MEDIA Film News April 2024
News about European films, supported by the EU funding, showing in independent cinemas and cinema clubs that are part of the Europa Cinemas network. Includes news from EU initiatives such as Eurimages Cinema Fund, European Film Promotion, the European Film Awards, European Cinema Night, and the LUX Audience Award.
The Irish members of Europa Cinemas include:
- IFI, Dublin and IFI@Home
- Triskel Arts Centre, Cork
- Lighthouse Cinema, Dublin
- Palás, Galway
- Access Cinema Network of regional cinema clubs
- Volta VOD online
- 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.
Louise Lives Large | RTÉ and RTÉ Player from 4th April
Louise Lives Large, RTÉ's biggest ever drama commission for young people, launched on RTÉ2 at 4pm on Wednesday 3rd April, 2024. Louise Lives Large is an 8-part series that tells the story of 13-year-old Louise Edgar (Beth Fallon) who sets out to complete a 'Live Large List' after she recovers from cancer.
Louise Lives Large airs at 4pm on RTÉ 2 on Wednesdays, and is also available on the RTÉ Player.
Louise Lives Large was produced by Irish company, Tailored Films, and received Creative Europe MEDIA funding in 2023 under the TV and Online Content funding scheme.
That They May Face the Rising Sun | IFI Dublin, Lighthouse Dublin, Pálás Galway, Triskel Cork, & in cinemas nationwide from 25th April
An adaptation of the final novel from John McGahern, one of Ireland’s greatest novelists, and directed by Pat Collins (Song of Granite, 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 as this enclosed world becomes an everywhere.
Supported in development by MEDIA funding awarded to South Wind Blows.
Io Captiano | Lighthouse Dublin, Palás Galway, Triskel Cork
A film by Matteo Garrone, with Seydou Sarr, Moustapha Fall and Issaka Sawadogo. Io Capitano is the epic story of a teenage boy and his cousin who leave Dakar, Senegal to make their way to Europe. A contemporary Odyssey through the dangers of the desert, the horrors of detention centres in Libya, and the perils of the sea. The film was nominated for Best International Feature at the Academy Awards 2024.
'Garrone wrote the screenplay with three Italians, Massimo Ceccherini, Massimo Gaudioso and Andrea Tagliaferri, but he availed himself of the collaboration of various African people who told him of their voyages – in particular, Kouassi Pli Adama Mamadou, a young Ivorian who fled the famine and the civil war that had been ravaging his country until 2011, and who today works as an intercultural mediator (he speaks 13 languages) in Caserta.' Review of Io Capitano by Camillo De Marco in Cineuropa.
The Teachers' Lounge | Lighthouse Dublin; Palás Galway
Directed by İlker Çatak and starring Leonie Benesch, Michael Klammer, and Rafael Stachowiak. Carla Nowak (Leonie Benesch) is an idealistic young teacher in her first job at a German middle school. Her relaxed relationship with her students is put under stress when a series of thefts occur at the school. A staff investigation leads to accusations and mistrust among outraged parents and angry students. Caught in the middle of these complex dynamics, Carla tries to mediate but the more she tries to do everything right, the more desperate her position becomes.
'Most of the success of this film is down to the great depth that screenwriter Johannes Duncker and Çatak gift to their lead character. The more Carla tries to do something right – and, in many circumstances, logical in terms of pedagogical principles – the more she is pushed to her limits, put under pressure, marginalised and denounced.' Review by by Davide Abbatescianni in Cineuropa. The film was also nominated for Best International Feature at the Academy Awards 2024.
Anatomy of a Fall | Triskel Arts Centre, Cork; Palás Galway; Lighthouse Dublin
The MEDIA-supported film Anatomy of a Fall, directed by Justine Triet, won Best Original Screenplay at the 2024 Oscars.
Sandra (Sandra Hüller), a German writer, her French husband Samuel, and their eleven-year-old son Daniel live a secluded life in a remote town in the French Alps. When Samuel is found dead in the snow below their chalet, the police question whether he committed suicide or was killed.
Written by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, and directed by Justine Triet, the film had five Oscar nominations in total for Best Director, Best Editing, Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actress in a leading role nomination for Sandra Hüller.
Robot Dreams | Triskel Arts Centre Cork; Lighthouse Dublin; Palás Galway
Robot Dreams, by Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz, was shortlisted for the Best Animated feature film at the 2024 Oscars. Based on a graphic novel by American writer, Sara Varon, Robot Dreams tells the story of a friendship between a dog and a robot in New York during the 1980s. Told without dialogue, the film explores the love between friends and is also a love letter to New York.