SEASONS
Michael Haneke
Dietrich X Garbo
FESTIVALS
Queer Spectrum Film Festival 2025
IFI@HOME
Riefenstahl Sister Midnight
JUNE AT THE IFI
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CONTENTS
SCAN THE QR CODE TO VIEW OUR PROGRAMME ONLINE!
IFI SEASONS PAGE 4
IFI FESTIVALS PAGE 13
IFI SPECIAL EVENTS PAGE 16
IFI NEW RELEASES, DOCS & CLASSICS PAGE 22 IFI@HOME PAGE 27
ADMISSION PRICES* Standard Price (Concession Price)
Preview Screening Pricing: Non-Member: €16.00 (€14.00) / IFI Member: €14.00 (€12.50)
*regular IFI screenings, excluding special events ** plus €1.50 Daily Membership Fee
17.00 –
Child and Family ticket prices are available for titles with G, PG, 12A and 15A IFCO classification. These prices are separate to the special prices available for IFI Family screenings.
Open Captioned - see pg. 3 for programmed screenings.
Audio Described screenings available on selected titles, ask at Box Office for details.
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The exclusivity of films is correct at the time of print. All films exclusive to the IFI are kindly supported by the Arts Council.
Child Ticket Prices Family Ticket Prices (1 Adult, 3 Kids/2 Adults, 2 Kids)
KEY DATES AT A GLANCE
SUN 1ST
OC SCREENING: THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND C 13.00
DIETRICH X GARBO: THE JOYLESS STREET C 15.15
WED 4TH
DIETRICH X GARBO: THE BLUE ANGEL C 18.20
OC SCREENING: THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND C 18.30
THUR 5TH
IFI & NCAD: WHITEFACE + Q&A C 18.30 FRI 6TH
OPENING IN CINEMA: THE ENCAMPMENTS C
OPENING IN CINEMA: THE PIANO TEACHER RE-RELEASE &
SUBTITLED SCREENING: THE ENCAMPMENTS C 14.00
SAT 7TH
DIETRICH X GARBO: ANNA CHRISTIE C 13.30
MICHAEL HANEKE: BENNY’S VIDEO & 18.00
SUN 8TH
DIETRICH X GARBO: MOROCCO C 15.20
MICHAEL HANEKE: FUNNY GAMES & 17.30
TUES 10TH
IFI CINEMA CLUB: THE ENCAMPMENTS + POST-SCREENING DISCUSSION C 18.30
WED 11TH
SUBTITLED SCREENING: THE ENCAMPMENTS C 18.00
IFI KINOPOLIS: SCARBORN (KOS) C 20.15
THUR 12TH
DIETRICH X GARBO: GRAND HOTEL C 18.20 FRI 13TH
OPENING IN CINEMA: CAL RE-RELEASE C OPENING IN CINEMA: LOLLIPOP C
OPENING IN CINEMA: TORNADO C
OC SCREENING: TORNADO C 13.50
QSFF 2025: OPENING FILM: NEIRUD + SHORT FILM C 18.30 SAT 14TH
QSFF 2025: SHORTS 1: RESILIENT JOY
QSFF 2025: SHORTS 2: BEYOND THE KNOWN
QSFF 2025: SHORTS 3: BORN ANEW
QSFF: CLOSING FILM: CACTUS PEARS + SHORT
15TH
TUES 17TH
16TH
X
20TH
OPENING IN CINEMA: 28 YEARS LATER
OPENING IN CINEMA: HIDDEN RE-RELEASE & SAT 21ST
X GARBO: ANGEL
23RD
TUES 24TH
IFI & GAZE: HOT MILK PREVIEW & FESTIVAL PROGRAMME LAUNCH
WED 25TH
THUR 26TH
X GARBO: DESTRY RIDES AGAIN
FRI 27TH
OPENING IN CINEMA: FROM
IFI SEASONS PRESENTS
DIETRICH X GARBO
Although their relationship did not have the vitriol of that of Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, a certain froideur seems to have existed between Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo, despite, or perhaps because of, the numerous similarities in their lives and careers. Following early success in European silent cinema, each was lured to Hollywood, the German Dietrich to Paramount while the Swedish Garbo signed with MGM.
Although the studios may initially have planned to set the two up as rivals for audiences’ affections, instead they became icons, two of the most influential and imitated performers not just in classical Hollywood, but in the history of cinema, responsible for indelible imagery and enduring quotes. In some ways, their appeal and personae mirrored each other: while Dietrich openly defied gender norms and did not suppress her sexuality, Garbo retained a mystique that fuelled her allure; and while Garbo loathed the trappings of stardom and constantly strove to maintain her privacy, the outspoken and political Dietrich used her fame to entertain the troops during WWII.
As their fortunes waxed and waned, Garbo stepped off the publicity treadmill while Dietrich found other avenues for her talents. Throughout their careers, and despite having so much in common, it was not unknown for the two to throw subtle barbs at each other and each always claimed, somewhat dubiously, to never have even met. Regardless, the two will remain inextricably linked as two of cinema’s most glamorous and era-defining stars with an enduring legacy both on- and off-screen.
Season notes by Kevin Coyne.
