EU and MEDIA Film News August 2025
News about European films supported by the EU funding and highlighting independent cinemas and cinema clubs that are part of the Europa Cinemas network in Ireland. Includes films made thanks to EU initiatives such as Eurimages Cinema Fund, European Film Promotion as well as events such as the European Film Awards, European Cinema Month, A Season of Classic Films, and the LUX Audience Award.
- IFI, Dublin and IFI@Home
- Triskel Arts Centre, Cork
- Lighthouse Cinema, Dublin
- Access Cinema Network of regional cinema clubs
- MyCinema.ie is an EU-supported platform, operated by access>CINEMA Ireland, on which you can you can rent a curated selection of the best world cinema.
Sanatorium to represent Ireland in Oscar® International Feature Film Category
Congratulations to Gar O'Rourke and Venom Films! IFTA announced that the Irish-made, Ukrainian-language film Sanatorium has been selected to represent Ireland in the Oscar® International Feature Film category at the upcoming 98th annual Academy Awards. Sanatorium was supported in development by Creative Europe MEDIA.
Directed by Gar O’Rourke, Sanatorium is a feature documentary from Irish company Venom Films in co-production with Ukrainian company, 2332. It was supported in development by Creative Europe MEDIA's Slate Development funding strand.
Shot on location in Ukraine, Sanatorium takes viewers inside Kuyalnik Sanatorium on the outskirts of Odesa, a vast Soviet-era health retreat where visitors undergo traditional treatments, find community, and navigate a summer like no other - despite the war unfolding around them. Despite a war close by, mud treatments and electro-therapies continue at Kuyalnik Sanatorium near Odesa in southern Ukraine, where a small group searches for love, healing and happiness.
Sanatorium opens nationwide in Ireland from 5th September.
Útóipe Cheilteach (Celtic Utopia) Grand Prix Winner Semaine de la Critique, Locarno 2025
Útóipe Cheilteach (Celtic Utopia) tells the story of a new Ireland and its vibrant music scene, but also that of a postcolonial society wrestling with its heritage. A society where folk music carries both the oppression of the past and the dream of a bright future. Directors Dennis Harvey and Lars Lovén.
Some of the Irish musicians featured in Celtic Utopia include The Mary Wallopers, The Deadlians, Poor Creature, Negro Impacto, and Lankum.
The project was supported in development by Creative Europe MEDIA's European Co-development funding awarded to Swedish company, MDEMC and Irish company, Plainsong Films, with Irish producer Clare Stronge leading the co-development.
IFI Documentary Festival 2025 | 10th to 14th September
Bringing together bold voices, urgent topics, and inventive forms, the festival presents a cutting edge mix of screenings, panel discussions, and public interviews. It acts as a window for audiences into stories and contemporary realities both internationally and in Ireland, bringing the best new documentaries to Dublin, with 14 feature documentaries which include 7 Irish premieres, 2 shorts programmes, and a public-facing industry panel illuminating the landscape of documentary making in Ireland today under the umbrella of IFI Spotlight.
The 2025 festival will open with the Irish premiere of How To Build A Library, an inspirational triumph over adversity from Kenya in which the filmmakers document the quest to transform the formerly whites-only, colonial-era McMillan Memorial Library into a vibrant cultural hub for a new generation of Africans.
Booking Information
- Cinema tickets cost €15.00 each, except for the opening film which includes a post-screening reception and costs €17.00.
- Packages: €30.00 for 3 films. €60.00 for 5 films. Both packages exclude the opening film. These packages can only be booked in-person or by calling the IFI Box Office on 01 679 3477.
Finding Bridget | Triskel Arts Centre, 21st August at 11:00am
Join Cork Traveller Visibility Group for a preview of their new short film, Finding Bridget, on the significance of the name Brigid in Traveller culture, its links to St Brigid and worship at St Brigid’s wells. Part of Heritage Week. Entry is free and all are welcome. Book your free tickets here.
Central Station | Lighthouse Dublin until 28th August
Directed by Walter Salles, Central Station is the story of a former school teacher who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.
A 4K restoration in Portuguese with English subtitles.
On Falling | IFI@Home
Laura Carreira’s directorial debut, produced by Ken Loach’s Sixteen Films, was named Best Film in this year’s Dublin International Film Festival by the Dublin Film Critics Circle.
Aurora (Joana Santos, outstanding) is a Portuguese migrant to Scotland, where she works as a ‘picker’ in an unnamed company’s huge fulfilment centre, preparing items ordered online for delivery. The constant pressure to meet targets has insidiously ground Aurora down, her dreams taking a back seat to her struggle to pay for basic necessities, while her increasing loneliness has infused her exhaustion with sadness. As she walks this razor’s edge, the unexpected cost of repairing her phone, her sole lifeline, points up the precarious nature of her existence.