark its 50th anniversary, and new documentary The Future Tense, from Desperate Optimists, Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor (HelenRose Plays Julie), preceded by a preview screening + director Q&A taking place on Thursday 17th.

From Friday 25th, Afire, a new relationship drama focusing on four people who are trapped in a holiday home by an encroaching forest fire; Come Back Anytime, a charming documentary centring on the community that has built up around an unassuming 40 year-old Tokyo ramen restaurant; and The Innocent, directed by and starring Louis Garrel, alongside Noémie Merlant, screen in IFI Cinemas.

From August 18th to 20th, the IFI Family Festival returns with an incredible selection of animations, live action, features, and shorts for audiences aged 4-12 and older. Full programme and tickets coming soon to www.ifi.ie/familyfest.

In August, the IFI is proud to present two seasons from Watershed’s Cinema Rediscovered. Look Who’s Back: The Hollywood Renaissance and the Blacklist highlights the vital contribution formerly blacklisted creators made towards re-invigorating American cinema during the ’60s and ’70s, and presents screenings of UptightM*A*S*HMidnight Cowboy and Claudine from Thursday 10th to Tuesday 15th. Restored and Rediscovered allows audiences to experience the 4K restorations of underseen world cinema classics Life is Cheap… But Toilet Paper is ExpensiveBrief Encounters, and The Long Farewell, in IFI Cinemas from Thursday 24th to Thursday 31st.

In special events, the IFI will hold a special panel discussion on Thursday 3rd discussing Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and the curated Fallout season, with Dr. Jessamyn Fairfield, physicist, School of Natural Sciences, University of Galway; Prof. John Goold, Associate Professor of Physics and Trinity College Dublin, and Dr. Harvey O Brien, Head of Film at UCD, hosted by Jonathan McCrea from Newstalk’s Future Proof. Tickets are €5.

This month’s Irish Focus strand presents I See A Darkness, a film essay examining the complex historical relationship between photography, cinema and science, introduced by co-director Katherine Waugh, screening in-cinema on Wednesday 2nd.

This month, the IFI’s From The Vaults strand presents a screening of Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor’s Helen, restored through the IFI and Screen Ireland Digitisation Project and taking place on Wednesday 16th. This month’s Archive at Lunchtime programme, Look Up and Live: Ireland in Transition, presents a two-part film which looks at then-contemporary Irish experience and the pervasive force of the Catholic Church in Irish life, screening for free at lunchtimes everyday in August. 

The Wild Strawberries programme, our monthly film club for over 55s, offers screenings of Ben Affleck’s Air on Friday 25th and Wednesday 30th. The Mystery Matinee on Sunday 27th offers audiences the chance to see a surprise film, new or old, for only €6.

From Saturday 12th to 26th, the IFI offers audiences the chance to watch Satyajit Ray’s most celebrated work The Apu Trilogy – Pather PanchaliAparajito, and Apur Sansar. From Friday 4th, the IFI will screen the works of Lars von Trier in-cinema, including titles such as Breaking The Waves (a new 4K restoration), Dogville, and The Idiots.

On Tuesday 22nd, the IFI will host a preview screening of upcoming release Passages, starring Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw, and Adèle Exarchopoulos, followed by a Q&A with director Ira Sachs. The Bigger Picture strand in August will present a screening of the director’s cut of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, introduced by Arts journalist and film critic Chris Wasser. On Saturday 26th, the IFI presents a special one-off screening of American director Neil Breen’s Cade: The Tortured Crossing.

IFI is principally funded by the Arts Council.


The IFI is supported
by The Arts Council

Arts Council of Ireland