Supported by the Goethe-Institut Irland
THE JOYLESS STREET
(DIE FREUDLOSE GASSE)
THE BLUE ANGEL
(DER BLAUE ENGEL)
ANNA CHRISTIE
G.W. PABST CLARENCE BROWN
JOSEF VON STERNBERG
In impoverished Vienna, following the First World War, Marie (Asta Nielsen) and Grete (Greta Garbo) struggle to survive, forced to use their bodies as barter simply to find food. Pabst’s film marked the beginning of the ‘New Objectivity’ movement, a change from the expressionist mode prevalent in German cinema to one more grounded in the reality of post-war society. It gave Garbo’s nascent career a huge boost, and she credited Nielsen as her acting mentor. For decades, it was claimed, even by Marlene Dietrich herself, that she also appeared in the film, in excised scenes, though the footage remains lost. 108
Germany’s first feature-length sound production, with versions in German and English filmed simultaneously, The Blue Angel was Marlene Dietrich’s international breakthrough, and the role that defined her cinematic persona. She is Lola Lola, headliner at the Blue Angel cabaret in Weimar Germany. Local schoolteacher Immanuel (Emil Jannings) becomes infatuated with her, while she is impressed by his dignity and chivalry. However, his involvement with her ultimately brings about his ruin. Dietrich’s unforgettable, iconic portrayal of Lola cemented her in public consciousness as the femme fatale, alluring yet distant, irresistible to the men she dominates, and a figure of dangerous glamour.
“Garbo Talks! ”, the marketing for Anna Christie breathlessly proclaimed, following her rise to stardom over the previous few years in silent films. Like Dietrich, Garbo had concerns over her accent, and held out as long as possible before it became clear that talkies were not just a fad. In the end, her fears were for nothing, as the film was one of the year’s highest grossing, and her performance received an Oscar nomination. In the titular role, she is a young woman with a troubled past who seeks to reconcile with her seaman father and bring stability to her life.
MOROCCO BLONDE VENUS
JOSEF VON STERNBERG
SUN 8TH (15.20)
The role for which Dietrich received her sole Oscar nomination, Morocco was the first of six American collaborations with director Josef von Sternberg, who came with her from Europe following The Blue Angel. The film that launched her in America sees her as Amy, another nightclub headliner, who falls for a French Legionnaire (Gary Cooper). Their affair is complicated by suitor Adolphe Menjou’s pursuit of her, and his clandestine relationship with the wife of his commanding officer. The film famously features the androgynous Dietrich subverting sexual roles by performing in a tuxedo, and, shockingly, kissing a woman on the lips.
GRAND HOTEL
EDMUND GOULDING
THUR 12TH (18.20)
1931 saw the rivalry between the two become more overt with the release of Garbo’s Mata Hari and Dietrich’s Dishonored, in which each played a glamorous international spy, both to great success. But while Dietrich subsequently forged ahead with her career, Garbo became more selective. Here, as part of an ensemble that includes Lionel Barrymore, Joan Crawford, and Wallace Beery, she is Grusinskaya, a ballerina whose star is falling, who meets and falls in love with the roguish Count von Gaigern (John Barrymore). The film features Garbo’s delivery of one of cinema’s most iconic lines: “I want to be alone.”
JOSEF VON STERNBERG
SUN 15TH (15.20)
Based on a short story Dietrich herself had written, and featuring an early performance by Cary Grant, the pre-Code Blonde Venus sees the actress once again return to the cabaret stage, but with motivations a world away from those of Lola Lola. Helen (Dietrich) is married to chemist Ned (Herbert Marshall), who is suffering from radium poisoning. To raise money for his treatment, Helen takes to the stage, shining even when performing in a gorilla suit, where she is noticed by wealthy politician Nick (Grant), with whom she begins an affair even as he promises to pay Ned’s medical bills.
CAMILLE QUEEN CHRISTINA ANGEL
ROUBEN MAMOULIAN
GEORGE CUKOR
ERNST LUBITSCH
TUES 17TH (18.30) SUN 22ND (15.10)
As a condition of renewing her contract with MGM, and having immense leverage in negotiations, Garbo, the Swedish actress, stipulated that she star as Christina, the seventeenth-century Swedish queen, in this lavish production. Coming to power during the Thirty Years’ War, the monarch is depicted as a selfless ruler for whom romance is never a consideration until she meets an envoy from the Spanish King. Curiously, censors quite vocally objected to scenes in which Garbo dressed as a man and kissed a woman, a very different reaction to Dietrich’s similar, headlinegrabbing activities in Morocco, of which this was surely an imitation.
SAT 21ST (15.10)
One of the legendary Irving Thalberg’s final productions, Camille saw Garbo take the role of Marguerite, a courtesan in nineteenth-century Paris. Although she enjoys assignations with the wealthy Baron de Varville (Henry Daniell), she is drawn to the poorer Armand (Robert Taylor), whose love for her, unlike that of the Baron, is genuine. However, suffering from consumption and a chequered past, Marguerite’s chance for happiness with Armand seems slim. One of Garbo’s most well-received performances, it saw her receive her third Oscar nomination for Best Actress, and Camille was listed in 2005 as one of Time magazine’s 100 all-time best films.
German-born director Ernst Lubitsch brought his famous touch to this tale of a love triangle involving the neglected Maria (Dietrich), her husband Frederick (Herbert Marshall), a high-ranking British diplomat, and Anthony (Melvyn Douglas), the man with whom she has a brief Parisian tryst and who only knows her by the sobriquet ‘Angel’. With the two men separated by the English Channel, Maria believes her secret safe until Anthony not only turns up in England, but in her home as a result of his previous acquaintance with her husband, forcing her to choose between the two in this elegant romantic drama.
NINOTCHKA DESTRY RIDES AGAIN JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBERG
GEORGE MARSHALL STANLEY KRAMER
(18.30)
In 1938, Harry Brandt, president of the Independent Theatre Owners Association, took out an ad in The Hollywood Reporter complaining about Hollywood’s continued employment of performers who were not a draw (‘box office poison’ was the phrase he invented to describe these stars): among those named were both Dietrich and Garbo. Although Garbo had already begun her withdrawal from the industry, Dietrich was still very much a working actress, and forced to accept her lower status. Here, she stars with James Stewart in a great Western as Frenchy, a cabaret girl (again) and inspiration for Blazing Saddles’ Lili von Shtupp.
