APRIL 2024 AT THE IFI

March 27th, 2024: This April, the Irish Film Institute (IFI) presents a selection of exciting Irish new releases, including The Days of Trees, One Night in Millstreet, All You Need is Death, and That They May Face the Rising Sun. The IFI is delighted to present two retrospectives throughout the month of April, with one dedicated to Spanish filmmaker Víctor Erice, screening in-cinema from Saturday 6th to Monday 15th; and the other focusing on the work of Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, screening from Thursday 11th to Sunday 28th.

Opening on Friday 5th is Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist; Academy Award-nominated Io Capitano; Andrew Gallimore’s One Night in Millstreet; and Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront, re-released in a new 4K restoration to mark its seventieth anniversary. The opening night screening of One Night in Millstreet will be followed by a Q&A with director Andrew Gallimore and Steve Collins.

From Friday 12th, Academy Award-nominated The Teachers’ Lounge; IFTA-nominated The Days of Trees; Milad Alami’s Opponent; and Víctor Erice’s latest release Close Your Eyes open in IFI Cinemas. The 17.40 screening of The Days of Trees on Sunday 14th will be followed by a Q&A with Alan Gilsenan and Tomás Hardiman, hosted by Brendan O’Connor (RTÉ).

Maïwenn’s Jeanne du Barry and Paul Duane’s All You Need is Death open in-cinema from Friday 19th. The opening night screening of All You Need is Death will be followed by a Q&A with director Paul Duane.

Opening at the IFI from Friday 26th is Pat Collins’s That They May Face the Rising Sun, and Marco Bellocchio’s Kidnapped. There will be a preview screening of That They May Face the Rising Sun on Thursday 25th, followed by a Q&A with the director.

From Saturday 6th to Monday 15th, the IFI is delighted to present a retrospective dedicated to influential Spanish filmmaker Víctor Erice. Including the director’s three feature-length films which have been released to date – The Spirit of the Beehive; El Sur; The Quince Tree Sun – the season provides our audience with a rare chance to watch Erice’s work, in time with the release of his long-awaited new film Close Your Eyes on Friday 12th.

The IFI is also excited to present a season focusing on the work of Iranian master filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, screening in-cinema from Thursday 11th to Sunday 28th. Titles screening include the director’s Koker Trilogy (Where is the Friend’s House?; And Life Goes On; Through the Olive Trees); Close-up, which was voted the best Iranian film ever made by international critics; the first Iranian film to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes, Taste of Cherry; and The Wind Will Carry Us, which won the Silver Lion at the 56th Venice International Film Festival. To accompany this retrospective, the IFI will present the first in our IFI Talks series: a special panel discussion on Saturday 20th that will explore the life and work of Abbas Kiarostami, with the support of the Embassy of France in Ireland. Full programme information available on the IFI website.

Inspired by the above retrospective, the From The Vaults strand this month presents Abbas Kiarostami: The Art of Living, a documentary from Pat Collins and Fergus Daly which follows the filmmaker on an unlikely trip to the Aran Islands, on Wednesday 24th, accompanied by short film The Mirror of Possible Worlds, an archival reflection on this trip by director Fergus Daly. April’s Archive at Lunchtime programme, Spring Forward, presents four short films, screening for free at lunchtime on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays throughout the month.

From Monday, April 8th to Monday, May 20th, IFI Evening Course returns with its first offering since 2019, “An Introduction to Screenwriting”. The course is a six-week introduction to screenwriting, led by renowned script and story consultants Mary Kate and Rebecca O’Flanagan, and will see the tutors work with course participants and budding screenwriters on how to think visually, write economically, and convey character by focusing on key moments in their stories. The course fee is €175 (€160 Members/Concessions) and is available to book at IFI Box Office.

This month’s The Bigger Picture offering will be Coen Brothers’s adaptation True Grit, introduced by Mary Kate and Rebecca O’Flanagan, and included as part of IFI Evening Course: “An Introduction to Screenwriting”, screening on Monday 8th.

Also on Monday 8th, the IFI will present a screening of Itandehui Jansen’s In Times of Rain, followed by Heidi Ewing’s I Carry You with Me on Tuesday 9th, as part of Movies, Migration and Mexico – presented in partnership with the Department of Hispanic Studies, Trinity College Dublin, kindly supported by the Irish Research Council New Foundations.

On Wednesday 10th, the IFI will present Sharp Focus, a programme of short films produced by Calipo Theatre & Picture Company, written and directed by established filmmakers working with community and youth groups in Northern Ireland and the border counties between 2003 and 2013. The project was funded by the EU Peace & Reconciliation Programme. The films were acquired and preserved by the IFI Irish Film Archive with support from the Government of Ireland’s Shared Island Initiative and the Department of the Taoiseach.

On Saturday 20th, as part of the 2024 One Dublin One Book programme, the IFI will present a free, ticketed screening of Educating Rita, starring Julie Walters and Michael Caine, and introduced by author Louise Nealon (Snowflake). On Sunday 21st, the Mystery Matinee offers audiences the chance to see a surprise film, new or old, for only €6.20. Also on Sunday 21st, IFI Family presents beloved Disney classic Mary Poppins, followed by a fun kite-making workshop after the show.

On Monday 22nd, the IFI and aemi will screen Spirit Messages, aemi’s 2024 touring programme which presents a selection which brings together some of the most exciting new moving image work by Irish and international artists, followed by a Q&A with directors Ross McClean, Amanda Rice, and Niall Cullen.

This month, Wild Strawberries, the monthly film club for over 55s, offers special preview screenings of Pat Collins’s That They May Face the Rising Sun on Wednesday 24th (Open Captioned) and Friday 26th. April’s Irish Focus strand presents A Girl Can Touch the Sky, screening in-cinema on Sunday 28th, followed by a Q&A with Ravinol Chambers and Tina Sharma Chambers, hosted by Ravin Ganatra.

Tickets for new releases and special events are on sale from the IFI Box Office on (01) 679 3477 and from www.ifi.ie, as per the IFI’s Weekly Schedule. Online rentals from IFI@Home are available at www.ifihome.ie. For further information and high-res images, please contact Casey Hynes (chynes@irishfilm.ie) at the IFI Press Office.

SCHEDULE

FRIDAY 5TH
One Night in Millstreet + Q&A

FROM FRIDAY 5TH
Evil Does Not Exist
Io Capitano
One Night in Millstreet
On the Waterfront 70th Anniversary

SATURDAY 6TH
Víctor Erice: The Spirit of the Beehive

SUNDAY 7TH
Víctor Erice: El Sur

MONDAY 8TH
Movies, Migration and Mexico: In Times of Rain
The Bigger Picture: True Grit

TUESDAY 9TH
Movies, Migration and Mexico: I Carry You with Me

WEDNESDAY 10TH
Sharp Focus film programme

THURSDAY 11TH
Abbas Kiarostami: Where is the Friend’s House?

FROM FRIDAY 12TH
Close Your Eyes
Opponent
The Days of Trees
The Teachers’ Lounge

SATURDAY 13TH
Abbas Kiarostami: Close-up

SUNDAY 14TH
Abbas Kiarostami: And Life Goes On
The Days of Trees + Q&A