Highlights include 25 premieres, including three world-first screenings, 40th anniversary screening of Anne Devlin, In Conversation with renowned director Radu Jude and a host of new international cinema
Belfast Film Festival returns for its 24th edition on 31st of October for 10 days showcasing the best films from across the globe alongside some of the best from home-grown talent. The bumper programme has been unveiled and is outlined below.
Opening and Closing Films
Kicking off the festival perfectly on Halloween Night with the Irish premiere of Aislinn Clarke’s Irish language horror Fréwaka, produced by Dermot Lavery (DoubleBand) and Patrick O’Neill (Wildcard). Closing night (9 November) sees the UK premiere of The Wise Guy directed by Sam O’Mahony, produced by Leon Coole and executive produced by Belfast-based Out of Orbit Films (Ordinary Love, The Dig).
Ireland Focus
This year’s festival is proud to celebrate talent from across the island of Ireland, and the mid-week gala screenings are jam-packed with Irish talent; Dead Man’s Money directed by Paul Kennedy brings together Northern Irish stars Ciarán McMenamin and Kathy Kiera Clarke; Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) and Christopher Abbott (Poor Things) are utterly heartbreaking in Christopher Andrews rural drama Bring Them Down and Ciaran Cassidy’s award-winning documentary Housewife of the Year gets its Northern Irish premiere. One of Ireland’s most prolific actors will be celebrated as BFF presents Lalor Roddy with its Réalta award for Outstanding Contribution to Irish Film in recognition of his many years of excellence on the big screen. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Pat Murphy’s astonishing film Anne Devlin, and the festival will have a special screening with a Q&A with Pat Murphy, Bríd Brennan who plays the title role and cinematographer, Thaddeus O’Sullivan. To celebrate 100 years of BBC Northern Ireland, the team will host a one-off, archive event in BBC Blackstaff Studios, Ulster Mirror. Additionally, Belfast Film Festival presents three world premieres of Northern Ireland Independent Films The UnHolylands, Beautiful and Loud and Clear and The Spin.
The Hearth: Industry Panel
Featuring in the programme is an all-star panel which will offer valuable insights on how to enter a career in film, with writer Stacey Gregg (Ballywalter, Here Before), actors Valene Kane (Gangs Of London, The Fall), Martin McCann (Blue Lights, The Survivalist), Jonathan Harden (Blue Lights, Time) and director Ryan Tohill (The Castaways, Dalgliesh), and chaired by Journalist and BroadcasterWilliam Crawley.
This is one of a number of activities leading up to the December premiere of The Hearth, a co-created film project commissioned by Belfast 2024, a cultural celebration of Belfast.
Radu Jude and International Competition
This year’s guest of honour is none other than Golden Bear winning king of audacious satire Radu Jude (Do Not Expect Too Much From The End of The World) who will be In Conversation with BFF programmer Jessica Kiang on Saturday 2nd November. Jude will joinDorota Lech, curator and programmer of the Toronto Film Festival and award-winning Irish filmmaker Dean Kavanagh on the International Competition jury.
The International competition which enters its third year includes films from first and second time filmmakers from across the world. This year’s line-up includes Familiar Touch directed by Sarah Friedland winner of the Future Lion award at Venice Biennale,Universal Language directed by Matthew Rankin (Canada’s Oscars pick), Paul and Paulette Take a Bath directed by Jethro Massey which was nominated for the Queer Lion at Venice Biennale, the UK premieres of Second Chance directed by Subhadra Mahajan, and Windless directed by Pavel G. Vesnakov, To Kill a Mongolian Horse directed by Xiaoxuan Jiang which won an award for best writing and directing in Venice and Cannes Golden Camera nominee Eephus directed by Carson Lund. The International competition also brings the Irish premiere of the The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire directed by Madeline Hunt Ehrlich.
New Cinema
There are Hollywood stars galore in this year’s New Cinema strand; Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain starring the director himself and Succession breakout Kieran Culkin; Amy Adams stuns in Marielle Heller’s Nightbitch, Rooney Mara stars in tense, wildly inventive kitchen drama La Cocina and Cate Blanchett is deadpan-hilarious in bizarre political satire Rumours. BFF24 will feature the brand new Mike Leigh (Naked, Secrets and Lies) film Hard Truths, the debut feature King Baby from dynamic directorial duo Kit Redstone and Aaran Shearing, Flow directed by Gints Zilbalodis Latvia’s Oscars pick, and perhaps the most exciting and pioneering US indie of the year, RaMell Ross’ deftly adapted Nickel Boys based on the novel by Colson Whitehead (The Underground Railroad). Cannes award winners Armand, Grand Tour and The Other Way Around will all have Irish premieres at BFF24.
