DECEMBER 2023 AT THE IFI

November 23rd 2023: This December, the Irish Film Institute (IFI) presents a selection of highly-anticipated new releases, including Eileen, Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves and Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and The Heron. From Thursday 7th to Sunday 10th, IFI Kinopolis returns with a programme of new Polish film which captures the breadth and diversity of the country’s remarkable national cinema.

From Friday 1st, Eileen, William Oldroyd’s adaptation of Ottessa Moshfegh’s Booker prize-shortlisted novel; Aki Kaurismäki’s latest feature Fallen Leaves; new Irish documentary I Dream in Photos; and Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro open in IFI Cinemas.

Screening from Friday 8th is Wim Wenders’s latest documentary Anselm, shot in 3D and 6K resolution; Powell and Pressburger classic The Red Shoes; and beautifully-animated feature The Peasants, following its Irish premiere at IFI Kinopolis on Thursday 7th.

From Friday 15th, noughties-set coming-of-age comedy I Like Movies; hard-hitting documentary In the Shadow of Beirut; Christmas classic It’s A Wonderful Life; and documentary Every Body, a revelatory exploration of the lives of intersex people, screen at the IFI.

Society of the Snow, a new release depicting the miracle of flight 571, opens in-cinema from Friday 22nd. From Wednesday 27th, Hayao Miyazaki’s new masterpiece The Boy and the Heron, and Michael Mann’s Ferrari, starring Adam Driver and Penélope Cruz, screen in IFI Cinemas.

From Thursday 7th to Sunday 10th, IFI Kinopolis returns, taking us from the beautifully animated life of nineteenth century rural Poland to a (hopefully) distant future where humanity may be about to wink out of existence at the hands of an implacable AI. Highlights in the programme include the opening night premiere of The Peasants, followed by a Q&A with co-director Hugh Welchman; debut feature The Last Spark of Hope, followed by a Q&A with director Piotr Biedroń and actor Magdalena Wieczorek; and Walerian Borowczyk’s The Story of Sin, screening to mark the director’s centenary.

From Saturday 2nd to Wednesday 20th, the IFI is delighted to be screening a season of films from directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, with season titles including I Know Where I’m Going; The Edge of the World, accompanied by short documentary Return To The Edge Of The World; Oh…Rosalinda!!; and Black Narcissus.

This month’s Archive at Lunchtime programme, Family Values, presents three short films, The Family, Frankie, and Circus Man, screening for free at lunchtime on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays in December. On Tuesday 12th, the IFI’s From The Vaults strand presents The Outcasts, in a new 2k restoration created by the IFI Irish Film Archive through the Screen Ireland-funded Film Restoration Project, introduced by Paul Duane.

December’s Irish Focus strand presents Ó Bhéal, a documentary capturing the emergence
of Irish Hip Hop as a unique, vital sub-genre which tells Irish stories in Irish accents, and connects history and heritage with contemporary music, screening in-cinema on Wednesday 6th, followed by a Q&A with director Ciara Nic Chormaic.

On Saturday 2nd, as a special Christmas treat for those who missed it in August, or who wish to experience it again, self-taught filmmaker Neil Breen’s Cade: The Tortured Crossing returns to the IFI.

On Tuesday 5th, The Noble Call screens at the IFI, followed by a writer, director and actor post-screening Q&A. Later that evening, the IFI is delighted to screen La Syndicaliste, followed by a Q&A with whistleblower Maureen Kearney, as part of this year’s European Cinema Night. This event is free but ticketed.

Screening on Wednesday 13th as part of the Night of Ideas 2023 is Green City Life, a documentary which presents various world-wide initiatives that better connect human beings with nature in urban surrounds, followed by a panel discussion to explore these ideas, and also the challenges within a Dublin context, as perceived by the panel through their own work.

The Wild Strawberries programme, our monthly film club for over 55s, offers screenings of Nyad, starring Annette Bening and Jodie Foster, on Wednesday 27th and Friday 29th. December’s IFI Family screening is classic childhood fantasy Hook, starring Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, and Julia Roberts, screening in-cinema on Sunday 31st.

From Wednesday 27th until Thursday January 4th, the IFI is delighted to bring back our top five performing Irish films of the year, allowing audiences another chance to catch something that they may have missed the first time around, or to come back and enjoy one of their favourite Irish films of the year. On Saturday 16th, Friday 29th, and Saturday 30th, the IFI’s top-grossing film of all time, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt, will return to IFI Cinemas presented on stunning 70mm film.

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

FROM FRIDAY 1ST
Eileen
Fallen Leaves
I Dream in Photos
Maestro

FRIDAY 1ST
I Dream in Photos + Q&A

SATURDAY 2ND
Powell & Pressburger: I Know Where I’m Going!
Cade: The Tortured Crossing

SUNDAY 3RD
Powell & Pressburger: A Matter of Life and Death

MONDAY 4TH
Powell & Pressburger: Edge of the World (+ short film Return to the Edge of the World)

TUESDAY 5TH
The Noble Call + Q&A
European Cinema Night: La Syndicaliste + Q&A

WEDNESDAY 6TH
Irish Focus: Ó Bhéal + Q&A

THURSDAY 7TH
Kinopolis: The Peasants + Q&A

FROM FRIDAY 8TH
Anselm 3D
The Peasants
The Red Shoes

FRIDAY 8TH
Kinopolis: Feast of Fire

SATURDAY 9TH
Kinopolis: Pianoforte
Kinopolis: The Last Spark of Hope + Q&A
Kinopolis: Doppelgänger. The Double + Q&A