The 61st instalment of the festival is set to run from November 11th-20th with over 15,000 people expected to attend screenings in The Everyman, Gate Cinema, Triskel Christchurch and a musical event fLux at St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral.
Seventy feature films and over a hundred short films are included in the programme, featuring home-grown and international talent alike, following over 1,500 submissions.
This year’s line-up sees a strong focus on documentary with over fifty titles including Oscar-nominated Steven Cantor’s ‘Dancer’, which profiles bad-boy ballet star Sergei Polunin and is set to open the festival.
Closing film ‘A United Kingdom’ directed by Amma Asante, sees Prince Seretse Khama of Botswana played by David Oyelowo (Queen of Katwe) come under fire in 1940s London when he marries a white woman Ruth Williams, played by ‘Gone Girl’ star Rosamund Pike.
Thirty-nine Irish shorts are included in the programme, including Vincent Gallagher’s ‘Second to None’, which screened at both Galway Film Fleadh and TIFF this year. Another notable Irish shorts such is ‘Óíche Nollaig na mBean’ which featured in Galway Film Centre’s Shorts Celebration as part of 100 Years of Cinema in May of this year.
Feature title ‘In View’ directed by Ciarán Creagh is also set to screen, as is Liam Gavin’s ‘A Dark Song’, Cork native Billy O’Brien’s ‘I Am Not a Serial Killer’ and Mark O’Connor’s ‘Cardboard Gangsters.’
Brendan J. Byrne’s documentary ‘Bobby Sands: 66 Days’ and ‘Between Land and Sea’ from Ross Whittaker also feature in the line-up of Irish titles this year.
On the international front, ‘Certain Women’ from Kelly Reichardt (Night Moves) screens having achieved the award for Best Film at the recent BFI London Film Festival. Nate Parker’s ‘The Birth of a Nation’ is another leading feature.
Special screenings and events include Mel Stuart’s ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ (1971), marking the Roald Dahl’s 100th birthday, and Mumford and Sons’ new music documentary ‘We Wrote This Yesterday’ hosted by Donal Gallagher.
Lead Actress star Fiona Shaw will attend the ‘Out of Innocence’ screening in Triskel Christchurch, which is directed by Danny Hiller and based on the controversial events in Kerry in the 1980s, which linked the secret birth of a stillborn baby and the brutal murder of another.
Human rights activist Fr. Peter McVerry will take part in a panel discussion with Fiona Dukelow of the School of Applied Social Studies, UCC after a screening of the RTÉ documentary ‘Peter McVerry: The View from the Basement.’
The Cork Film Festival also welcomes the return of Illuminate, a series of film and discussion events, which use film to explore different aspects of mental health. This is presented in association with Arts+Minds and the HSE Cork Mental Health Services.
Winner of the Grand Prix Irish Short, presented by RTÉ Cork, and the winner of the Grand Prix International, will automatically qualify for the Academy Awards longlist.
James Mullighan, Festival Creative Director:
“Films have the ability to entertain, challenge, exhilarate, and surprise, and this year’s Cork Film Festival is encouraging audiences to regard features and documentaries as equally valid films. We are delighted to announce the addition of Doc Day, Ireland’s premier documentary industry event, presented in partnership with the Irish Film Board and Screen Training Ireland on 18 November. This flagship occasion at The River Lee brings together Irish and international industry leaders to explore the landscape in which projects are conceived, developed and distributed.”
“From a special presentation of one of the most widely discussed films of 2016, Nate Parker’s ‘The Birth of a Nation’, to the world premiere of the thoroughly engaging Irish surf documentary ‘Between Land and Sea’, the Festival accurately reflects the fantastic diversity of global, contemporary cinema.”
Fiona Clark, Festival Producer:
“We are hugely grateful to all our funders, sponsors, partners, patrons, friends, and colleagues who have enabled this year’s programme, and who continue to support this significant Festival. It is clear that there is huge respect and love for the Cork Film Festival, and we look forward to welcoming new and returning audiences, from home and abroad, to enjoy what promises to be a wonderfully rich, diverse and entertaining programme here in Cork city.”
View the full programme
Visit Cork Film Festival Online for bookings
