Vampire films allow us to confront social issues surrounding gender, class and race directly. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners (2025) is one of the best recent examples of this. The film’s Irish vampire gives a complicated offer of liberation to an African American community, embodying often ambivalent even vampiric visions of solidarity offered by present-day Irish communities. This discussion looks at key moments that depict oppressive systems for Irish and black communities, offering a new way to understand the film.

This IFI Talk will be presented by Dr Sean Aldrich O’Rourke, an early-career researcher at the University of Limerick working in Gothic and Irish studies, and Dr Sandrine Uwase Ndahiro, an early-career researcher at Maynooth University working in Postcolonial literature and Black Irish culture.

Tickets €5. Sinners will screen at 15.00, following this session. Tickets sold separately.