ERNST LUBITSCH
Garbo, on the other hand, seemed to take the news as further motivation to walk away from Hollywood and those trappings of stardom with which she had never been even a little comfortable. Still, here, in Lubitsch’s hands, she is luminous, and received another Oscar nomination for her work. Ironically, Ninotchka, a sparkling romantic comedy in which, audiences were promised, “Garbo laughs!”, was a critical and commercial success that marked something of a comeback. However, the negative reviews she received for her subsequent film (Two-Faced Woman, George Cukor, 1941) seems to have hardened her resolve: it was her final role.
Following the Second World War, Dietrich’s focus turned to her career as a magnificently well-paid cabaret artiste, although she made occasional appearances for the likes of Alfred Hitchcock (Stage Fright , 1950) and Orson Welles (Touch Of Evil, 1958). In this, her last significant role and one that obviously had personal resonance, she proved unafraid to step out of the limelight as part of a sterling ensemble cast including Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift, and William Shatner. A fictionalised recounting of 1947’s Judges’ Trial at Nuremberg, this clear-eyed and complex film made for a memorable end to Dietrich’s film career.
COMPLICIT: THE FILMS OF MICHAEL HANEKE
Few contemporary filmmakers have interrogated modern life with the unflinching precision, moral clarity, and formal rigour of Michael Haneke. Known for his stark visual style, chilling precision, and provocative storytelling, the Austrian director holds a mirror to the darker corners of modern society. The films in this season challenge the viewer to engage with Haneke’s cinematic world, a stark, sometimes brutal, yet intellectually rich landscape where emotional comfort is rare, and easy answers are refused.
Although often described as cold, Haneke’s work betrays a deep concern for the state of human relationships, for the erosion of empathy in the face of media saturation, social conformity, and historical amnesia. His cinema resists traditional narrative satisfaction and instead implicates the audience in the moral dilemmas of his characters, often forcing us to question our complicity as spectators.
From his early German-language works like Benny’s Video (1992), which explore
the numbing effects of consumerism and media violence, to his internationally acclaimed masterpieces such as Funny Games (1997), Hidden (2005), and The White Ribbon (2009), Haneke has relentlessly exposed the fragility of the veneer of civilisation. He narrowed his focus in Amour (2012), offering a devastating, yet tender portrait of love and decline in old age, earning him the Palme d’Or for the second time, and his only Academy Award (for Best Foreign Language Film).
Whether you’re encountering Haneke’s work for the first time or revisiting it anew, expect to be unsettled. That’s precisely the point.
Season Notes by David O’Mahony Coming to IFI@Home this July!
See pg. 22 and pg. 25 for further information on the re-release of Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher and Hidden.
BENNY’S VIDEO FUNNY GAMES
CINEMAS: SAT 7TH (18.00)
IFI@HOME: COMING THIS JULY!
Benny (Arno Frisch), a teenager from a comfortable Viennese family, is obsessed with video cameras and violent imagery. He spends much of his time alone in his room, recording and watching disturbing videos. Benny’s detachment from reality deepens when he invites a girl to his home and kills her without emotion or provocation, recording the murder on video. When his parents discover what he has done, they don’t go to the police. Instead, they embark on a chilling plan to cover up the crime, even taking Benny on a trip to Egypt to maintain appearances. Haneke uses static shots, surveillance-style framing, and long takes to force the audience into the role of a passive observer, mirroring Benny’s own dispassionate consumption of violence.
CINEMAS: SUN 8TH (17.30) IFI@HOME: COMING THIS JULY!
A middle-class family arrive at their lake house for a vacation, but before long, two eerily polite young men, Peter and Paul, appear on their doorstep. What begins as an awkward interaction soon spirals into a home invasion when the boys take the family hostage and announce they’re going to play a series of games with them. The intruders subject their victims to arbitrary rules, sadistic manipulation, and psychological torture, all while maintaining an unnervingly casual demeanour. Occasionally breaking the fourth wall, Haneke’s film actively implicates the audience in the (never graphic) onscreen violence, forcing viewers to confront their preconceptions about how cinema works. The results make for a shocking but entirely serious and responsible treatment of a difficult subject.
CODE UNKNOWN TIME OF THE WOLF
(CODE INCONNU) (LE TEMPS DU LOUP)
CINEMAS: SUN 15TH (17.30)
IFI@HOME: COMING THIS JULY!
Ambitious and complex, Code Unknown is a fascinating study of the subtle connections and barriers between people and the difficulty of communicating in the modern world. Composed almost entirely of brilliantly shot, single-take vignettes focusing on characters linked to one seemingly minor incident on a Paris street –a youth scornfully tosses a crumpled paper bag into the outstretched hands of a Romanian beggar – Haneke’s film, with an outstanding international cast headlined by Juliette Binoche, is a revelatory examination of racial inequality and the failure of communication between individuals, cultures, and social classes in an increasingly diverse modern landscape.
CINEMAS: SAT 21ST (17.30)
IFI@HOME: COMING THIS JULY!
Anne (Isabelle Huppert) has travelled with her husband Georges and their children to their country home, seeking refuge from an unspecified catastrophe. When they arrive, they find the house already occupied by menacing strangers. Following a violent incident, Anne and her children are forced to wander through a desolate and lawless landscape. They encounter other survivors gathered at a deserted station, waiting for a train that may never come. Haneke offers no clear explanation of the catastrophe, focusing instead on how people behave in a world stripped of structure, revealing the limits of compassion, the persistence of hierarchy, and the existential isolation of human beings.
AMOUR THE WHITE RIBBON HAPPY END
(DAS WEI E BAND)
CINEMAS: SUN 22ND (17.15)
IFI@HOME: COMING THIS JULY!
