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Mubi has unveiled its lineup for next month’s streaming offerings, featuring Hou Hsiao-hsien’s The Assassin, Zhang Yimou’s Shadow, Quentin Dupieux’s Daaaaaali!, along with El Planeta from Amalia Ulman, whose latest Sundance-premiering feature Magic Farm was picked up by the company. An additional highlight is Joanna Hogg’s new short Autobiography of a Handbag, which is also available to stream below.

Alistair Ryder said of Quentin Dupieux’s Daaaaaali! in his review, “Despite casting several of France’s finest character actors as the famed Spaniard, this isn’t an I’m Not There-style tribute to the artist’s spirit attempting an unconventional work in vein like theirs. Dupieux clearly has no interest in those sub-genres of the biopic, either, even if he does have a clear reverence for his subject. Instead his madcap romp manages to blow up all biopic expectations in the most winningly stupid ways...

That the mother-son film movie remains, for some reason, the least-covered quadrant when it comes to parent-child relationships on screen may say something about patriarchal bias in the industry — though the best examples say plenty themselves about how men are raised and made. A modestly framed domestic comedy with surprising reserves of wisdom and sadness, Darren Thornton’s thoroughly disarming sophomore feature “Four Mothers” earns itself a place in the mother-son pantheon only a few minutes in, as mild-mannered writer Edward (James McArdle) helps his disabled mother Alma (Fionnula Flanagan) select and put on an outfit for the day, drily hamming up the routine to distract from the pain of her dependency. A simple scene of reversed care roles, it’s nonetheless rare in its everyday tenderness, and sets the tone for a film packed with similarly lovely, unforced observations.

A world premiere at the London Film Festival, where it played in the main competition,...

The 68th BFI London Film Festival’s Official Competition is an exciting showcase of some of the most inventive and thought-provoking films from across the globe, competing for the prestigious Best Film Award. Each entry reflects a unique cinematic voice, exploring themes ranging from personal struggles to political conflicts, all crafted by directors with distinct perspectives.

April, directed by Dea Kulumbegashvili, delves deep into rural Georgian life, centering on the moral and emotional dilemmas faced by a doctor. Kulumbegashvili, a rising star in the film world, previously made waves with her debut Beginning (2020), which won the Fipresci Prize at Cannes. With April, she continues her exploration of personal resilience amidst societal rigidity, painting a vivid portrait of strength and morality.

In Christopher Andrews’ feature debut, Bring Them Down, the rugged beauty of rural Ireland serves as the backdrop for a fierce family feud. Starring Christopher Abbott (It Comes at Night...

Exclusive: James McArdle (Mare Of Easttown) and Fionnula Flanagan (The Others) have been set to lead the ensemble cast of Four Mothers, an Irish-set adaptation of Gianni di Gregorio’s 2008 festival and box office hit Mid-August Lunch (Pranzo Di Ferragosto).

Filming is underway in Dublin on the comedy feature which heralds from Ida producer Eric Abraham and former Working Title exec Jack Sidey’s Portobello Films and Television (Moffie) and Martina Niland for Port Pictures (Sing Street).

Dearbhla Molloy (Wild Mountain Thyme), Paddy Glynn (Cinderella) and Stella McCusker (Nowhere Special) also star.

Darren Thornton directs and co-wrote the script with his brother, Colin Thornton. They previously collaborated on their IFTA-winning debut A Date For Mad Mary.

Olivier-award nominee McArdle plays a self-sabotaging novelist, saddled with caring for his mother (Flanagan) after a stroke. After his book becomes an overnight hit, his plans for a U.S. promotional tour are thrown...

Exclusive: Myriad Pictures has licensed Irish comedy Deadly Cuts to Level 33 Entertainment for distribution in North America.

The company will release the film on March 17, 2022, to coincide with St. Patrick’s Day.

Written and directed by Irish director Rachel Carey, and filmed on location in Ireland, the dark comedy is set in a working-class hair salon where young stylists Stacey, Gemma, Chantelle, along with boss Michelle become accidental vigilantes and community heroes as they take on the gang members and gentrifiers threatening their community.

Starring are Angeline Ball (The Commitments), Victoria Smurfit (The Beach), Ericka Roe (Herself), Lauren Larkin, and Shauna Higgins (A Date for Mad Mary).

