As Dublin International Film Festival (DIFF) returns to cinemas and venues across the county to showcase rising talent and venerate established luminaries, from the desk of Festival Director Gráinne Humphreys comes a handpicked selection of cinematic gems from this year’s programme.
Whether you’re in the mood for heartfelt drama, pulse-pounding thrillers, or inspiring documentaries, there’s a little something for everyone and Gráinne’s carefully curated list offers a perfect snapshot of the festival’s diverse lineup — and an invitation to dive into the magic of film.
Grainne’s top five Irish recommends include Brian Durnin’s debut feature Spilt Milk which tells the heartwarming tale of two Dublin pre-teens who set up their own detective agency. Fran The Man is a lighthearted delve into the world of Irish amateur football while Aoife Kelleher’s Testimony recounts the tragic but extraordinary story of the Justice For Magdalenes, a tiny group of women lawyers, academics, and volunteers who have together waged an extraordinary battle on behalf of the survivors of Irish institutions.
Between 1922 and 1996,10,000+ girls and women were imprisoned in Ireland – unmarried mothers, daughters of unmarried mothers, the ‘promiscuous’, the ‘burdensome’, the sexually abused, and those who had grown up in Catholic or State ‘care’. These Magdalene women and the children of the Mother & Baby Homes might have still been shrouded in secrecy and shame, if not for their work.
Ross Whitaker’s fascinating documentary, Beat the Lotto, tells the story of Stefan, the man who tried to beat our National Lottery system by attempting to fix the draw, an act that divided a whole nation, while Jonathan Kent has attracted Hollywood powerhouses Jessica Lange and Ed Harris to star in his Long Day’s Journey Into Night, a film set on one single day in August 1912 in Connecticut, as the Tyrone family faces the looming dual spectres of Edmund’s potentially fatal consumption diagnosis alongside his mother Mary’s increasingly fragile and anxious state of mind. For that sprinkle of Festival stardust, Lange and Harris will be in attendance.
International cinematic highlights include ex model Sadie Frost’s documentary on the ultimate ‘IT’ girl Twiggy and features contributions from Dustin Hoffman, Brooke Shields, Paul McCartney, Charlotte Tilbury and Joanna Lumley as they explore the eponymous model’s upbringing, career, relationships, and everything else that has made her the woman she is today.
Our Film Critic Aaron Kavanagh’s top recommendation, Sister Midnight (see below), is a brilliantly executed and innovative look at mismatched arranged marriage in India while the New Zealand produced Went Up The Hill mines the dramatic horror genre to give us a visual theatre of cinematic chiaroscuro (shot by cinematographer Tyson Perkins) that has been deemed the ‘dark cousin’ of Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers. Also set in the Southern Hemisphere, the irrepressible Nicholas Cage stars in The Surfer, a beguiling study of toxic masculinity and conflict under a punishing sun.
A special event that’s sure to draw a huge crowd is Playback x DIFF: A Celebration of Irish Music Video, a special screening curated by Michael Donnelly that celebrates the best of Irish music video and the directors behind them. Featuring insights from the filmmakers, the programme will include work from Sam McGrath (Kojaque’s Town’s Dead), Tara O’Callaghan (Why Axis’ Bloodstain), Kevin Godley (U2’s The Sweetest Thing), Hugh O’Conor (Sinead O’Connor’s 8 Good Reasons) and Bob Gallagher (Lankum’s The Young People).
The stacked programme includes the Venice Film Festival Grand Jury prize winner, Vermiglio, director Maura Delpero’s momentous and remarkable piece of World War II set cinema that goes straight for the jugular of family secrets and Sandhya Suri’s dark debut feature Santosh, a film which challenges the patriarchal and castist attitudes in the Indian policing system. The movie premiered at the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, and went on to win Best Screenplay at the British Independent Film Awards.
Based on Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani’s bestselling book, Ishaya Bako’s I Do Not Come To You By Chance is a refreshing coming-of-age tale dancing the line between right and wrong, between chance and choice while Park Avenue sees the always compelling Irish actress Fiona Shaw give an unforgettable performance as a swanky New York mother exploring fraught shared histories and un-shared truths with her daughter over an intense six weeks. To add to the sense of occasion Shaw will be in attendance for this screening.
Other films to add to the wish-list include India Donaldson’s Good One, which was awarded Best Directorial Debut of 2024 by the USA’s National Board of Review, Laura Carreira’s On Falling which won the Sutherland Award for Best First Feature in London and the Silver Shell in San Sebastian. For emerging Irish talent, The Screen Ireland Shorts showcase is a must see, offering a diverse collection of innovative and compelling short films that communicate a fresh perspective on contemporary issues. Screening over two separate days, these strands give the viewer a tantalizing glimpse into the creativity and passion that’s driving Irish cinema and are well worth checking out.
This year’s festival will also pay tribute to the highly acclaimed Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman who travels to Dublin for the Festival. On March 1st, DIFF will host a retrospective on Suleiman at The IFI, where they will screen his 2002 award-winning black comedy Divine Intervention, which contrasts day to-day banality with the reality of the occupation of the Palestinian territories, and his latest film, the 2019 roman-á-clef travel comedy, It Must Be Heaven, depicting himself travelling to Paris and New York to acquire funding for a film concept. You can read our interview with him here.
Finally, my recommendation for this year’s Dublin International Film Festival would be Karan Kandhari’s Sister Midnight. This is the first feature-length from the Indian filmmaker, and deals with the topic of a mismatched arranged marriage in India, where the protagonist, Uma, cannot rise to the expectations of stereotypical, patriarchal roles of “wifely duties.”
What intrigues me about the film is its darkly macabre, borderline-horror execution of the topic. Arranged marriages are already scary for several reasons, like the loss of autonomy, the fear of the unknown, and the expectation of this attachment being shackled to you for the rest of your life. As such, you could tackle it from many directions: A sombre drama about wilting away; a feminist horror á la the recently-released The Woman with the Needle; or (perhaps more reductively) an empowering feel-good flick about overcoming the change. Where this Indian-British-Swedish co-production wins out is that it doesn’t show its cards all at once and will challenge viewers with a twist in expectation and formula.
Words: Aaron Kavanagh
Feature Image is from Aoife Kelleher’s Testimony
Dublin International Film Festival takes place from February 20th to March 5th. To buy tickets and see the full programme for this year’s festival, go to diff.ie.