Long Short Weekend
BFF24 brings with it the sophomore year of the Long Short Weekend, where short filmmakers from all over Ireland descend on Belfast for a jam-packed weekend of talks, screenings and networking. This year boasts four in-competition programmes, four new Irish shorts programmes and a Northern Ireland Screen showcase followed by a producers’ mixer. Passes for the Long Short Weekend are £30 and give access to all shorts screenings, talks and receptions as well as a delegate pack. They can be purchased at www.belfastfilmfestival.org
BFF Collaborations
Belfast Film Festival is delighted to partner with some of Belfast’s most exciting arts organisations and collectives. Belfast and Berlin based film journal and virtual cinematheque Ultra Dogme brings Now Serving, a programme of five experimental works of cinema by trans filmmakers to the Black Box, Shankill Screen will screen four short films at Vault Artist Studios in the Shankill Mission, Ghouls on Film will present a screening of Aislinn Clarke’s debut feature The Devil’s Doorway followed by a Q&A with Aislinn Clarke; and Anaka Women’s Collective and Northern Ireland Now team up to present Anaka in the Archives for a celebration of diversity in film archives.Normal Cinema Club is back at BFF presenting a screening of Conor O’Malley’s hilarious new comedy feature Rapworld alongside short Coreys. Normal Cinema Club will also host the annual BFF quiz alongside Best Boy Magazine in the Black Box on Friday 8th November.
Palestine Cinema Days
In response to the global call to action from their friends at Filmlab Palestine, Belfast Film Festival will once again be hosting aPalestine Cinema Days screening on 2nd November at the Black Box. This screening of Naila and The Uprising directed by Julia Bacha will be one of hundreds of screenings happening throughout the world in solidarity with colleagues in Palestine.
Art of Action
As part of the BFI’s Art of Action, a UK-wide celebration of action on screen, BFF24 will present three William Friedkin films The French Connection (1971), To Live and Die in LA (1985) and The Hunted (2003) all of which exemplify how his use of action and stunt work complements his pessimistic worldview and emboldens his status as Hollywood’s agitator/rebel.
Commenting on the 2024 programme, Michele Devlin, Director of Belfast Film Festival said:
“This year’s programme showcases some of the best of new international film alongside gorgeous new work from Irish filmmakers. We have a special 40th anniversary event for the groundbreaking feature Anne Devlin bringing the creative team Pat Murphy, Thaddeus O’Suillivan and Brid Brennan together for the first time in many years. We are proud to be partnering once again with our friends in FilmLab, Palestine, to present Naila and The Uprising directed by Julia Bacha which is one of hundreds international solidarity screenings taking place across the world on the 2nd November.”
Jessica Kiang, International Programmer for Belfast Film Festival said:
“Irish cinema is having a moment on the world stage, but is world cinema also becoming, well, more Irish? It sure seems so, from the spirit of resistance, rebellion and reckoning with the past that spices up our New Cinema international selection, runs like a current through this year’s International Competition from Mongolia to Martinique to Massachussetts, and is perfectly reflected in the anarchic vibe of Competition juror and Romanian Golden Bear-winner Radu Jude — the closest thing modern cinema has to a renegade mad scientist.”
Sam O’Mahony, director of The Wise Guy, which has its UK premiere at BFF, added:
“I am deeply honoured to have my debut feature, The Wise Guy, selected to close this year’s Belfast Film Festival. The film is a coming-of-age comedy/drama and, indeed, it feels the last few years in Belfast have served as my own coming-of-age as a filmmaker. This city is an incredible place to make films and I’ve been lucky to have been supported on my journey by Northern Ireland Screen, who believed in this project from the start. I hope the film serves as a fittingly joyful and moving conclusion to this brilliant festival.”
Richard Williams, Chief Executive of Northern Ireland Screen commented:
“The 24th Belfast Film Festival programme continues to showcase the wealth of filmmaking talent we have here in Northern Ireland. Two locally made films take prime spots within the programme, Fréwaka and The Wise Guy. We are particularly excited that The Wise Guy, a product of Northern Ireland Screen’s New Talent Focus scheme, written and directed by rising talent Sam O’Mahony and produced by Leon Coole and Out Of Orbit films will be the closing night film on 9th November. This is only the tip of the iceberg for Northern Ireland films within the programme, there are many more including Deadman’s Money written and directed by Paul Kennedy and produced by Village Films as well as a packed programme of short films from the island of Ireland for local audiences to enjoy!”
Belfast Film Festival is funded by Northern Ireland Screen, Belfast City Council, the Department for Communities and Film Hub NI. And proudly sponsored by Yellowmoon, Birra Moretti and Hastings Hotels.
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