June Highlights: Four Irish Films to look out for at International Festivals this week
Posted: 7th June 2023
Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland is proud to support three Irish feature films – The Miracle Club, Pray for Our Sinners and Sunlight – and one short film – Regular Rabbit - which will screen at two prestigious international film festivals this coming week.
This year’s Tribeca Film Festival and Sydney Film Festival both begin today Tuesday 7th June and will host a range of World and International Premieres for exciting new Irish projects.
First up will be Sinéad O’Shea’s Pray for Our Sinners, which will receive its Australian Premiere this Saturday 10th June. After receiving its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) last September, this powerful documentary about the legacy and impact of Catholicism on the residents of a small Irish town went on to screen across the United States, then back to Ireland for this year’s Dublin International Film Festival and for a release in Irish cinemas earlier this year, distributed by Break Out Pictures. Find out more about this screening here.
Another female-directed Irish film to receive its Australian Premiere this week is Claire Dix’ Sunlight. Produced by Blinder Films with funding from Screen Ireland’s POV Female Creative Talent Scheme, this emotional comedy follows former addict Leon and his best friend and sponsor Iver, who gets a terminal diagnosis and decides to leave this earth early. Sunlight received its World Premiere at the 2023 Dublin International Film Festival and will screen at the Sydney Film Festival on Sunday 11th June as part of EFP (European Film Promotion)'s Europe! Voices of Women in Film programme. Wildcard Distribution will release the film in Irish and UK cinemas next week. Find out more about this screening here.
Also screening on Sunday 11th June is Eoin Duffy’s short animation film Regular Rabbit. Co-funded through Screen Ireland and RTÉ’s Frameworks scheme, the film explores the absurdity of fake news through a rabbit’s good name and the crimes he has been accused of. After receiving its World Premiere at last year’s Galway Film Fleadh and touring the world in Newport, Santa Barbara, Brussels, Toronto and more, the Rabbit will hop its way to New York this weekend as part of Tribeca’s Shorts: Misdirection programme. Find out more about this screening here.
Last but certainly not least, next week will kick off with the World Premiere of Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s The Miracle Club. A co-production between Ireland and the UK, the film follows three close friends (Laura Linney, Maggie Smith and Kathy Bates) who have never left the outskirts of Dublin as they get the journey of a lifetime - a visit to Lourdes, the picturesque French town and place of miracles. Sony Pictures Classics has picked up rights for the U.S, Latin America and a number of territories in South East Asia and Eastern Europe ahead of the Premiere. Find out more about the screening here.
These four films join an acclaimed roster of Irish films that have debuted at major festivals this year, including John Carney’s Flora and Son at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Enzo D’Alò’s A Greyhound of a Girl at the Berlin Film Festival and Stephen Gerard Kelly and Garry Keane’s In The Shadow of Beirut, which received its World Premiere at the Doc Edge Film Festival earlier this month and was the winner in three categories at its awards ceremony: Best International Documentary, Best Cinematography and the Our World, Our Stories Special Award.
We are proud to support these four films and wish all the best to cast, crew and audiences attending the screenings.