IFI SCHOOLS PROGRAMME 2023/24 ANNOUNCED

October 3rd 2023: The Irish Film Institute (IFI) today launches its comprehensive 2023/2024 Schools Programme with highlights for this academic year including a selection of modern foreign language films for Think Languages Week, 25th anniversary screenings of Run Lola Run, thematic Transition Year strand ‘Making History’, and a special climate screening of How to Blow Up a Pipeline plus panel discussion.

IFI Education again present a hybrid offering, with Primary, Junior Cycle, TY and Senior Cycle films screening in-cinema at the IFI, at touring venues and festivals across the country, and online on IFI@Schools. Speaking on this year’s programme, IFI Head of Education Alicia McGivern commented, ‘In the year that the “Barbienheimer” phenomenon brought crowds back to cinema, there are more film and curriculum links than ever, and numerous opportunities across subjects to utilise film and media in the classroom. However, knowing that timetables are packed too, we have endeavoured to link our programme to subjects and to nationwide education initiatives as much as possible, in order to make it easier for teachers to plan a cinema outing or watch online. Whether it’s TY discussions on cinema history, or primary research into trees, our unique year-long schools programme has something for every classroom.’

Modern Foreign Language films screening at the IFI during Think Languages Week include star-crossed French language romance Sixteen (suitable for Senior Cycle students) and Little Gang (for Junior Cycle). In German, Too Far Away follows school boy Ben and Syrian refugee Tariq and is suitable for Junior Cycle, and Run Lola Run‘s 25th anniversary screenings are aimed at Senior Cycle. For Senior Cycle Spanish students, Schoolgirls represents coming of age in 1992 north-eastern Spain, and One for All, which tells the story of a new boy and substitute teacher in a small town.

In celebration of Think Languages Week 2023, a Mystery Film screens on November 29th, offering a unique opportunity to explore world cinema and learn more about a particular culture and language with your students.

Senior Cycle English offerings include two NT Live screenings: one of King Lear, starring Ian McKellen, and one of Hamlet, with Benedict Cumberbatch, as well as theatre-to-film adaptation Philadelphia, Here I Come! and Marlon Brando classic On the Waterfront.

Irish language films on offer this year, following a tremendous boom in filmmaking as Gaeilge, include Oscar-nominated An Cailín Ciúin and Róise & Frank, both also available nationwide on IFI@Schools.

For Senior/TY Business students, documentary Fashion Reimagined follows high-flying London designer Amy Powney who sets out to create a fully sustainable new collection, while 406 Days: The Debenhams Picket Line tells the story of the 2020-2021 Debenhams strikers.

A thematic selection of Transition Year-appropriate films form the new ‘Making History’ strand, where the programme explores the idea of history, as well as history-making films, including Irish-produced LOLA by Andrew Legge, box office-smashing Oppenheimer and Barbie, and Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park.

Eco-thriller How to Blow up a Pipeline screens on October 11th, in association with the Bohemian Environmental Justice Film Festival, and will be followed by an interactive exploration of climate action led by members of the Bohemian Climate Co-Operative.

Irish films screening for the TY age range include Luke McManus’s black-and-white documentary North Circular and Longford-set drama Lakelands, starring Éanna Hardwicke.

In documentary for PE, The Last Rider, from director Alex Holmes (Maiden, 2018), follows the lead up to Greg LeMond’s 1986 Tour de France victory, and the events preceding it, including LeMond being shot in the chest in a freak accident, and his fight back to compete.

For TY Drama students, amusing song and dance feature Theater Camp screens on November 23rd, taking on the familiar story of a run-down theatre fighting to stay afloat. Following the screening, there will be two musical theatre workshops, in association with the Gaiety School of Acting. The Noble Call, the IFTA-nominated play written by Michael Hartnett, screens in October, followed by a post-screening discussion, while the beloved School of Rock screens in February for its 20th anniversary.

Screening for Junior Cycle Wellbeing, Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret is a big-screen adaptation of the bestselling book, starring Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates and newcomer Abby Ryder Fortson. To mark International Human Rights Day, documentary Name Me Lawand screens in December, depicting a five-year-old Kurdish boy learning British Sign Language.

Films available for Primary students include Puffin Rock and the New Friends (screening in English and Irish with English subtitles), Dounia and the Princess of Aleppo, Heart of Oak, screening for National Tree Week, and Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.

This year, IFI Schools are collaborating with the Europa Cinemas Collaborate to Innovate Initiative, together with partnering venues Cinemax Bantry, Garter Lane Arts Centre and Riverbank Arts Centre, enabling these partner venues to screen titles for Senior and Junior German, French and Spanish, through digital technologies.

The annual Careers in Screen programme, delivered with the support of Screen Ireland, continues this year, in March 2024, as well as a unique Careers in Animation event. Across the online IFI@Schools platform, special initiatives include engaging titles for Black History Month in October, foreign language films for Think Languages Week (Nov 27 – Dec 1), World Human Rights Day (Dec 10), Holocaust Memorial Day (Jan 27), Seachtain na Gaeilge (Mar 2024), the filmed stage production Staging the Treaty, and a limited number of free online screenings of select LGBTQ+ films in partnership with BeLonG To for Stand Up Awareness week.

For more details on the full IFI Education 2023/2024 Programme, please visit www.ifi.ie/learn. To download the full programme, click here, and for online offerings, visit www.ifischools.ie. For more information, please contact Holly and Amy Louise via email on schools@irishfilm.ie. To book directly, please see here.

The IFI acknowledges the support of the Arts Council.