An ageing schoolteacher recounts the disturbing events that took place in the rural Protestant community of his youth; a doctor is injured in a tripwire accident, a farmer’s wife dies in a sawmill mishap, a boy is tied up and beaten in the woods. The villagers, bound by rigid social structures and moral absolutism, struggle to explain the growing violence. Suspicion begins to fall on the town's children, who wear white ribbons as symbols of purity and obedience and have been raised in an atmosphere of strict discipline. A deserving winner of the Palme D’or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, Haneke’s characteristically austere drama can be read as an allegory for the origins of Nazism.
144 mins, France-Austria-Germany, 2009, Digital, Subtitled
CINEMAS: SAT 28TH (17.30)
IFI@HOME: COMING THIS JULY!
Retired music teachers Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) live in quiet domesticity in their Paris flat. One day, Anne suffers a stroke that leaves her partially paralysed. Georges, devoted and stoic, becomes her primary caregiver.
As Anne’s health deteriorates after a second stroke, her physical and mental decline deepens, leading to moments of pain, frustration, and despair. For a filmmaker who’s used shock tactics in the past, what’s startling here is the simplicity of Haneke’s approach, tracing Trintignant’s brave response to his wife’s illness by confronting the unsparing daily realities of being a caregiver. The director won his second Palme D’or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival for this profoundly moving portrait of love, ageing, and mortality.
127 mins, France-Austria-Germany, 2012, Digital, Subtitled
CINEMAS: SUN 29TH (17.30)
IFI@HOME: COMING THIS JULY!
Ageing Calais construction magnate Georges Laurent (Jean-Louis Trintignant) has passed the reins of the family business to daughter Anne (Isabelle Huppert). However, a series of increasingly sinister events conspire to unravel the wealthy clan’s cosseted existence.
A coolly observed study of familial dysfunction, Haneke’s follow-up to Amour has all the stylistic traits we have come to expect: the cut-glass precision, scenes shot to resemble static surveillance footage, and significant action taking place in the margins of long shots. Thematically, the film revisits Haneke’s concerns with bourgeois complacency and guilt, racial prejudice, and our changing relationship to technology. Moments of comedy introduce a surprising and welcome new element to the director’s formula.
107 mins, France-Austria-Germany, 2017, Digital, Subtitled
IFI FESTIVALS PRESENTS
June 13th and 14th
Welcome to the second edition of the Queer Spectrum Film Festival — a celebration of queer stories in motion. As Ireland’s first film festival dedicated to LGBTQIA+ people of colour and immigrant voices, QSFF highlights powerful narratives shaped by migration, nostalgia, and transformation.
This year, as we commemorate the 10th anniversary of Ireland’s marriage referendum, we reflect on its significance in inspiring queer migrants from the Global South and East to come to Ireland. At QSFF, we go beyond coming-out stories to embrace tales of transition — across borders, identities, and generations.
Organised by Queer Asian Pride Ireland (QAPI) and supported by Outhouse LGBTQ+ Centre, Dublin LGBTQ+ Pride, and Maharani Gin, this festival honours those who carry echoes of home within them and find courage in new beginnings.
These stories breathe, bleed, and blossom — alive with the richness of becoming.
Festival team:
Founder, director and programmerPradeep Mahadeshwar
Co-founder, manager and programmerLee Isac
QSFF 2025 OPENING FILM
NEIRUD
QSFF 2025 CLOSING FILM
CACTUS PEARS
FRI 13TH (18.30)
Brazilian wrestler Neirud died shrouded in mystery, leaving behind no trace of her past. Confronting family secrets, the filmmaker pieces together the life of her enigmatic aunt, who toured Brazil as a wrestler in an underground all-female circus troupe throughout the '60s and '80s. As she investigates Neirud’s controversial ring persona, Gorilla Woman, the filmmaker uncovers a fascinating story about race, identity, and queer life.
PRE-FEATURE SHORT:
Moved. Dir. Sarah Griffin. 13 mins, Ireland, 2025, Digital
Nine LGBTQIA+ asylum seekers from around the world gather at a Dublin community centre to share their journeys — from fleeing persecution to building new lives and dreaming of safer futures.
SAT 14TH (20.20)
Anand, a 30-something city dweller compelled to spend a 10-day mourning period for his father in the rugged countryside of western India, tenderly bonds with a local farmer who is struggling to stay unmarried. As the mourning ends, forcing his return, Anand must decide the fate of his relationship born under duress.
PRE-FEATURE SHORT:
Shame ( ). Dir. Hadi Moussally. 4 mins, Lebanon, 2024, Digital, Subtitled
In 19th-century Levant, Salma Zahore posed with family and neighbors for a long-exposure photograph. At the end, she removed her coat, unaware her simple gesture would spark scandal and shame ( ) in her community.
72 mins, Brazil, 2023, Digital, Subtitled
110 mins, India, 2025, Digital, Subtitled
FERNANDA FAYA
ROHAN KANAWADE
(SABAR BONDA)
QSFF 2025 SHORT FILM PROGRAMMES
RESILIENT JOY BORN ANEW
SAT 14TH (13.00)
These seven films chart intimate journeys across borders of place, body, and memory. Blending myth, migration, and resilience, they celebrate queer lives in motion — the courage to transform, to remember, and to imagine new worlds beyond the familiar.
PROGRAMME INCLUDES:
Velipādu: The Revelation. Dir. Jijo Jessy Kuriakose
I’m dyed in my Master’s Colours Dir. Samir Mahmood
Son. Dir. Sama Hosseinpuor
Dipped in Black (Marungka Tjalatjunu). Dir. Matthew Thorne, Derik Lynch
Journey. Dir. Luis Noguera
Not Just Another Pageant. Dir. Larry Tung
The Enchanted Land (An talamh faoi gheasa). Dir. Pradeep Mahadeshwar
Running time: approx. 120 mins
BEYOND THE UNKNOWN
SAT 14TH (15.30)
From basketball courts to coastal villages, these six films explore queer joy, strength, and unexpected tenderness. Through stories of love, survival, and reunion, they capture the quiet revolutions of becoming — even in the face of violence, loss, and distance.
