By Erin Reel.
The Dublin International Film Festival (DIFF) announced their lineup for this year which will feature 83 films and 53 short films playing over the city.
The lineup includes a record number of Irish narrative features and documentaries with 26 showings, 17 of those being world premieres.
Irish stars in attendance will include Ciarán Hinds, Aiden Gillen, Éanna Hardwicke and Katie McGrath.
The eleven day festival begins on February 19th with David Gleeson’s ‘‘Once Upon a Time in Cinema’’ opening the festival. The film shot in Limerick follows one evening at a screening of a small town Irish cinema in the 1980s.
The Irish ensemble features Colin Morgan playing the cinema owner, Nimah Cusack, Calam Lynch, Stanley Townsend and India Mullen. Myriad Pictures has now sold the film to multiple international territories.
A Ballymun youth group will also be featured in DIFF. There will be screening of ‘‘two original films created by young filmmakers from Ballmun, offering an honest, energetic and deeply local perspective on community, creativity and place.’’
It will feature a short documentary by the Little Rascals group from the Poppintree Youth Project which ‘‘captures Ballymun through the eyes of its youngest storytellers, from everyday moments to the people and spaces that shape their world.’’
The screening also features an original music video by boys from Poppintree Youth Project which saw ‘‘participants take full creative control from concept and performance to camera work and edit’’. The screening takes place in the Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield at 11am on Saturday the 21st of February.
The festival closes on March 1st with the world premiere of John Carney’s ‘‘Power Ballad’’ at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. The film shot in Ireland has already begun to create excitement around the festival.
From the director of ‘‘Sing Street’’, the musical comedy features actors Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas who will attend the festival. They play two singers forming an unlikely friendship after meeting during a gig.
Executive Festival Director Gráinne Humphreys said, “Ireland is often referred to as a nation of cinema-goers, but we do not always see as much world cinema as we could or should. DIFF exists to support cultural cinema and to create opportunities to experience international art and artists.”
DIFF will take place in multiple locations across Dublin including the Lighthouse Cinema, the Irish Film Institute, the Pavilion Theatre in Dún Laoghaire, the Royal Irish Academy of Music and The Substation at Dublin Port.
Image Credits: DIFF