Irish Film Institute -International Film Directory

The Magdalene Sisters

Peter Mullan, 119 minutes, 2002

An unflinching and compelling film depicting a shameful episode in Irish history, The Magdalene Sisters dramatises the experience of women incarcerated in Ireland’s notorious Magdalene Asylums, known as ‘Magdalene Laundries’. The story focuses on the lives of three women in…

Making the Grade

Ken Wardrop, 82 minutes, 2017

Over 30,000 students prepare for piano exams each year in Ireland. In this delightfully quirky and uplifting documentary, we are invited into the world of the piano lesson. The film examines the special bond between piano teachers and their pupils,…

Mammal

Rebecca Daly, 96 minutes, 2016

Margaret (Rachel Griffiths) lives a determinedly quiet life in a nondescript corner of Dublin; middle-aged and divorced, she owns a second-hand store, with little social life save for solitary trips to the local swimming pool. Her self-imposed isolation ends when…

Man About Dog

Paddy Breathnach, 85 minutes, 2004

A boisterous comedy, Man About Dog follows the exploits of three young men who entangle themselves in a web of crooked bookmakers and greyhound trainers. In exchange for ownership of a champion greyhound, dog-racing enthusiasts Mo Chara (Allen Leech), Cerebral…

Mandrake

Lynne Davison, 85 minutes, 2022

Probation officer Cathy Madden is tasked with rehabilitating the notorious killer ‘Bloody’ Mary Laidlaw and integrating her back into society after twenty years in jail for the murder of her husband two decades before. Is she a witch, a psychopath…

Mary Shelley

Haifaa Al-Mansour, 120 minutes, 2017

Acclaimed director Haifaa Al-Mansour (Wadjda) brings to life Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin's fiery, tempestuous relationship with romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and the creation of Frankenstein, one of the world's most famous Gothic novels. The pair are two outsiders constrained by…

Maudie

Aisling Walsh, 116 minutes, 2017

Though crippled with debilitating arthritis, Maudie (Sally Hawkins) is forced to forge her own path when her brother sells their home. A twist of fate leads her to a job as cleaning lady for taciturn fisherman Ethan Hawke), living in…

Maze

Stephen Burke, 93 minutes, 2017

Inspired by the true story of the escape by 38 IRA prisoners from the notorious Maze Prison in 1983 (which left one prison officer dead and others seriously injured), Maze is a post-hunger strike narrative which eschews jailbreak high-jinx in favour of…

Medicated Milk

Áine Stapleton, made in collaboration with José Miguel Jiménez , 50 minutes, 2016

Lucia Joyce was a talented dancer, writer and musician. She spent her life under the control of her father James, her family and multiple doctors. Her time in Ireland during the 1930s – particularly in Bray, Co. Wicklow – was…

Search

Search multiple categories