PROGRAMME INCLUDES:
We Clap for Airballs. Dir. Sai Selvarajan
Mermaid. Dir. Estevan de la Fuente
If. Dir. Tathagata Ghosh
Taps. Dir. Louis O. Utieyin
The Bus Driver. Dir. Ku Ki
Mountain Lingers. Dir. Hyeryeong Song
SAT 14TH (17.45)
Across borders and memories, these five films honor rebirth through love and showcase the quiet fight for acceptance. From Kerala to Paris, Dublin to New York, they weave tender stories of becoming, remembrance, and the fierce beauty of living truthfully.
PROGRAMME INCLUDES:
I am a woman. Dir. Pradeep Mahadeshwar
Everybody’s Gotta Love
Sometimes. Dir. Sein Lyan Tun Night Queen. Dir. Naireeta
Dasgupta
Atmospheric Arrivals. Dir. Ayo Tsalithaba
Because of You: A History of Kilawin Kolektibo. Dir. Barbara Malaran, Desireena Almoradie
Running time: approx. 92 mins
Running time: approx. 96 mins
ARCHIVE AT LUNCHTIME IFI & NCAD
MASS APPEAL
Join us for FREE daily lunchtime screenings of films from the IFI Irish Film Archive. Simply collect your tickets online (with a small booking fee) or at IFI Box Office.
PROGRAMME ONE
A CHURCH IS BUILT
This film shows the construction of The Church of the Redeemer in Dundalk, designed by architect Frank Corr, from the discussion of the first plans to the blessing of the finished building. With contributions from religious artists Ray Carroll, Imogen Stuart, and Oisín Kelly.
Dir. Radharc. 27 mins, Ireland, 1969, Digital
PROGRAMME TWO
CHURCHES FOR OUR CHILDREN
Documenting the vigorous wave of Catholic Church building in Ireland in the ‘60s and ‘70s, this film shows Church authorities faced with the problem of finding ten million pounds over ten years to build churches and schools in new suburban parishes including Raheny, Blanchardstown, and Darndale.
Dir. Radharc. 26 mins, Ireland, 1974, Digital
See also Irish Focus: Making Dust on pg. 19
Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn
WHITEFACE
CANDICE BREITZ
THUR 5TH (18.30)
Based on found footage and featuring Candice Breitz in the guise of a series of white avatars, Whiteface observes the rising anxiety of white people as calls to dismantle white supremacy intensify across the globe. Whiteface is a portrait of whiteness in a state of panic. Breitz’s deliberately theatrical performance draws attention to the constructed nature of whiteness and other racial categories. Her bleached presence and deadened eyes locate the fictions that naturalise and perpetuate white supremacy squarely within the genre of horror. At the core of the piece is a study of the English language, a language stained with racist notions that can be traced back to the violent underpinnings of British Empire.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Candice Breitz.
94 mins, Ireland, 2015, Digital
IFI KINOPOLIS
SCARBORN
(KOS)
PAWEŁ MAŚLONA
WED 11TH (20.15)
Winner of the top prize at the Gdynia Film Festival, Scarborn stars three of Polish cinema’s most established stars, Robert Więckiewicz, Jacek Braciak, and Agnieszka Grochowska. Set in 1794, the film takes a Tarantino-inspired approach to the story of Polish war hero Tadeusz Kościuszko, who encourages his countrymen to stand up to Russian invaders. This screening is supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Dublin and co-produced by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the international cultural programme of the Polish Presidency of the EU Council.
FROM THE VAULTS: IFI & BLOOMSDAY
A VOLTA CINÉ CONCERT
MON 16TH (18.30)
While it is now well known that James Joyce managed Ireland’s first dedicated cinema, the Volta Cinematograph, which opened in Dublin’s Mary Street in 1908, very little is generally known about the films that screened there and what influence early cinema might have had on Joyce’s art. We are delighted to present here seven short films that have been identified as Volta material, and preserved by the British Film Institute. The programme, featuring comedies, religious and historical dramas and news films from 1909, includes Une Pouponnière à Paris; A Glass of Goat’s Milk ; The Way of the Cross, and Pêche aux Crocodiles.
The programme will be introduced by Joycean scholar Dr Keith Williams (University of Dundee) and early cinema historian Dr Denis Condon (Maynooth University), with live piano accompaniment by Morgan Cooke.
THE SAID AND THE UNSAID
TUES 17TH (18.30)
This eclectic programme of work shifts from an act of deliberate and playful obfuscation (Stephanie Barber’s 3 Peonies) to a process of attempted rediscovery as Jonathan O’Grady attempts to navigate a largely inaccessible heritage site (In Search of the Forenaughts Longstone). Elsewhere, Maryam Tafakory’s video essay is an uncovering of media artefacts that speak to both deliberate and discrete forms of articulation in the face of censorship (Nazarbazi ) while Frank Sweeney creates a compelling docudrama out of events surrounding the broadcasting ban (Few Can See). Collectively these works describe a variety of creative means of expression borne out of the necessity to speak, however indirectly.
aemi is delighted to welcome filmmakers Frank Sweeney and Jonathan O’Grady to take part in a Q&A after the screening.
aemi is an Arts Council-funded organisation dedicated to the support and development of artist film in Ireland. For more details visit www.aemi.ie
120 mins, Poland-Sweden-Germany, 2023, Digital, Subtitled
Running time: approx. 70 mins
Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn
Total runnning time: 76 mins approx
THE BIGGER PICTURE
BIG NIGHT
CAMPBELL SCOTT & STANLEY TUCCI
WED 18TH (18.30)
Chosen by food writer and blogger Sian Conway, in association with Film in Dublin, this memorable celebration of Italian food was the directorial debut of everyone’s favourite Italian chef, writer, and actor Stanley Tucci. Co-directing with Campbell Scott, it’s the story of two brothers who emigrate from Italy to the US and decide to open an Italian restaurant. Combining their skills in cheffing and front of house charm, the two do everything to keep the place afloat, including bringing in celebrated jazz musician Louis Prima.
