MEDIA Film News January 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 plus films and film festivals supported by Creative Europe MEDIA and other 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
- 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 & live events on demand.
5 MEDIA Films Win at European Film Awards 2023
Five films that received EU support came out on top at this year's European Film Awards, winning a total of seven prizes. The winners of the 36th edition of the European Film Awards, which took place in Berlin, were announced during the Awards Ceremony held on 9th December 2023.
Thirteen EU-funded films were nominated this year, accounting for 17 of nominations spread across 10 categories, including: Me Captain (Io Capitano) by Matteo Garrone for the European Film and European Director awards; The Promised Land (Bastarden) by Nikolaj Arcel for European Cinematography and European Costume Design, as well as Mads Mikkelsen for European Actor for his role in the film. Additionally, four EU-supported works were nominated for the European Animated Feature Film award, and another four for European Documentary.
Congratulations to the 5 MEDIA funded films who won at the 2023 European Film Awards:
- The Promised Land (Bastarden) by Nikolaj Arcel for Best Cinematography. Best Actor award to Mads Mikkelsen and Best Costume Design for Kiki Ilander.
- Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Savvusanna sõsarad) by Anna Hints for Best Documentary.
- Robot Dreams by Pablo Berger for Best Feature Film.
- Club Zero by Jessica Hausner for Best Original Score.
- La Chimera by Alice Rohrwacher for Best Production Design.
The EU supported the development and distribution of these works through its Creative Europe MEDIA Programme. Read the full list of European Film Awards winners here.
LUX Audience Award Programme from Cork International Film Festival, 26-28 January 2024
Cork International Film Festival will host a European Film Weekend at The Arc Cinema, Cork from 26 – 28th January in partnership with the European Parliament Liaison Office in Ireland. They will present a programme of free screenings of the five films shortlisted for the LUX Audience Award 2024. Free tickets can be booked from 15th January.
The Teachers’ Lounge, Friday, 26th January, 6.30pm in The Arc Cinema Cork. Directed by İlker Çatak (Germany | 98 min | 2023 | PG-13).
When one of her students is suspected of theft, teacher Carla Nowak decides to get to the bottom of the matter. Caught between her ideals and the school system, the consequences of her actions threaten to break her. Winner of the Label Europa Cinemas Award and C.I.C.A.E. Award at Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) 2023.
On the Adamant, Saturday, 27th January, 3pm in The Arc Cinema Cork. Directed by Nicolas Philibert (France, Japan | 109 min | 2023 | PG)
The Adamant is a unique day-care centre. A floating structure located on the Seine in the heart of Paris, it welcomes adults suffering from mental disorders, offering the kind of care that grounds them in time and space and helps them to recover or keep up their spirits. The team running it tries to resist the deterioration and dehumanisation of psychiatry as best as they can. Winner of the Golden Berlin Bear Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) 2023.
20,000 Species of Bees, Sunday, 28th January, 6pm in The Arc Cinema Cork. Directed by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (Spain | 129 min | 2023)
Lucía is an eight-year-old girl, who sometimes struggles as the world tries to catch up with the fact that she is trans. As the summer holidays pass, she explores her femininity alongside the women of her family who at the same time reflect on their own femininity. Winner of the Silver Berlin Bear for Best Leading Performance by Sofía Otero and winner of the Guild Film Prize at Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) 2023.
Fallen Leaves,Sunday, 28th January, 3pm in The Arc Cinema Cork, Directed by Aki Kaurismäki (Finland | 81 min | 2023 | 12A).
The film tells the story of Ansa, a supermarket shelf-stocker on a zero-hour contract, later a recyclable plastic sorter, and Holappa, a sandblaster, an alcoholic, later an ex-alcoholic, whose paths have accidentally crossed and who, despite adversity and misunderstandings, try to build some kind of relationship on the harsher side of state welfare. Shown at CIFF2023 and Winner of the Jury Prize and Nominee for the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival 2023.
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,Sunday, 28th January 6pm in The Arc Cinema Cork. Directed by Anna Hints (Estonia, France | 89 min | 2023 | 15).
Women share their innermost secrets and intimate experiences inside an Estonian smoke sauna. Cleansing their bodies and baring their souls, they embrace the healing power of sisterhood. Winner of a European Film Award for European Documentary 2023.
LUX – The European Audience Film Award (LUX Audience Award) was introduced in 2020 and is presented every year by the European Parliament and the European Film Academy, in partnership with the European Commission and Europa Cinemas.
You are invited to rate the LUX Audience Award films here on their website.
Anatomy of a Fall | Triskel Cork; Palás Galway
The French film scooped five awards at the European Film Awards 2023: Best European Film; Best Director for Justine Triet; Best Actress award for Sandra Hüller; Best Screenwriter for Justine Triet & Arthur Harari; Best Editing for Laurent Sénéchal; and the University Film Award.
'Justine Triet delivers a masterful, multi-layered and suspenseful film about a couple and the judicialization of their private lives, carried by the exceptional Sandra Hüller,' writes Fabien Lemercier in his review for Cineuropa. 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.
Fallen Leaves | Lighthouse, Dublin
Set in Helsinki, two lonely souls in search of their first love meet by chance in a local karaoke bar. However, the pair’s path to happiness is beset by numerous obstacles – from lost phone numbers to mistaken addresses, alcoholism, and a charming stray dog.
Fallen Leaves was Finland's official entry to the 96th Academy Awards and won the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize. Fallen Leaves is also one of the 5 films nominated for the Lux Audience Award 2024.
The Peasants | Triskel Arts Centre, Cork, 21-24 January
BreakThru Films who made the MEDIA-supported, Loving Vincent, the world’s first fully-painted feature film, have produced another animated feature, The Peasants, based on the novel by Wladyslaw Reymont. Written and directed by DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman, the film is supported by MEDIA's Films on the Move distribution funding.
A tragic story of a peasant girl Jagna who is forced to marry a much older, wealthy farmer Boryna, despite her love for his son Antek. With time, Jagna becomes the object of envy and hate of the villagers and has to fight to preserve her independence. Set in the Polish countryside on the cusp of the 19th and 20th Centuries, the story’s dramatic turns tie into the changing seasons, hard labour in the fields and traditional local holidays.
Two of Us | mycinema.ie
Golden Globes nominated and shortlisted for Academy Awards 2021 – Best Foreign Language Film. When Nina Dorn (Barbara Sukowa) meets Madeleine Girard (Martine Chevalier) on holiday in Rome, they become inseparable. Decades later, they are secretly sharing their lives between their two apartments. Madeleine promises Nina she will tell her family about their life together. Though certain of her love for Nina, Madeleine struggles with the prospect. When an unexpected event turns their world upside-down, Madeleine's daughter unwittingly begins to unravel the truth. Distributed with the support of the Creative Europe MEDIA.
Young Plato | IFI@Home
Young Plato is an observational documentary set in post conflict Belfast’s Ardoyne, where a marginalised working class community has been plagued by poverty, drugs and guns. It's also a portrait of headmaster, Kevin McArevey, and his visionary team who empower primary school children to see beyond the boundaries and limitations of their own community.Made by Declan McGrath and Neasa Ní Chianáin, the documentary was supported in development by MEDIA Slate Funding awarded to Irish compnay, Soilsiú Films.