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EU and MEDIA Film News January 2025

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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.

The Irish members of Europa Cinemas include:

That They May Face the Rising Sun | IFI at Home (online streaming)

That They May Face the Rising Sun is an adaptation of the final novel from John McGahern. Directed by Pat Collins who wrote the screenplay with Eamon Little. Pat Collins' previous documentary work includes John McGahern: A Private World (2005) as well as the feature films, Song of Granite and Silence.

Capturing a year in the life of a rural, lakeside community in Ireland in the 1970’s, the film stars Barry Ward (Jimmy’s Hall) and Anna Bederke (Soul Kitchen) in the lead roles. Lalor Roddy, Sean McGinley, Ruth McCabe, and first-time actor Phillip Dolan make up the cast of supporting characters.

Joe and Kate Ruttledge have returned from London to live and work among the small, close-knit community where Joe grew up. Now deeply embedded in life around the lake, the drama of a year in their lives and those of the memorable characters around them unfolds through the rituals of work, play, and the passing seasons.

Irish company, South Wind Blows, received Creative Europe MEDIA development support for the film.

All We Imagine As Light | Triskel Cork, 16th January

All We Imagine As Light by Payal Kapadia is a collaboration between India, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Italy. The film won the Grand Prix and the Special Mention of AFCAE (Association Française des Cinémas d'Art et d'Essai). Supported by Creative Europe MEDIA.

Prabha is a dedicated and hardworking nurse whose absent husband moved abroad shortly after their arranged marriage. Anu, her younger roommate and colleague at the nearby hospital, is involved in a clandestine relationship with a Muslim man. The widowed Parvati, to whom Prabha lends a sympathetic ear, is being pressured by property developers to move out of her home.

'After her highly acclaimed debut with the documentary A Night of Knowing Nothing, Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia has taken her undeniable style, a blend of poetry and realism, into fictional territory with the bewitching All We Imagine as Light, which went straight into competition at the 77th Cannes Film Festival,' writes Fabien Lemercier in this review of the film on Cineuropa.

Creative Europe MEDIA Films at the Golden Globes 2025

Emilia Pérez (France, Belgium, Mexico) directed by Jacques Audiard won Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, as well as Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language, Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for Zoe Saldaña and Best Original Song.

Flow (Latvia, France, Belgium) direct­ed by Claude Bar­ras and supported by MEDIA's Films on the Move distribution funding won Best Motion Picture – Animated. This animated feature is also nominated for the 2025 LUX Audience award.

Read more about European film winners at the Golden Globes 2025 on Cineuropa.

The Girl with the Needle | Lighthouse Dublin from 10th January

Set in Copenhagen in 1919, The Girl with the Needle is a Danish film directed by Magnus von Horn, and written by von Horn and Line Langebek. The film was produced by Nordisk Film Denmark, Nordisk Film Sweden and Poland’s Lava Films.

A young worker finds herself unemployed and pregnant. She meets Dagmar, who runs an underground adoption agency. A strong connection grows but her world shatters when she stumbles on the shocking truth behind the so-called adoption agency. Read the Cineuropa review.

Leave No Traces | MyCinema Online

Directed by Jan P. Matuszynski, the film begins in May 1983. High school student Grzegorz Przemyk and his older friend Jurek are arrested without cause by the local militia. At the police station, the pair are brutally beaten. Soon after, Grzegorz dies from his injuries. Leave No Traces recounts a notorious chapter in modern Polish history.

LUX Award 2025 Free Screenings from CIFF | The Arc Cinema Cork, 24th to 26th January

As part of CIFF European Film Weekend from 24th to 26th January, CIFF have partnered with the European Parliament Liaison Office in Ireland and The Arc Cinema Cork to present free screenings of four of the films shortlisted for the LUX Audience Award 2025.

The LUX Audience Award aims to strengthen ties between politics and the people by inviting European audiences to become active protagonists and rate their favourite films.Celebrating the latest and best European features and shorts, and as Ireland’s official representative at the European Film Academy Short Film Award, the screenings will be complemented by two programmes of short films selected from the European Film Academy network.

The five films nominated for LUX Awards 2025:

Find details and booking links for the CIFF free screenings of LUX Award 2025 films.

LUX Audience Award Rate the Nominated Films

An integral part of these screenings is voting for your favourite film in the largest audience award in the world - rate the LUX Audience Award films you have watched by April 2025 and don’t miss the chance to win a range of exciting prizes, including a trip to the European Parliament to attend the LUX Award Ceremony in April 2025 and meet the directors and film crews of the nominees.

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