AUGUST 2024 AT THE IFI

July 25th, 2024: This August, the Irish Film Institute (IFI) presents a selection of exciting Irish and international new releases, including KNEECAP, Mrs Robinson, and Close To You. From Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th, the IFI Family Festival returns, offering a jam-packed schedule of films, workshops, and activities for families in our Dublin 2 venue.

Opening on Friday 2nd are beloved Studio Ghibli classic My Neighbour Totoro, from director Hayao Miyazaki; and Werckmeister Harmonies, from directors Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky, presented in a brand-new 4K restoration.

From Friday 9th, the exhilarating KNEECAP, starring the Belfast trio as themselves in a fictionalised retelling of the Irish language hip hop group’s origins; and Radical, from director Christopher Zalla and winner of the Sundance Film Festival’s Audience Favourite Award, open in IFI Cinemas. KNEECAP previews at the IFI from Thursday 8th. The 18.15 preview screening of the film will be followed by a Q&A with writer/director Rich Peppiatt and group members Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Próvaí.

New documentary Hollywoodgate, which follows the Taliban as they lay claim to an abandoned American base, loaded with weaponry, in Afghanistan; John Sayles’s classic Lone Star, starring Matthew McConaughey and Kris Kristofferson, presented in a new 4K restoration; Wei Shujun’s adaptation and third feature Only The River Flows open in-cinema from Friday 19th.

Opening at the IFI from Friday 23rd is new documentary Mrs Robinson, from director Aoife Kelleher (One Million Dubliners), which allows the Irish politician and former President to tell her own story, in her own words; and Quentin Tarantino’s second feature Pulp Fiction, presented in 4K Digital. There will be a preview screening of Mrs Robinson on Wednesday 7th, followed by a Q&A with the director and documentary subject Mary Robinson.

From Friday 30th, Dominic Savage’s Close To You, starring Elliott Page; Sing Sing, starring Academy Award nominees Colman Domingo and Paul Raci; and Baltasar Kormákur’s Touch, an adaptation of the best-selling novel by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, open in-cinema.

Continuing into August, the IFI is excited to screen American Independents, a season presenting a snapshot of a remarkably fertile time for American independent cinema, which saw a cohort of directors emerging to rival the Film Brats of the 1970s, both to our audiences in-cinema in our Eustace Street venue, and online across the Republic of Ireland on our streaming platform IFI@Home.

Titles screening in-cinema in August as part of the American Independents season include Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth, also available on IFI@Home; Kelly Reichardt’s River of Grass; Noah Baumbauch’s Kicking And Screaming; Tom DiCillo’s Living in Oblivion; The Coen Brothers’s Fargo; Robert Altman’s Short Cuts; Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights; Doug Liman’s Swingers, also available on IFI@Home; Wes Anderson’s Rushmore; Todd Hayne’s Safe; Harmony Korine’s Gummo; and Todd Solondz’s Happiness. Tickets for August titles are now available on the IFI website. The season is accompanied by an IFI Talks event with Dr Laura Canning, of Falmouth University, on American independent cinema of the 1990s.

Films available online on IFI@Home from August 1st as part of the season include Kevin Smith’s Clerks; Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci’s Big Night; Paul Thomas Anderson’s Hard Eight; Brad Anderson’s Next Stop Wonderland; and Chris Eyre’s Smoke Signals. July IFI@Home titles will continue to be available until the end of August.

From August 23rd to 25th, the IFI Family Festival returns with an incredible selection of animations, live action, features, and shorts for audiences aged 4-12 and older. Titles screening include animated Morpurgo adaptation Kensuke’s Kingdom, and a special programme of short films from Brown Bag Films to celebrate their 30th birthday. Tickets and full programme info available now on the IFI website: www.ifi.ie/familyfest/

This month, the GAZE International LGBTQIA Film Festival returns to the IFI with a stellar selection of queer films screening in-cinema from Friday 2nd to Monday 5th, with a curated selection of titles, GAZE Online, available to stream across the Republic of Ireland on IFI@Home post-festival from Tuesday 6th to Sunday 11th. Festival highlights include a special screening of All of Us Strangers on Sunday 4th, followed by a Q&A with director Andrew Haigh and Russell Tovey, and a special commemorative screening of landmark documentary A Different Country on Monday 5th, to honour the life and memory of the late Edmund Lynch, an irrepressible trailblazer for the queer community, and mainstay of the IFI. Tickets are available now on the GAZE website.

From Saturday 3rd to Saturday 17th, The Saturday Serial strand – a resurrection of the classic serials of early cinema with weekly franchise screenings – continues with Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy, every Saturday at 11.00. Tickets for each screening are €10.00, with a 3 for €25.00 bundle available at IFI Box Office.

This month’s Archive at Lunchtime programme, Home Truths, presents two short films, screening for free at lunchtime daily throughout August. On Tuesday 6th, the Irish Focus strand presents new documentary The Rent Strike, followed by a Q&A with Azzy O’Connor, Dr Fiadh Tubridy, and Rita Fagan, hosted by filmmaker Luke McManus. The From The Vaults strand this month presents Dónal Foreman’s Out of Here, screening on Tuesday 13th to celebrate its 10th anniversary, followed by a Q&A with the director, hosted by Dr Tony Tracy (University of Galway).

From Wednesday 14th to Sunday, September 1st, the IFI presents a miniature retrospective dedicated to the work of director Béla Tarr, Will Heaven Fall Upon Us?, to accompany the re-release of Werckmeister Harmonies. The titles screening as part of this retrospective are Damnation, The Turin Horse, and Sátántangó.

The Mystery Matinee returns on Sunday 18th, offering audiences the chance to see a surprise film, new or old, tickets costing just €6.50 for IFI Members, and €7.00 for non-members. August’s The Bigger Picture offering will be Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight, introduced and selected by Luke Dunne, founder and editor of Film in Dublin, screening on Monday 19th. This month, Wild Strawberries, the monthly film club for over 55s, presents Robert Redford’s Ordinary People, starring the late greats Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore, screening on Wednesday 28th and Friday 30th.

Tickets for new releases and special events are on sale from the IFI Box Office on (01) 6793477 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 2ND – MONDAY 5TH
GAZE International LGBTQIA Film Festival 2024

FROM FRIDAY 2ND
My Neighbour Totoro
Werckmeister Harmonies

SATURDAY 3RD
The Saturday Serial: Batman Begins

TUESDAY 6TH
American Independents: Citizen Ruth
Irish Focus: The Rent Strike + Q&A

WEDNESDAY 7TH
Preview: Mrs Robinson + Q&A

THURSDAY 8TH
Preview: KNEECAP + Q&A

FROM FRIDAY 9TH
KNEECAP
Radical

SATURDAY 10TH
American Independents: River of Grass
The Saturday Serial: The Dark Knight

SUNDAY 11TH
American Independents: Kicking And Screaming

MONDAY 12TH
American Independents: Living in Oblivion

TUESDAY 13TH
From The Vaults: Out of Here + Q&A