Sian Conway will introduce the film and talk about its inspiration for her own food writing.
Before or after the show, sample an Italian food feast in IFI Café Bar. See our Meal + Ticket deal below!
107 mins, USA, 1996,
Digital Notes by Alicia McGivern
MAKING DUST
FIONA HALLINAN
MON 23RD (18.30)
Making Dust is a powerful portrait of the demolition in 2021 of the Church of the Annunciation in Finglas, once the second-largest Catholic Church in Ireland. The film is structured around a fascinating and deeply insightful essay by architectural historian Ellen Rowley which considers some of the ways in which the building has both influenced and been influenced by the community it was built to serve. Featuring oral interviews with Finglas locals recorded at the site and in a nearby hairdresser's, the film reflects on the life cycles of buildings and materials to offer a profound reckoning with an epoch of Irish history that is only now just beginning to come into focus.
Followed by a conversation, moderated by Emmett Scanlon (Director, Irish Architecture Foundation), with Fiona Hallinan, Ellen Rowley, and poet Paula Meehan who came of age in Finglas.
45 mins, Ireland, 2023, Digital Notes by
HOT MILK
GAZE PROGRAMME LAUNCH & PREVIEW
REBECCA LENKIEWICZ
TUES 24TH (18.20)
GAZE International LGBTQIA Film Festival and the Irish Film Institute will celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Marriage Referendum, with thanks to LGBT Ireland, with a very special event including: the launch of the film festival’s 2025 programme, a preview screening of Hot Milkan evocative adaption of the Deborah Levy novel starring Emma Mackay, Vicky Krieps, and Irish icon Fiona Shaw, an archive screening of short film Making History (bring your tissues!), which documents the momentous day of the referendum, and a first look at this year's line-up.
92 mins, UK, 2025, Digital Free-list suspended
Sunniva O’Flynn
& GAZE IRISH FOCUS
WILD STRAWBERRIES
IFI FAMILY MYSTERY MATINEE
FANTASTIC MR FOX MYSTERY MATINEE THE FRIEND
SCOTT MCGEHEE & DAVID SIEGEL
WED 25TH & FRI 27TH (11.00)
It is a truth universally acknowledged that, post-pandemic, our canine friends have an ever greater presence in our day-to-day worlds. So too in this film, adapted from a book by Sigrid Nunez, where a writer takes on the Great Dane of her late friend, mentor, and lover. Where films such as Marley & Me announce the heart-string-pulling early on, the terrific dog performance, combined with Naomi Watts’s very convincing writer with creative struggles, achieve ultimately something more subtle. Together they deal with the past and the impact of their late companion on their lives.
Wild Strawberries is our monthly film club for the over 55s. Tickets are just €5.50 for IFI Members and €6.00 for non-members, and include a free tea or coffee.
The screening on Wednesday 25th will be Open Captioned.
WES ANDERSON
SUN 29TH (11.00)
Filmmaker and quirk-meister extraordinaire Wes Anderson continues to entertain and beguile with new work, not least in current hit The Phoenician Scheme. With this earlier, enchanting animation starring the wily fox, adapted from Roald Dahl’s book, Anderson brought together meticulous design and stop motion, with the star-studded voices of Clooney, Streep, Murray, and others, to create an almost tactile, dog eared, fabulous farm world and setting for the fox to save his gang. Funny, adventurous, heart-warming too, Mr Fox is truly fantastic on the big screen.
After the screening, join us in the IFI foyer for some free play and foxy crafts.
???
SUN 29TH (13.00)
Join us for this month’s screening at 13.00 on Sunday, June 29th. The film chosen could be anything from throughout the history of cinema, from a silent classic to a preview of a hotly anticipated upcoming release.
Whether it’s a title that one might expect to see at the IFI, or a film more at home in the multiplexes, the secret, closely guarded even from IFI staff, will be kept until the title appears onscreen. Expect the unexpected and take a chance, with tickets costing just €6.50 for IFI Members, and €7.00 for non-members.
A full list of previous screenings is available from www.ifi.ie/mysterymatinee-archive
119 mins, USA, 2024, Digital
87 mins, USA,
Notes by Alicia McGivern
2009, Digital Notes by Alicia McGivern
IFI SPOTLIGHT 2025: RECLAIMING THE FRAME KWAIDAN
MASAKI KOBAYASHI
MON 30TH (10.30 - 13.00)
IFI Spotlight reopens discussion on the development of a film and television culture that is inclusive, diverse, and accessible.
Keynote Address: Melanie Iredale, film curator, cine-activist, and Director of Reclaim The Frame - a charity (formerly known as Birds’ Eye View). Melanie will discuss the need to champion marginalised gender-led films, to build community for them, to advocate for equity in all film spaces and to create safer spaces within cinema exhibition.
Panel: Melanie will join Dr Susan Liddy (Women in Film and Television, Catalyst Film Festival), David O’Mahony (IFI Head of Cinema Programming), Jennifer Davidson (Chair Writers Guild of Ireland), and Kate McColgan (Head of Television, Screen Ireland) to discuss progress in implementation and success of Screen Ireland and other initiatives in achieving gender parity in film and television production and in increasing diversity in production and exhibition.
