By Brian Bowe
The Dublin International Film Festival (DIFF), operating without a title sponsor for the first time since its re-establishment in 2003, came to town last month to the delight of movie fans across the country. From February 23 to March 4, audiences were treated to an array of exciting events, including red carpet premieres, a strong short film and feature film lineup, workshops, and an online programme, so you can enjoy the festival from the comfort of your own home.
Opening this year’s festival was God’s Creatures, directed by Saela Davis and Anna Rose Holmer, written by Shane Crowley, and shot in Donegal. Fans flocked to the Lighthouse Cinema to catch a glimpse of the film’s stars Emily Watson and the ever-present Paul Mescal strutting the red carpet. Watson, speaking ahead of the screening, expressed what a privilege it was for her to be part of the film — set in a rural Irish fishing community. “It always feels like an incredibly creative experience being here,” she said. “I think this team represents something that’s very exciting about a very bold, wild, free generation of Irish storytellers. I felt so enlivened and invigorated to be part of it.”
Watson was also this year’s recipient of The Volta Award, the highest accolade in Irish film. This award champions individuals who have made a significant contribution to the world of film; previous recipients have included Al Pacino, Daniel Day-Lewis, Vanessa Redgrave, Martin Sheen, Paolo Sorrentino, and Julie Andrews.
It’s hard to believe that it was at last year’s festival when the Dublin Film Critics’ Circle, presided over by Tara Brady, awarded a prize for Best Irish Film to a little film called An Cailín Ciúin. Time flies! Since then, that little film has gone on to become an historic achievement in Irish filmmaking as the most commercially successful Irish language movie of all-time. This year, My Sailor, My Love, directed by Klaus Härö, took home the award. Starring James Cosmo, Brid Brennan and Catherine Walker, the film follows a retired sea captain and his daughter who must reassess their strained relationship after he begins a new romance with a widowed housekeeper.
Elsewhere, the Irish documentary 406 Days by Joe Lee and Fergus Dowd won both the Award for Best Irish Documentary and the ICCL Human Rights Award. Their film tells the courageous story of the workers involved in the strike following the closure of the Debenhams retail chain that became a major news story of 2020, at the height of Covid.
Of course, one is reminded of Dunnes Stores workers who, decades earlier, during the apartheid era, protested against the selling of South African goods; but 406 Days is very much a 21st-century story. The ICCL jury called the documentary “an incredible testimony to the strength and resilience of a group of mostly female workers in the face of the might of an international company. Their voices are so rarely heard in our society and our media. This film gives them and their voices a platform and for that the filmmakers deserve congratulation and celebration.”
Commenting on the award, Joe Lee said: “We feel this is a great achievement as it comes from the people who have watched our film, and it shows how it resonated with audiences at the Dublin International Film Festival. The audience was composed of all different spectators, some who did not know the full story [of the strike], and who commented afterwards how deeply shocked they were.”
Also honoured at the festival was actor Zara Devlin – a name, I believe, we’ll be hearing a lot in future years. The young Tyrone woman – already known for her impressive stage performances in The Glass Menagerie and Piaf, at The Gate Theatre – received the Michael Dwyer Discovery Award for her performance as Ann Lovett, the Longford teenager who died giving birth in 1984, in Ciaran Creagh’s feature film Ann.
5 Lamps teamed up with DIFF this year to present the 5 Lamps Discovery Awards, honours which aim to champion, support and encourage new and emerging talent from both in front and behind the camera. The jury selected Laura O’Shea, Greg Burrowes, and Rory Kerr as recipients of the awards. Commenting on the winners, the judges said: “It was a real privilege to spend time watching and carefully considering the submitted work. Although our conversation started off discussing how challenging it was to compare the different disciplines, it was clear very quickly that there were in fact three nominees we felt stood out.”
