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Seven Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland supported feature films screening at the 2024 BFI London Film Festival

Seven Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland supported feature films screening at the 2024 BFI London Film Festival

Posted: 9th October 2024

The 68th BFI London Film Festival begins this week, presenting an extensive programme of 255 features, shorts, series and immersive works from 80 countries. Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland is delighted to see seven films supported by the agency screening across the festival's various strands.

Screening in Official Competition, Darren Thornton's Four Mothers follows Edward, a queer, up-and-coming novelist forced to balance press commitments with caring for his aging mother. When his three closest friends, desperate to feel young and carefree again, go off on an impromptu Pride holiday, they leave their ageing mothers in Edward’s care.

The film, written by Colin Thornton and Darren Thornton, and produced by Eric Abraham, Jack Sidey and Martina Niland, will be receiving its World Premiere on Sunday, 13th October, with a second screening scheduled on Tuesday, 15th October.

Also screening in Official Competition is Christopher Andrews' rural thriller Bring Them Down, starring Christopher Abbott and Barry Keoghan as two men from feuding farming families drawn into a conflict that will spark a devastating set of events. The film was produced by Irish production company Tailored Films, Wild Swim and MUBI, and co-produced by Frakas Productions, VOO et Be tv and Shelter Prod in association with Screen Ireland, Coimisiún na Meán, RTÉ and the UK Global Screen Fund.

Following from several screenings in the United States, including its World Premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and a Best Picture win in main competition at Fantastic Fest, the film will make its UK Premiere on Friday, 18th October, with a second screening scheduled on Sunday, 20th October.

Outside of Official Competition, four Screen Ireland supported films will screen in the festival's various strands: Aislinn Clarke's Irish language horror Fréamhacha; Ali Abbasi's dramatisation of Donald Trump's early life The Apprentice; Joshua Oppenheimer's post-apocalyptic musical The End and Ariane Labed's feature film debut September Says. Additionally, Brian Durnin's Spilt Milk will be screened as part of the festival's annual Works-in-Progress Showcase, which selects a variety of films still in production or post-production to screen for an invited audience of international buyers as well as UK sales agents and festival programmers.

Find out more about the films screening at the festival below.

Four Mothers

Darren Thornton's Four Mothers follows a queer, up-and-coming novelist caring for his ageing mother and three other elderly women during Pride.

Bring Them Down

Bring Them Down is an Irish-set thriller written and directed by Christopher Andrews, and starring Christopher Abbott, Barry Keoghan, Colm Meaney, Nora-Jane Noone, Paul Ready and Susan Lynch. The film follows Michael, the last son of a shepherding family, who lives with his ailing father, Ray. Burdened by guilt over the death of his mother, Michael has isolated himself from the world. When a conflict with rival farmer Gary and his son Jack escalates, Michael is drawn into a devastating chain of events, forcing him to confront the horrors of his past and leaving both families permanently altered.

Fréamhacha

Fréamhacha revolves around care worker Shoo (Clare Monnelly), who is sent to a remote Irish-speaking village to care for an agoraphobic woman (Bríd Ní Neachtain), who fears both the neighbours and the Na Sídhe – sinister folkloric entities she believes abducted her decades before. As the pair develop a deep connection, Shoo becomes consumed by the old woman’s paranoia, rituals, and superstitions, eventually confronting the horrors from her own past.

The End

The End is the highly anticipated upcoming feature film from director Joshua Oppenheimer, starring Tilda Swinton, George MacKay, Michael Shannon, Moses Ingram and Bronagh Gallagher. After the sudden arrival of a stranger, GIRL (Moses Ingram), threatens the family’s luxurious compound deep underground, SON (George MacKay) begins to question their seemingly perfect existence.

September Says

September Says is based on the novel ‘Sisters’ by Daisy Johnson and adapted to the screen by Ariane Labed. Sisters July and September are thick as thieves, though very different -September is protective and distrustful of others, while July is open to and curious about the world. Their dynamic is a concern to their single mum, Sheela, who is unsure what to do with them. When September is suspended from their school, July is left to fend for herself and begins to assert her own independence - which does not go unnoticed by September. Tension among the three women builds when they take refuge in an old holiday home in Ireland, where July finds her bond with September shifting in ways she cannot entirely understand or control - and a series of surreal encounters test the family to their limit.

The Apprentice

The Apprentice, directed by Ali Abassi and written by Gabe Sherman, is a dive into the underbelly of the American empire. It charts a young Donald Trump’s ascent to power through a Faustian deal with the influential right-wing lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn.

Spilt Milk

Spilt Milk, directed by Brian Durnin and written by Cara Loftus, follows 11-year-old Bobby O’Brien in 1984 Dublin, who dreams of becoming a great detective like his TV hero Kojak. Bobby sets up a private investigation enterprise with his best friend Nell Casey and the disappearance of his older brother sets them off on a quest to find him… 

Screening details and last minute tickets are still available on the BFI's website. This year's festival takes place from 9th-20th October.