Panel Moderator: Roe McDermott (Film Editor, Hot Press; Columnist, Irish Times)
TICKETS: €15.00 (includes networking lunch at 1pm)
MON 30TH (19.15)
Irish Greek writer Lafcadio Hearn’s Japanese folk tales are the source of Kobayashi’s extraordinary portmanteau film. A swordsman leaves his first wife for a woman of means in The Black Hair ; two woodcutters take refuge in a witch’s house in The Woman of the Snow; a blind musician meets a grim fate in Hoichi the Earless; and a writer relates an uncanny tale in In a Cup of Tea. The exquisite handpainted sets, luminous photography, lavish costumes, and abstract score combine to achieve the film’s singular atmosphere.
The screening will be introduced by Paul Murray, author of A Fantastic Journey : The Life and Literature of Lafcadio Hearn. Presented in partnership with the OPW whose Kwaidan: Encounters with Lafcadio Hearn exhibition is currently at Farmleigh Gallery.
183 mins, Japan, 1964, Digital, Subtitled Notes by David O’Mahony Notes by Sunniva O'Flynn
IFI CLASSIC
THE ENCAMPMENTS
MICHAEL T WORKMAN & KEI PRITSKER
FROM FRI 6TH
The Encampments chronicles the Columbia University Gaza Solidarity Encampments that began in April 2024. As students faced police raids, media attacks, and political condemnation, their movement spread to universities across the world. Through exclusive footage and intimate interviews, The Encampments captures the passion, resilience, and challenges faced by students who risked everything to demand justice. The documentary includes access to the student organisers at several encampments, and a whistleblower from high-up in the administration of an Ivy League university who reveals the tactics that institutions took to discredit the calls of their own students. Mahmoud Khalil, the US permanent resident who the Trump administration has since moved to deport for his role in the protests despite not being charged with a crime, features prominently. There will be screenings with English subtitles at 14.00 on Friday 6th, and 18.30 on Wednesday 11th.
82 mins, USA, 2025, Digital
THE PIANO TEACHER
(LA PIANISTE)
CINEMAS: FROM FRI 6TH IFI@HOME: COMING THIS JULY!
Erika Khout (Isabelle Huppert) is a teacher at the Vienna Conservatory. Now in her late thirties and living a hermetic, love-hate existence with a tyrannical mother (Annie Giradot), Erika’s sex life has been reduced to voyeurism and masochistic diversions. Educated to be an artist in an atmosphere of the strictest discipline, she can only derive pleasure from suffering and punishment, which she seeks to inflict upon Walter (Benoît Magimel), a student with whom she starts a torrid affair. Haneke’s targets are not only the role pornography plays in modern life but also the terrible repression that can be engendered by a misplaced devotion to unattainable values as represented by classical music. Despite the visceral impact of many of its scenes, the film is ultimately as compassionate as it is intelligent and courageous.
See pg. 9-12 for details on Complicit:
131 mins, France-Austria-Germany, 2001, Digital, Subtitled
Notes by David O’Mahony
Notes by David O’Mahony
MICHAEL HANEKE
The Films of Michael Haneke.
CAL
LOLLIPOP
PAT O’CONNOR
FROM FRI 13TH
In Northern Ireland, 19-year-old Cal (John Lynch) is a driver for an IRA gang who kill an RUC constable. Already ambivalent in his allegiance to the cause, Cal struggles to extricate himself when he falls for Marcella (Helen Mirren), the Catholic wife of the murdered constable. When they become lovers, their relationship pushes Cal’s tenuous IRA loyalties to breaking point as they begin to form bonds that challenge the prevailing sectarian politics. In this faithful adaptation of Bernard McLaverty’s novella, O’Connor has painted a vivid picture of isolation and disenfranchisement of a young Catholic man in a film that argues for the triumph of romance over the brutality of a war that made normal life impossible. Mirren won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance.
DAISY-MAY HUDSON
FROM FRI 13TH
After serving a four-month prison sentence, Molly Brown (Posy Sterling) is eager to reunite with her two young children. However, she discovers that her mother, Sylvie (TerriAnn Cousins), with whom she has a fractious relationship, has placed them into social services. Homeless and unemployed, Molly confronts a bureaucratic system that seems designed to keep her from reclaiming her family; she cannot regain custody without housing, yet securing housing is nearly impossible without custody. A chance encounter with her childhood friend Amina (Idil Ahmed), who faces her own struggles, offers a glimmer of hope. Drawing on personal experience, Daisy-May Hudson brings a raw authenticity to her debut feature, which boasts superb performances from all concerned; simmering with righteous anger, Lollipop is a heartfelt cry for empathy and compassion.
There will be Open Captioned screenings at 18.20 on Tuesday 17th, and 16.10 on Thursday 19th.
100
102 mins, UK-Ireland, 1984, Digital Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn
mins, UK, 2024, Digital Notes by David O’Mahony
TORNADO 28 YEARS LATER
FROM FRI 13TH
Set in the unforgiving landscape of 1790s Britain, John McLean’s enigmatic and stylish film, his first since Slow West in 2015, follows Tornado (Kōki), a young Japanese woman traveling with her father Fujin (Takehiro Hira) as part of a samurai puppet show, performing elaborate tales of honour and tragedy. Their journey takes a perilous turn when they encounter a ruthless gang led by Sugarman (Tim Roth) and his son Little Sugar (Jack Lowden). After witnessing her father's murder and grabbing a stash of gold from the gang's latest robbery, Tornado disappears into the wilderness, setting off a relentless chase across a rugged, windswept land. Alone but armed with her samurai training, she embarks on a quest for survival and revenge, turning the tables on her pursuers in spectacular fashion.
There will be Open Captioned screenings at 13.50 on Friday 13th, and 18.20 on Monday 16th.
