Cork International Film Festival Launches 2023 Programme
Posted: 12th October 2023
Cork International Film Festival (CIFF) has launched the programme for the 68th edition of the Festival. The expanded 2023 event will screen the best in Irish and international film across Cork city and county from Thursday 9th to Sunday 26th November. This year's programme features over 200 films, including 4 Screen Ireland supported feature films.
As previously announced, this year's Irish gala will be the World Premiere of Andrew Gallimore's One Night in Millstreet, which not only relives the titanic contest that took place in the Green Glens Arena in 1995, but also marks the trajectory of the two competitors: Super Middleweight Champion, Chris Eubank, and the hungry challenger from Cabra, Steve Collins. The Irish Gala will be attended by the filmmakers and special guests. Joining the film in the Irish Documentary line-up of the festival is Ken Wardrop's So This Is Christmas, which illuminates the challenges often unseen beyond the toys, trees and tinsel, characters in a small Irish village reflect on their difficult relationships with Christmas. The documentary will receive its World Premiere on Friday, 10th November.
Both films will be in competition for the CIFF Best New Irish Feature Award, proudly supported by the Irish Examiner, whose winner will be announced on Sunday, 19th November. The award jury will be chaired by Oscar®-winning film producer, education luminary and CIFF Patron, Lord David Puttnam.
CIFF Patron, Lord David Puttnam, said:
Cinema can transport us to other worlds, spark new conversations, and inspire action and change, and film festivals are uniquely special places that bring us together to experience the extraordinary and the ordinary, collectively. The 68th edition is bursting with films that encourage us to reimagine the world, to discover and share new experiences. I am extremely proud to represent Cork International Film Festival as its Patron and I warmly encourage you to explore this year’s wonderfully exciting programme.”
Two other Screen Ireland supported films will screen out of competition at the festival. Five and a Half Love Stories in an Apartment in Vilnius, Lithuania, a co-production between Latvia, Lithuania and Ireland, will receive its Irish Premiere at the Festival on Saturday, 18th November. The sophomore feature from Tomas Vengris, the story revolves around the fleeting experiences of five AirBnB guests, each in differing states of romantic entanglement and crisis. Gary Lennon and Cathal McNaughton will attend a Q&A screening of I Dream in Photos, following McNaughton's Pulitzer Prize winning career as a photojournalist, on Sunday, 19th November.
A number of Screen Ireland supported short films will screen at the festival, including a dedicated Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland Shorts programme on Saturday, 11th November at 6pm. The programme will present an exciting mix of new Irish short films funded under the Focus and Real Shorts scheme. A number of films from the Actor as Creator scheme will also screen throughout the festival. Three of the Festival Shorts awards – the Grand Prix Irish Short, the Grand Prix International Short and the Grand Prix Documentary Short – are Academy Award®-qualifying, ensuring that the winners in Cork will be automatically longlisted for the Oscars®. The short film award winners will be announced by Lord David Puttnam on Thursday 16th November.
Other highlights in the 2023 programme include the previously announced Opening Gala and Irish Premiere of Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things; the International Gala and Irish premiere of acclaimed All Of Us Strangers, starring Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, and written and directed by CIFF alumnus Andrew Haigh; the Irish premiere of Eileen, directed by William Oldroyd and starring Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie; and the Irish premiere of the highly anticipated Cannes Jury Prize winner, Fallen Leaves, from renowned filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki.
CIFF will once again host a series of Industry Days which will provide opportunities for established and emerging filmmakers to connect. First Take, a training and development platform for newly established film professionals, film and media students and the wider film industry, will take place on Thursday, 16th November and feature a range of case studies, presentations and panel discussions on sustainability, inclusivity and creative filmmaking. The Festival will continue to develop its focus on high-quality Irish and international documentary cinema with Doc Day, on Friday, 24th November, connecting emerging and established non-fiction filmmakers with industry professionals and the wider documentary sector through a series of discussion sessions followed by a networking event.
CIFF Director & CEO Fiona Clark spoke about this year’s expanded festival:
I’m hugely proud of the whole CIFF team for their dedication in bringing together this world-class programme, which I believe cements our reputation as one of the most prestigious and dynamic film festivals internationally. Our programme this year is truly diverse, championing new voices alongside award-winning auteurs, and local and global talent, all carefully curated to celebrate and create greater access to a huge a diversity of stories on screen. With so much happening around the Festival it’s impossible to select just a couple of highlights, but we’re very excited to bring the world to Cork with a special guest programme from Cannes Director’s Fortnight, and to showcase a selection of films in venues across the county of Cork, expanding our reach and enabling wider audiences access to an exciting programme selection of cultural cinema.”
The Festival is proudly supported by Principal Funder the Arts Council, along with Cork City Council, Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, Creative Europe MEDIA, Coimisiún na Meán, Cork County Council, Culture Ireland, ESB Energy for Generations Fund, Future Planet, Murphy’s and UCC. Media Partners are RTÉ Supporting the Arts and, Irish Examiner. Cork International Film Festival is a member of the Cultural Cinema Partnership which includes the Irish Film Institute, Galway Film Fleadh, Dublin International Film Festival and access>CINEMA.
The 68th Cork International Film Festival will run from Thursday 9th to Sunday 26th of November, 2023. For more information and to view the full programme, and to stay up to date with the latest news and programme announcements, visit corkfilmfest.org.