Additional deals have closed in Australia/New Zealand (Rialto Distribution), South Africa (Mnet), and Spain (Media Solution Partners).

Following its Ireland release on October 8th, the film ranked in third place on its opening weekend behind No Time To Die and The Addams Family 2.

Wildcard Distribution distributes in Ireland, UK.

Heading into the Cannes virtual pre-screenings event next month, Los Angeles-based Myriad Pictures has picked up international rights excluding the UK and Ireland to Irish comedy Deadly Cuts.

Rachel Carey wrote and directed the film, a Dublin International Film Festival Discovery Awards recipient for breakthrough talent that closed the festival in March.

Deadly Cuts follows a working class hair salon where young stylists Stacey, Gemma, and Chantelle and their boss Michelle accidentally become vigilantes and community heroes when they challenge gang members and gentrifiers threatening their community.

Angeline Ball (The Commitments), Victoria Smurfit, Ericka Roe,...

With the 2019 edition of the Tour de France having drawn to a close, the first image of “The Racer,” a film set during the notorious 1998 edition of the iconic bike race, has been released.

The real-life Tour de France was tainted by doping scandals in 1998, subsequently earning the nickname the Tour de Dopage. The opening stages of the world’s biggest bike race took place in Ireland in that year, before moving to France.

Kieron J. Walsh’s “The Racer” follows fictional Belgian rider Dom Chabol. He has been a domestique, a support rider in cycling parlance, for years. With the Tour about to start he is dropped from his team. After a doping issue disqualifies a teammate, he finds himself back in the saddle and with a shot at achieving his secret desire to wear the yellow jersey, which is sported by the race leader.

Louis Talpe, who starred...

Stars: Seána Kerslake, James Quinn Markey, James Cosmo, Kati Outinen, Simone Kirby, Steve Wall | Written by Lee Cronin, Stephen Shields | Directed by Lee Cronin

Director Lee Cronin serves up some pleasingly old-fashioned supernatural scares in creepy Irish horror The Hole in the Ground.

Seána Kerslake (A Date for Mad Mary) stars as single mother Sarah O’Neill, who moves into a dilapidated farmhouse near a remote village in rural Ireland with her young son Chris (James Quinn Markey), after fleeing an abusive relationship with the boy’s father. One night, Chris disappears and Sarah worries that he might have fallen into an enormous sinkhole that has suddenly opened up in the woods, especially when she finds one of his toys near the edge. The next day, Chris turns up safe and sound, but his behaviour is subtly changed and Sarah becomes increasingly worried that the boy is not her son.

Louis Talpe, Tara Lee, Matteo Simoni, Iain Glen board film’s cast.

London-based sales and production outfit Independent has boarded cycling drama The Racer and will be introducing the project to buyers in Cannes.

Louis Talpe (Of Kings And Prophets), Tara Lee (A Date For Mad Mary), Matteo Simoni (Gangsta), Iain Glen (Game Of Thrones) and Karel Roden (The Bourne Supremacy) lead the cast of the feature, which is being produced by Katie Holly (Love & Friendship) and Yvonne Donohoe of Irish outfit Blinder Films.

Jesus Gonzalez-Elvira of Calach Films is co-producing with Caviar Films’ Robin Kerremans and Dimitri Verbeeck.

Stars: Seána Kerslake, James Quinn Markey, James Cosmo, Kati Outinen, Simone Kirby, Steve Wall | Written by Lee Cronin, Stephen Shields | Directed by Lee Cronin

Director Lee Cronin serves up some pleasingly old-fashioned supernatural scares in creepy Irish horror The Hole in the Ground.

Seána Kerslake (A Date for Mad Mary) stars as single mother Sarah O’Neill, who moves into a dilapidated farmhouse near a remote village in rural Ireland with her young son Chris (James Quinn Markey), after fleeing an abusive relationship with the boy’s father. One night, Chris disappears and Sarah worries that he might have fallen into an enormous sinkhole that has suddenly opened up in the woods, especially when she finds one of his toys near the edge. The next day, Chris turns up safe and sound, but his behaviour is subtly changed and Sarah becomes increasingly worried that the boy is not her son.

Try as we might to dissuade vulnerable young parents in the movies from relocating their families to rambling, deserted homes in the countryside, preferably on the edge of a dark, looming forest, sometimes they simply have to learn for themselves. Happily, Lee Cronin’s “The Hole in the Ground” is largely in on the joke, putting the agonized single mom at its center through a veritable spin cycle of familiar horror dilemmas and distractions — a haunted child, a creaking house, a ghostly neighbor, even a mysterious, beckoning sinkhole — and seeing how she comes out of the wash. Thanks to the resourceful Seána Kerslake in the lead, she fares rather well, and so does Cronin: The Irishman’s trim, jumpy debut feature rewrites no genre rules, but abounds in bristly calling-card atmospherics.

Already acquired for the U.S. by A24 — and set for a March 1 release, following a pre-theatrical run on...

Here’s the Afm sales art for The Hole In the Ground, which stars Seána Kerslake (A Date For Mad Mary) as a young single mother who is trapped between rationality and the unexplained as she becomes convinced her little boy has been transformed by something sinister from the depths of a mysterious sinkhole. Bankside Films has worldwide sales rights […]...

Other recipients include Lenny Abrahamson, Tomm Moore and Jim Sheridan.

A forthcoming film from BAFTA winner Neasa Hardiman and upcoming projects from Oscar nominees Lenny Abrahamson, Tomm Moore and Jim Sheridan are among those being supported by the Irish Film Board in its latest round of funding decisions.

Levels of production funding have significantly increased this quarter, indicating that the Irish film industry is gearing up for a buoyant production period.

Hardiman, a co-bafta winner this year for her work on Happy Valley, has written and will direct Sea Fever, described as “a very smart monster movie” by production company Fantastic Films.

€700,000 in Ifb production funding was awarded to the film, which centres on a female protagonist, a gifted marine biology student who, along with her crew, encounter a large and dangerous mysterious sea creature. Epic is handling international sales.

Fantastic Films were also awarded €750,000 in production funding for Vivarium, a sci-fi...

Exclusive: Lee Cronin’s feature debut casts rising talent Seána Kerslake in main role.

Bankside Films has acquired worldwide sales rights to Irish Film Board-backed horror film The Hole In The Ground.

Lee Cronin’s directorial debut will star rising local talent Seána Kerslake (A Date For Mad Mary) as a young single mother who is trapped between rationality and the unexplained as she becomes convinced her little boy has been transformed by something sinister from the depths of a mysterious sinkhole.

Kerslake had a minor role in Yorgos Lanthimos’ hit drama The Lobster.

The film will be produced by John Keville and Conor Barry of Irish production outfit Savage Productions, and co produced by Benoit Roland of Wrong Men in Belgium and Ulla Simonen of Made in Finland and is to be funded by The Irish Film Board with the participation of Head Gear Films.

Phil Hunt and Compton Ross serve as executive producers for [link...

Exclusive: The first batch of titles to appear at the Irish festival have been announced.

Pilgrimage, which stars Tom Holland and Richard Armitage [pictured], prison drama Maze and Joe Heaney biopic Song Of Granite will all bow at the Galway Film Fleadh (11-16 July).

Maze, which recounts the true story of a mass escape from Northern Ireland’s Maze prison in 1983 - will receive its world premiere at the event.

The film, set during The Troubles and told through the eyes of two very different characters across the political divide, is one of several new Irish titles which will screen at Galway.

Director Stephen Burke’s feature centres on the relationship between a prison officer and one of the chief architects of the escape, which saw 38 Ira prisoners break out in what was the biggest prison escape in Europe since World War II. It stars Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Martin McCann and Barry Ward.

Brendan Muldowney’s new feature...

Other recipients include Virginia Woolf romance Vita & Virginia and new Hong Khaou, Carmel Winters films.

Lenny Abrahamson’s forthcoming adaptation of Sarah Waters’ acclaimed wartime ghost story The Little Stranger is among the films being supported by the Irish Film Board in its latest round of funding decisions.

Projects by Mary McGuckian, Carmel Winters and British/Cambodian filmmaker Hong Khaou are also among those given production funding support, as is a drama about Virgina Woolf’s love affair with the poet and novelist Vita Sackville-West.

In a diverse and wide-ranging first quarter, Room director Abrahamson’s [pictured] adaption of The Little Stranger has received production funding of €350,000.

The novel, which centres on the strange goings on in a country house in rural Warwickshire, has been adapted for the big screen by English novelist and screenwriter Lucinda Coxon (The Danish Girl). Domhnall Gleeson is attached to the project, which will be co-produced by Element Pictures.

Float [link=tt...

Irish Showcase celebrating Celtic culture set for April 23.

The 18th Annual Newport Beach Film Festival (Nbff) will present the largest celebration of Irish Cinema on the West Coast during its eight-day run from April 20-27.

Highlights include an Irish Showcase event, numerous premieres, 12 narrative and documentary features, two shorts programmes, and the participation of Irish filmmakers and actors.

The Irish Showcase event will take place on April 23 and celebrate Celtic cinema and culture. Three films will premier during the event, including the Southern California premiere of A Date For Mad Mary and The Secret Scripture, and the North American premiere of Tomato Red, followed by a reception.

A Date For Mad Mary from Darren Thornton won Best Irish Feature Film and the Bingham Ray New Talent Award at the 2016 Galway Film Fleadh.

The film stars Seána Kerslake as Mary McArdle, who returns from prison to attend her best friend Charlene’s wedding and sets out to prove...

The annual Irish Film & Television Academy named A Date for Mad Mary winner of its 2017 film award today. Vikings took the top prize in the TV category. Other winners from the Dublin-based awards were Colm Meaney, The Journey (best actor, film); Ruth Negga, Loving (best actress, film); Cillian Murphy, Peaky Blinders (best actor, TV); and Amy Huberman, Striking Out (best actress, TV). Actor Michael Gambon was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award. Other top film prizes went…...

The annual Irish Film & Television Academy named A Date for Mad Mary winner of its 2017 film award today. Vikings took the top prize in the TV category. Other winners from the Dublin-based awards were Colm Meaney, The Journey (best actor, film); Ruth Negga, Loving (best actress, film); Cillian Murphy, Peaky Blinders (best actor, TV); and Amy Huberman, Striking Out (best actress, TV). Actor Michael Gambon was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award. Other top film prizes went…...

Majority of production loans have gone to female directors.

New projects from Neil Jordan, Neasa Hardiman (both pictured) and John Butler are among those supported by the Irish Film Board in its latest round of funding decisions.

In an apparent nod to recent pledges by the Ifb to commit to gender parity in its funded projects, three of the four production loans in this quarter were given to films with female directors.

Filmmaker Neasa Hardiman, whose television credits include Happy Valley and Tracy Beaker Returns, will make her feature directorial debut with Sea Fever, which has been given a provisional offer of commitment by the Ifb.

The film, centred on a science student who becomes isolated from her superstitious trawler crew as they struggle to overcome a deadly parasite in their water supply, was also written by Hardiman and will be produced by Fantastic Films.

The End of Romance, written and directed by Trish McAdam, based on the...

Ten Screen critics select their hidden film gems of the year.Fionnuala Halligan, chief film critic

A Date For Mad Mary

Dir Darren Thornton

This big-hearted Irish romcom, which shared the top prize at Galway this summer, has all the smarts to hit with younger audiences should it get the chance. Just released from prison, surly, boozy Mary pines for her bridezilla Bff who has moved on. Now she needs a date for the wedding and rarely has someone looked for love with less interest. Thornton directs a scuzzily radiant Seana Kerslake as the miserably mad Mary, wildly unpredictable and widely misunderstood, in a film that feels like the love child of Weekend and Once.

Contact Mongrel International international@mongrelmedia.com

Tim Grierson, Senior Us critic

The Student

Dir Kirill Serebrennikov

The dangers of religious fervor overwhelming reason is the cauldron into which The Student drops its audience, taking us to a Russian high school where a Bible-quoting...

Seána Kerslake (Dollhouse) has signed with Paradigm and Untitled Entertainment. The Irish actress starred in the indie feature A Date for Mad Mary and plays Aisling in the UK series Can't Cope, Won’t Cope. She made her debut starring in the 2012 pic Dollhouse, and other credits include The Legend of Longwood and Life’s a Breeze. Kerslake also won the Bingham Ray New Talent Award at the Galway Film Fleadh 2016 and earned a spot on The Independent's "Ireland's 40 under 40&#8243…...

Seána Kerslake (Dollhouse) has signed with Paradigm and Untitled Entertainment. The Irish actress starred in the indie feature A Date for Mad Mary and plays Aisling in the UK series Can't Cope, Won’t Cope. She made her debut starring in the 2012 pic Dollhouse, and other credits include The Legend of Longwood and Life’s a Breeze. Kerslake also won the Bingham Ray New Talent Award at the Galway Film Fleadh 2016 and earned a spot on The Independent's "Ireland's 40 under 40&#8243…...

★★★★☆ What are the things you need to know about Mary? She's impatient, a bit gobby, angry, confused, passionate and loyal but has a history of rubbing people the wrong way. She's a firecracker who always speaks her mind. Playing in the First Feature Competition at this year's London Film Festival, it's a stellar turn from Seána Kerslake in the leading role of A Date for Mad Mary that makes this Irish drama a worthy contender in its class. A feisty, fearless and endlessly funny debut from Darren Thornton, co-written with his brother, Colin, this story of love and friendship has buckets of charm but plenty of strife to counterpunch the craic.

Quick takes from the 60th London Film Festival, with public screenings from October 5th-16th, 2016.

A Date for Mad Mary

Mary’s not crazy-mad, she’s angry-mad, in that incoherent way that young people floundering around to figure themselves out often fall into. After a short stint in prison — for a violent crime that was surely an expression of that rage — she returns home to her Irish town to find that her disconnect to friends and family has grown even wider, and it’s a real struggle to fulfill her duties as maid of honor to her best friend, Charlene, in the run-up to her wedding. No longer able to rely on others to define her, Mary must decide for herself who she is, a task she approaches with snark to cover up her terror and her confusion. The things that make Mary a misfit create a portrait of female...

Exclusive: Irish drama premiered at Karlovy Vary this year.

Canadian sales outfit Mongrel International has acquired sales rights to A Date For Mad Mary from Irish producers Element Pictures and has begun talks at Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 8-18) with buyers.

The recent Karlovy Vary world premiere will play in competition at the BFI London Film Festival next month.

Darren Thornton directed A Date For Mad Mary, which was produced in association with The Irish Film Board, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and TV3.

The film centres on a woman who returns to an Irish port town after a short spell in prison and resolves to find a date for her role as maid of honour at her best friend’s wedding. Element’s credits include Room starring Oscar-winner Brie Larson.

Other winners include A Date For Mad Mary from Room producer Ed Guiney.

The 28th Galway Film Fleadh handed out its annual awards last night (July 10) and named Taika Waititi’s Hunt For The Wilderpeople as best international feature.

The ceremony took place after the Fleadh’s annual public interview, in which director Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father) regaled a packed Town Hall Theatre.

The prize for best Irish feature was shared between Peter Foott’s The Young Offenders and Darren Thornton’s A Date For Mad Mary. The latter was co-produced by Ed Guiney, whose films include Oscar-winner Room, The Lobster and Frank.

The best Irish feature documentary was won by Frankie Fenton’s It’s Not Yet Dark, which centres on Simon Fitzmaurice, a talented young Irish film maker with motor neuron disease, as he embarks on making his first film through the use of his eyes and eye gaze technology.

It’s...

Karlovy Vary – One of the toughest things in life is to realize you are losing a connection to a close friend, especially a best friend. That’s the central theme in Darren Thornton’s “A Date for Mad Mary” which strangely premiered without enough pre-screening fanfare at the 51st Karlovy Vary Film Festival. But something tells us […]

The post Seana Kerslake Has Her Coming Out Party In ‘A Date For Mad Mary’ [Karlovy Vary Review] appeared first on The Playlist.

Festival guests will include director Jim Sheridan and actress Ruth Negga.

Netflix-acquired war-drama The Siege of Jadotville - which tells the true story of a battalion under attack in the Congo in the 1960s - leads a strong line-up of Irish cinema at this year’s Galway Film Fleadh (July 5 - 10).

The film stars Jamie Dornan as Commandant Pat Quinlan, who led an Irish battalion of United Nations soldiers during a tense stand-off against local troops and foreign mercenaries in the Congo in 1961.

The Parallel Film-produced title, a directorial debut by Richie Smyth based on the novel by Irish journalist Declan Power, will have a special screening at the Fleadh.

It is one of several Irish films that will bow at the Fleadh, which runs from July 5th-10th. The festival will also focus on world cinema and Finnish cinema. Guests include director Jim Sheridan, actress Ruth Negga and screenwriter Kirsten Smith.

Property Of The State, a drama...