FROM FRI 20TH
It has been nearly three decades since the outbreak of the rage virus; Britain is under quarantine, where isolated communities cling to life amidst the ever-present threat of infection. One such group lives on an island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily defended causeway. Among them are Isla (Jodie Comer), her husband, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and their son, Spike. When Isla falls ill, Jamie embarks on a perilous journey with Spike to find a doctor on the mainland. As they navigate this treacherous world, they encounter Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), a survivor with his own secrets, and Sir Jimmy Crystal (Jack O'Connell), a cult leader whose intentions may be more dangerous than the infected. The journey tests their resilience, revealing the depths of human desperation and the enduring hope for salvation.
91 mins, UK, 2025, Digital Notes by David O’Mahony
126 mins, UK-USA, 2025, Digital Notes by David O’Mahony
JOHN MACLEAN DANNY BOYLE
HIDDEN FROM HILDE, WITH LOVE
(IN LIEBE, EURE HILDE)
CINEMAS: FROM FRI 20TH IFI@HOME: COMING THIS JULY!
The bourgeois complacency of a Parisian family is severely tested when surreptitiously recorded videos of their lives begin arriving anonymously to their well-appointed home. Anne (Juliette Binoche) senses Georges (Daniel Auteuil) is concealing something, though he denies knowledge of the provenance of the tapes. As the surveillance grows more sinister, Georges is prompted to reconnect with Majid (Maurice Bénichou), a long-forgotten childhood friend who may, or may not, be the source of the recordings. Gradually, the footage on the tapes becomes more personal, bringing a sense of menace to Georges and his family, but, as no direct threat has been made, the police refuse to help. Michael Haneke’s ambiguous, claustrophobic nightmare fuses Georges’s repressed memories with the guilt and shame of a nation.
See pg. 9-12 for details on Complicit:
FROM FRI 27TH
Berlin, 1942: Hilde (Liv Lisa Fries), a young medical assistant, has fallen in love and married Hans Coppi (Johannes Hegemann). But amid the passion there is grave danger; Hans becomes involved in the Red Orchestra, a group of young anti-Nazi revolutionary freedom fighters. Hilde is a reluctant participant in their clandestine activities, writing leaflets and helping to communicate to Moscow through an illegal radio receiver. The couple spends one joyful summer together before she is arrested by the Gestapo and gives birth to a son in a women’s prison. Director Andreas Dresen shuffles the timelines of Hilde’s extraordinary true story, so we begin with her arrest and incarceration before circling back to her fateful meeting with Hans, resulting in a powerful, perfectly balanced, and deeply moving film.
This film will be preceded by the short film Little Shrew (Dir. Kate Bush, 14 mins).
There will be Open Captioned screenings at 13.00 on Friday 27th, and 20.20 on Monday 30th.
Notes by David O’Mahony
125 mins, Germany, 2024, Digital, Subtitled Notes by David O’Mahony
MICHAEL HANEKE
ANDREAS DRESEN
The Films of Michael Haneke.
RAN 40TH ANNIVERSARY
THE MOON IS UPSIDE DOWN
FROM FRI 27TH
Ran, Akira Kurosawa’s majestic late masterpiece, reimagines Shakespeare’s King Lear as a historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan. At the age of seventy, after years of consolidating his empire, the Great Lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai) decides to abdicate and divide his domain amongst his three sons. Taro (Akira Terao), the eldest, will rule while Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu), his second son, and Saburo (Daisuke Ryu) will take command of the Second and Third Castles but are expected to obey and support their elder brother. Saburo defies the pledge of obedience and is banished. Visually resplendent, Ran is a profound examination of the folly of war, and of a family’s collapse under the weight of betrayal, greed, and an insatiable thirst for power.
LOREN TAYLOR
FROM FRI 27TH
Following stints as writer and actor in work such as Top of the Lake, Jane Campion’s television series, and Taika Waititi’s Eagle vs Shark (2007), Loren Taylor makes her feature directorial debut, winner of Best First Feature at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, with this bittersweet triptych following three women struggling with their New Zealand lives. Russian mail-order bride Natalia (Victoria Haralabidou) finds that her prospective groom (Jemaine Clement) and his sister have not been fully honest with her. Frazzled anaesthetist Briar (Taylor) is sleepwalking through a long-distance relationship with her sister’s ex. Neglected housewife Faith (Elizabeth Hawthorne) finds a woman’s body in one of her husband’s properties, and determines to give her a proper send-off. Laced with that uniquely dry New Zealand sense of humour, there is nevertheless an undercurrent of melancholy to this sharplyobserved and striking debut.
162 mins, Japan-France, 1985, Digital, Subtitled
100 mins, New Zealand, 2023, Digital
Notes by Kevin Coyne
Notes by David O’Mahony
AKIRA KUROSAWA
NEW RELEASE
IFI DOC
NEW RELEASE
NEW RELEASE
MARK O’CONNOR
FROM MON 2ND
On the streets of Dublin, Danny, a homeless man, tries to maintain contact with his young son despite opposition from his child's mother.
RIEFENSTAHL
ANDRES VEIEL
FROM MON 9TH
An extraordinarily clear-eyed documentary acknowledging all sides of German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl's legacy, life, and ties to the Nazi party.
AMONGST THE WOLVES SISTER
MIDNIGHT
KARAN KANDHARI
FROM MON 16TH
A genre-bending comedy about a frustrated newlywed who undergoes a strange transformation.
THE MARCHING BAND
EMMANUEL COURCOL
FROM MON 30TH
A warm, funny, and socially conscious crowd-pleaser about a successful orchestra conductor who discovers new family following a serious diagnosis.
“A GUT-PUNCHING DEBUT… DEVASTING AND HOPEFUL”
LITTLE WHITE LIES
“POWERFUL… AN IMPASSIONED, HUMANE AND URGENTLY PERFORMED DRAMA.” THE GUARDIAN
