Irish Film Institute -International Film Directory

A Love Divided

Syd Macartney, 98 minutes, 1999

Based on real events in 1950s Ireland, A Love Divided is a savage indictment of religious intolerance in mid-century Ireland, and a celebration of a woman who opposed it. The story begins with Protestant woman Sheila’s (Orla Brady) marriage to…

A Man of No Importance

Suri Krishnamma, 99 minutes, 1994

Albert Finney delivers a star turn in this deeply human drama about a 1960s Dublin bus conductor unwilling to reveal his homosexuality to an unwelcoming city. This ‘man of no importance’, Alfred Byrne (Finney), attempts to celebrate his love for…

A Shine of Rainbows

Vic Sarin, 101 minutes, 2009

Ireland’s coastline is imagined as a place of wonder in this enchanting story about young orphan boy Tomás (John Bell), and the life-changing experiences he has when taken in by the loving Máire (Connie Nielsen). Shy and easily frightened, Tomás…

About Adam

Gerard Stembridge, 93 minutes, 2000

Playful about sex, scornful towards monogamy, and comfortable around homosexuality, About Adam is a romantic-comedy which wholly captures the free-spirited nature of Ireland’s Celtic Tiger boom. The film hinges on the enigmatic Adam (Stuart Townsend), a dynamic and unpredictable lothario…

Accelerator

Vinny Murphy, 86 minutes, 2000

Johnny T (Stuart Sinclair Blyth) finds his love of joyriding can be used to fulfil his dream of emigrating to Barcelona in this stylish 1990s feature. As his friends tire of his feud with Dublin madman Whacker (Gavin Kelty), they…

Adam and Paul

Lenny Abrahamson, 83 minutes, 2004

Abrahamson’s first feature and his first collaboration with actor/writer Mark O’Halloran grew from an idea concerning the lives of the inner-city junkies that O’Halloran passed daily on the streets of Dublin. Eschewing a socially realist approach to their material, director…

Agnes Brown

Anjelica Huston, 92 minutes, 1999

Starring, produced, and directed by Anjelica Huston, Agnes Browne is a feel-good working-class drama about its embattled protagonist keeping her family’s head above water. In the aftermath of her husband’s death Agnes (Huston) uses the exorbitant fees offered by loan…

Ailsa

Paddy Breathnach, 1994, 75 minutes

Director Paddy Breathnach’s debut feature, Ailsa is a moody, atmospheric depiction of a man’s descent into obsession and madness. Myles (Brendan Coyle) is a tenant whose mental stability is shattered when he discovers his landlord dead after a tragic accident.…

Aisha

Frank Berry, 94 minutes, 2022

Aisha (Letitia Wright) lives at a Direct Provision Centre in a state of uncertainty; having fled Nigeria from a violent gang that murdered members of her family, she is desperately trying to find some degree of permanency, where she and…

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