I was glad that Rory Kerr was chosen among the winners; his animated short, Red Rabbit, was one of my personal highlights of the festival. The film is a wonderful blend of deceptively low-fi animation and a strong imagination. However, in terms of live action shorts, Sinead O’Loughlin’s Lamb stood out from the pack. Like Red Rabbit, Lamb was funded by Screen Ireland’s Focus Shorts scheme. Lamb sees an ordinary day take a sinister turn when a stranger walks into the isolated home of a woman and her child. While narrow in scope, the film’s direction is precise and sharp, able to make uncomfortable moments unbearably tense. You could sense the whole audience squirm in their seats during its tight runtime. It’s no surprise that the judges for The Short Film awards named it Best Irish Short. “It stayed with us long after viewing.” They also complimented the “strong performances from Aoife Duffin and Éanna Hardwicke” and the “brilliant suspense and atmospheric tension” of the film. Judges gave a special shout-out to Janna Kemperman‘s moving Shadow, which they said was “beautifully shot (courtesy of Burschi Wojnar) with excellent storytelling, encapsulating the humour and sadness that goes hand in hand with grief.”
As ever, the festival also welcomed an array of strong international titles. The winner of Best Film from the Irish Critics’ Circle was Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s gripping The Beasts. A Franco-Spanish drama, The Beasts, which recently took best foreign film at the César Awards, stars Denis Ménochet and Marina Foïs as a middle-aged couple who move to a remote village and face hostility and violence from the locals.
Finally, the gongs for Best Director and Best Screenplay went to France’s Léa Mysius, the helmer of The Five Devils (France), and Romania’s Cristian Mungiu, for R.M.N. (Romania/France/Belgium/Sweden), respectively. R.M.N. was one of the most highly-anticipated titles coming into the festival, having wowed audiences at Cannes last year. The film explores themes of racism, xenophobia, and the dangers of the current political climate, and while the burn is slow, the cumulative impact is immense.
Appearing via video to accept the George Byrne Maverick Award was a delighted Mark Cousins, the Belfast-born film-maker and writer, whose March on Rome played at the festival to great applause. Another familiar face zoomed during the festival week was that of bestselling author and prolific creator Neil Gaiman. Irish filmmaker Paul Duane had the pleasure of interviewing Gaiman in an online masterclass, which audiences got to tune into. Gaiman broke down his craft, discussed key films which have influenced his work, and hinted at what the future holds for Netflix’s smash TV series Sandman, which is based on Gaiman’s groundbreaking comic book of the same name. Remote viewers were seemingly spoiled for choice as award-winning filmmaker Nancy Buirski, whose documentary Desperate Souls, Dark City & The Legend of Midnight Cowboy had its Irish premiere at the festival, sat down with programmer Conor Ryan to discuss her career in full. Lastly (and in person!), Jane Seymour took time out of her busy shooting schedule for a public talk with Rick O’Shea at the Hibernia Conference Centre in Dublin Castle. As well as starring in the likes of Live And Let Die, Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman and more recent series like Harry Wild (which shoots in Ireland), Seymour has also been a producer on a number of projects and discussed her varied and celebrated career.
And just like that, the 2022 Dublin International Film Festival came to a close. “It was a real pleasure to see the packed cinemas for this year’s festival,” said Festival Director Gráinne Humphreys. “Although Irish cinema is flying high at the minute – we are very aware that audiences are not fully back to prepandemic numbers so it’s hugely encouraging to see the support for our 2023 programme across both the Irish and international titles. We are also delighted to see the number of new audiences who attended this year and by the success of our Dublin On Screen cross-city initiative.”
Here is the full list of this year’s Dublin Film Critics Circle award winners:
• Best film: The Beasts
• Best director: Léa Mysius, The Five Devils
• Best screenplay: Cristian Mungiu, RMN
• Best actress: Kristine Kujath Thorp, Sick of Myself
• Best actor: Eden Dambrine, Close
• Best debut feature: Michal Blasko, Victim
• Best editor: Nico Leunen, Eight Mountains
• Best cinematography: Marine Altan, Thunder
• Best score: Nadah El Shazly, The Damned Don’t Cry
• Best ensemble: How to Blow Up a Pipeline
• Best documentary: Kanaval: A People’s History of Haiti
• Best Irish film: My Sailor, My Love
• Best Irish documentary: 406 Days
• George Byrne Maverick Award: Mark Cousins
• Michael Dwyer Discovery Award: Zara Devlin
