As the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival draws to a close, we’re taking a moment to acknowledge the range of Irish talent and Irish-backed productions representing the country in style. Here are the films to have on your radar…
The most prestigious film festival of them all, Cannes kicked off on May 12, running until May 23 for its 79th edition. With Limerick’s very own Ruth Negga serving on the main competition jury alongside the likes of Demi Moore, Stellan Skarsgård, and Chloé Zhao, Ireland is well represented on this world stage of cinema.
In 2024, a grand total of six Irish productions made it into the festival, while this year just one Irish film made it through. That’s not to say that Irish talent was not present in abundance: between The Cannes Great 8 online showcase and actors, producers, screenwriters and filmmakers making appearances here and there, it remains a very fruitful time for Irish film.
These are the Irish-led and Irish-backed films to have on your radar.
Tin Castle
Alexander Murphy’s documentary Tin Castle is the only Irish film that made the selection. Telling the story of the O’Reilly Traveller family, the film premiered in the Critics Week strand, the very same strand that Paul Mescal launched Aftersun just three years prior.
Along a long-forgotten road, the O’Reillys live in a rundown trailer stranded in the middle of the fields. Pa’, Lisa, and their ten children weather the seasons in their tin castle, heirs to a way of life on borrowed time. Under threat of eviction, their tenuous balance falters, yet – steadfast in their tradition – they resist. The children laugh, the dogs bark, the trailer holds on – but for how long?
Tin Castle is an Irish-French co-production, produced by Cosme Bongrain of Goodseed Productions and by David Collins and Eamon Hughes of Irish production company Samson Films.
I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning
Based on Keiran Goddard’s novel of the same name, I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning was adapted for screen by Irish playwright and screenwriter Enda Walsh (Disco Pigs) and is directed by Yorkshire-born Clio Barnard. The Birmingham-set film stars a triad of Irish acting icons: Anthony Boyle, Lola Petticrew and Daryl McCormack.
Winning People’s Choice at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, the film follows a group of childhood friends on the cusp of their 30th birthdays as they’re forced to confront a life where their hopes and dreams haven’t materialised. If reviews from the festival are anything to go by, we’re in for a treat with this one.
Butterfly Jam
Premiering at Directors’ Fortnight, Kantemir Balagov’s Butterfly Jam stars Barry Keoghan and Riley Keough in this study of life around a Circassian diner in New Jersey. The cast also includes Talha Akdogan, Harry Melling, Tommy McInnis and Monica Bellucci.
16 years old Pyteh splits his time between the wrestling mat and his family’s struggling Circassian diner in Newark. A single impulsive decision by his hustling father changes the course of his life, shaping a tale of pride, legacy, and masculinity.
Hope
NA Hong-Jin’s highly anticipated and ambitious sci-fi thriller Hope stars Irish actor Michael Fassbender, and had its world premiere at Cannes, and reportedly received a seven-minute standing ovation. Following the aftermath of an alien vessel from the planet Gh’ertu crashing into the rural South Korean town of Hope Harbor, chaos erupts as extraterrestrial beings come into conflict with the townspeople. Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander and Taylor Russell portray members of Gh’ertu’s royal family. The film also features Squid Game breakout star Hoyeon as the tenacious officer Sung-ae.
The Story of Documentary Film: 1970s
Irish filmmaker Mark Cousins presented his latest feature documentary, The Story of Documentary Film: 1970s, in the Cannes Classics lineup, focussing on documentary filmmaking in the 1970s, examining key titles alongside lesser-known works from the period. Tracing the evolution of documentary film across time, encompassing landmark works and hidden treasures, while revealing how the form has helped us see and make sense of our world.
Ancestors
Irish filmmaker David Turpin’s new mystery drama Ancestors stars Éanna Hardwicke, Jessica Reynolds, Jack Wolfe, Rupert Everett and Christina Hendricks, and showed at the festival as one of two Irish-based projects selected for The Cannes Great 8 online showcase. Speaking of the film, Turpin says: “Ancestors begins as the mystery of a missing person and becomes a journey into something deeper. It uses the language of dreams to confront the questions with which reason alone cannot help us. I think of it as a séance – reaching across the borders of the past and the next world, calling to the ancestors I could never know in life.”
The synopsis reads: “A love story, a noir mystery and a metaphysical fable, Ancestors follows Beau (Hardwicke) as he searches 1980s London for his missing friend, Tiny (Wolfe). Dream, reality, memory and history entwine, forcing Beau to come face-to-face with truths beyond life and death.”
Daughter of Eden
The second Irish-backed project selected for The Cannes Great 8 online showcase, Daughter of Eden a U.K.-Ireland psychological thriller from writer-director Fateme Ahmadi, produced by Jack Tarling and Pietro Greppi. The cast includes Yasmin Al-Khudhairi, Hiam Abbass, Amir El-Masry and Lindsay Duncan, with international sales handled by Lucky Number.
Set in London, 2006, in the months leading up to Saddam Hussein’s execution, the film follows Nessa, a British Iraqi nurse, encounters an older woman, Maryam, at the hospital and suspects that she is the government informant responsible for her parents’ execution in Iraq years earlier. Nessa infiltrates Maryam’s life as her nurse, aiming to find the truth. To her surprise, Maryam begins to develop a closer bond with her – but Nessa cannot let go of the obsession. Nessa’s search for truth turns into something darker when she finally feels certain that she has the right person; consumed by rage, she begins to punish Maryam, while neglecting her own health, family and career. As the lines between truth and projection blur, Nessa is forced to confront the consequences of what her pain has set in motion.
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