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The 2025 Santa Barbara International Film Festival has announced the lineup for its 40th anniversary event, with 52 percent of the films directed by women. The 12-day extravaganza will raise funds for Los Angeles wildfire relief to help the community that has been devastated by the deadly infernos.

Sbiff will run from Feb. 4 to Feb. 15 — that’s one day longer than usual in honor of its four-decade mark. The festival will showcase movies from 60 different countries, including 33 world premieres and 74 United States premieres, and a majority come from female directors. In addition, there will be tributes to talented artisans, panel discussions, and free community education and outreach programs.

“As the tragic events in our sister city of Los Angeles were unfolding, we debated about moving forward with Sbiff,” said Roger Durling, Sbiff executive director. “Film has always been a conduit for comfort and renewal, and film festivals play a vital role in fostering a sense of connection.

Kneecap is leading the charge at this year’s Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) awards, with 17 nominations across 12 categories.

Rich Peppiatt’s feature about the eponymous Irish-language Belfast hip hop act is on an awards season roll, having led the winners at the Bifas back in December with seven awards, as well as having been shortlisted at the Oscars in the international feature category, and being longlisted in seven categories at the Baftas (with nominations announced tomorrow).

Scroll down for the full list of film nominations

Tim Mielants’ Small Things Like These, an Ireland-Belgium co-production that opened the Berlin film festival last year,...

Screenis listing the 2024 release dates for films in the UK and Ireland in the calendar below.

For distributors who wish to add/amend a date on the calendar, please get in touch withScreenhere.Screenis also running a calendar for festival and market dates throughout 2025here.

January

Wednesday, January 1

Nosferatu(Universal),2073(Altitude),Vanangaan(DJ Tech),Game Changer(Dreamz),We Live In Time(Studiocanal)

Friday, January 3

Nickel Boys(Curzon),Rocco And His Brothers(BFI),Diabel(Magnetes)

Wednesday, January 8

A Real Pain(Disney)

Friday, January 10

Babygirl(Efd),The Girl With The Needle(Mubi),Maria(Studiocanal),The Damned(Vertical/Miracle),It’s Raining Men...

In a diary entry from May 1967, read by Jessie Buckley at the start of Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story, the subject writes: “Ah, the trees, how tortured they are. If anyone has to ask me about the Irish character, I say look at the trees. Maimed and stark and misshapen but ferociously tenacious.” That observation swiftly captures O’Brien’s passionate love-hate relationship with her homeland. At the same time, it anchors this intimate portrait in nature, the refuge to which the writer would return throughout her turbulent life, finding more freedom in the fields of County Clare than anyplace else.

One of the many pleasures of Sinéad O’Shea’s engaging, tender and lovingly crafted documentary is listening to the writer talk, in countless archival interviews and even more so in a wide-ranging sit-down with the filmmaker near the end of O’Brien’s life. It’s like listening to music,...

Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story is an interesting documentary about one of Ireland’s most controversial and important writers. The film, which Sinéad O’Shea directed, gives a personal look at Edna O’Brien and shows how she went from growing up in a traditional Irish town to becoming a famous author whose brave writing challenged social norms.

The documentary reveals much about O’Brien’s life through old footage, interviews with people who knew him, and powerful voiceovers by actress Jessie Buckley, who brings O’Brien’s journals and diaries to life. At its heart, the movie is a deep look at a woman who bucked the suffocating expectations of Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s, making history as a female writer and speaking out against the strong Catholic conservatism of her time.

O’Shea’s method goes beyond a simple biographical sketch. She details O’Brien’s personal struggles, her troubled marriage to Ernest Gébler,...

The 15th annual Doc NYC festival unveiled the titles in its Short List sections, an early precursor lineup in advance of the Oscar nominations next January in the categories of Best Documentary Feature and Documentary Short.

America’s largest documentary festival, based in the Chelsea and Greenwich Village neighborhoods of New York City, launches on Nov. 13 with the opening night premiere of “Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story.”

The titles in the Short Lists include Benjamin Ree’s “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin,” Raoul Peck’s “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found,” Carla Gutiérrez’s “Frida,” Mati Diop’s “Dahomey” and “No Other Land,” directed by a four-person collective of Israeli and Palestinian artists.

Additional films, nearly all screening with filmmakers in person for Q&As, include “Will and Harper,” about the friendship between Will Ferrell and Harper Steele, “The Last of the Sea Women,” produced by Nobel Peace Prize winner...