SEPTEMBER 2024 AT THE IFI

August 26th, 2024: This September, the Irish Film Institute (IFI) presents a selection of exciting Irish and international new releases, including Don’t Forget to Remember, Starve Acre, The Substance, and The Outrun. From Wednesday 27th to Sunday 29th, the IFI Documentary Festival returns with a bracing crop of long and short form non-fiction film, screening to audiences in our Eustace Street home.

Opening on Friday 6th are Don’t Forget to Remember, an unconventional and emotive documentary from Irish director Ross Killeen (Love Yourself Today), featuring the artist Asbestos and his journey through the slow decay of his mother’s memories as they disintegrate due to her advancing Alzheimer’s disease; Starve Acre, the latest feature from director Daniel Kokotajlo (Apostasy), starring Morfydd Clark and Matt Smith; and the 75th anniversary re-release of Carol Reed’s enduring adaptation, The Third Man, starring Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten. The opening night screening of Don’t Forget to Remember will be followed by a Q&A with director Ross Killeen and artist Asbestos.

From Friday 13th, My Favourite Cake, a poignant meditation from directors Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha which centres on Iranian widow Mahin, and offers a critique on a society that offers women no real freedom; Anand Tucker’s adaptation The Critic, which features a star-studded cast that includes talents such as Ian McKellen, Romola Garai, and Lesley Manville; and Josh Greenbaum’s Will & Harper, a documentary which affectionately explores the true and supportive friendship found between comedian Will Ferrell and writer Harper Steele.

IFI French Film Festival 2024 highlight The Goldman Case, which revisits the controversial case of Pierre Goldman, a far-left Jewish activist who faced a life sentence for armed robbery and murder in 1969; and Coralie Fargeat’s highly anticipated The Substance, a startlingly gripping body horror starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, open in-cinema from Friday 20th. Join us for a special preview screening of The Substance on Friday 13th at 20.10, followed by a fabulous film-inspired afterparty with cocktails, frills, thrills, and sparkles.

Opening at the IFI from Friday 27th is Nora Fingscheidt’s (System Crasher) latest feature The Outrun, an adaptation of Scottish journalist Amy Liptrot’s 2016 memoir, starring and produced by Saoirse Ronan. There will be a special preview screening of the film on Friday 20th, followed by a Q&A with Saoirse Ronan, hosted by author Sinead Gleeson (Hagstone).

From Wednesday 27th to Sunday 29th, the IFI Documentary Festival returns with an incredible selection of Irish and international documentaries and non-fiction films. This year’s festival opens with Tom Burke’s The Gap in Consent on Wednesday 27th, joined by a varied array of festival titles, such as Us, Our Pets and the War (Thursday 28th), How I Became a Communist (Friday 27th), Amplified: The Exportation of the Culture Wars (Saturday 28th), and The Black Box Diaries (Sunday 29th). With a remarkable line-up of guests for post-show Q&As, this year’s programme is guaranteed to satisfy. Tickets and the full festival programme are available now on the IFI website: ifi.ie/docfest/

From Saturday, August 31st to Saturday, October 26th, The Saturday Serial strand – a resurrection of the classic serials of early cinema with weekly franchise screenings – continues with The Skywalker Saga, providing a rare opportunity to see all nine Star Wars episodes, every Saturday at 11.00. Aligning with this month’s Saturday Serial selection, we’re delighted to welcome film musicologist Dr Conor Power (UCD) to the IFI on Thursday 5th to discuss the music and compositional work of the great John Williams, as part of our IFI Talks series. This will be followed by a screening of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, introduced by Dr Power.

From Friday 6th to Sunday 8th, the IFI will screen Toby L.’s new cinematic concert film, blur: Live at Wembley Stadium, which captures the band’s iconic 2023 concert. Accompanying this online is Toby L.’s previous documentary blur: To The End, which depicts the planning and recording of the band’s latest album, their first in eight years, which is now available to stream nationwide on IFI@Home.

The IFI is delighted to present exclusive screenings Gary Hustwit’s groundbreaking documentary Eno on Saturday 7th, Sunday 8th, and Tuesday 10th. Examining the creative process and work of visionary artist and musician Brian Eno, the film utilises a proprietary software system developed by the director and digital artist Brendan Dawes allowing Eno to be presented in millions of possible variations, meaning no two screenings of the film are alike.

This month’s Archive at Lunchtime programme, Conservation Conversations, presents two programmes of shorts, screening for free at lunchtime every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday throughout September. The From The Vaults strand this month, in partnership with Penguin Random House and with thanks to RTÉ Archives, presents An Evening with Paula Spencer, a celebratory screening of episode 4 of Roddy Doyle’s RTÉ television series Family, to mark the release of Doyle’s new book The Women Behind The Door, followed by a Q&A with Roddy Doyle and Ger Ryan, hosted by Fintan O’Toole. All ticket holders will receive a copy of the book.

The IFI will present Bruce Weber’s documentary Let’s Get Lost, which follows the turbulent life and career of jazz trumpeter Chet Baker, screening on Sunday 15th and Tuesday 17th in a new 4K restoration. On Wednesday 18th, the Irish Focus strand presents new feature film, and winner of the Best New Irish Feature award at the 2023 Cork International Film Festival, Prospect House, from director Paul Mercier.

This year, as part of Culture Night celebrations on Friday 20th, the IFI will transform The Tiernan MacBride Library into a pop-up museum, full of interesting and unusual artefacts from the collections of the IFI Irish Film Archive. Archive staff will be on hand to explain the stories behind the objects and their choices for display. Featuring highlights from the moving image, documents, and artefacts collections, this experience will give you a real understanding of how we look after Ireland’s national film heritage. Tours will be approximately 40 minutes, with limited places – available to book directly at library@irishfilm.ie.

Our IFI Family screening for September will be Disney classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world’s first-ever animated feature, screening on Sunday 22nd. The Mystery Matinee also returns on Sunday 22nd, offering audiences the chance to see a surprise film, new or old, with tickets costing just €6.50 for IFI Members, and €7.00 for non-members. September’s The Bigger Picture offering will be Jûzô Itami’s Tampopo, introduced and selected by our very own film-loving Box Office Team, screening on Tuesday 24th.

This month, Wild Strawberries, the monthly film club for over 55s, presents Josh Margolin’s Thelma, starring June Squibb and the late Richard Roundtree, screening on Wednesday 25th and Friday 27th. The IFI Youth Panel, a youth-led programming group formed from IFI 22 & Under cardholders, will present a screening of John Carney’s much-loved Sing Street on Monday 30th, followed by a fun Irish film quiz.

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

SUNDAY 1ST
Béla Tarr: Sátántangó

THURSDAY 5TH
IFI Talks: The Music of John Williams with Dr Conor Power
Jaws + introduction

FRIDAY 6TH
blue: Live at Wembley Stadium
Don’t Forget to Remember + Q&A

FROM FRIDAY 6TH
Don’t Forget to Remember
Starve Acre
The Third Man

SATURDAY 7TH
blur: Live at Wembley Stadium
Eno
The Saturday Serial: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

SUNDAY 8TH
blur: Live at Wembley Stadium
Eno

TUESDAY 10TH
Eno

THURSDAY 12TH
From The Vaults: An Evening with Paula Spencer + Q&A

FRIDAY 13TH
Preview: The Substance

FROM FRIDAY 13TH
My Favourite Cake
The Critic
Will & Harper

SATURDAY 14TH
The Saturday Serial: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith