Solas Nua’s Capital Irish Film Festival Announces Full Festival Lineup, Women, Music, and Premieres Strongly Represented
SOLAS NUA’S CIFF PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH AFI SILVER THEATRE AND CULTURAL CENTER
Largest Program to Date, the 18th Annual CIFF includes the North American Premieres of ONE NIGHT IN MILLSTREET, MY LOST RUSSIAN MOTHER, and Ó BHÉAL, and East Coast Premieres of THAT THEY MAY FACE THE RISING SUN, LIES WE TELL, VERDIGRIS, LIE OF THE LAND, STOLEN, MUCH ADO ABOUT DYING, THE GRACELESS AGE - THE BALLAD OF JOHN MURRY, SUNLIGHT, and TARRAC.
Gritty Feminism, Literature, Thrillers, and Themes of Containment Emerge from Some of the Festival’s Stunning Features, Including Opening and Closing Films LIES WE TELL and VERDIGRIS
Lineup includes 17 features; 12 U.S. and Regional premieres; three shorts programs (20 titles); 6 Feature Debuts; Academy Award® winners, LGBTQIA+ artists; 14 women directors and 18 women screenwriters; family programming; in person Q&As with visiting filmmakers, and more
Music Icons and Neo-Irish Music Artists Strongly Featured On Screen in Documentary Selections. Artists featured include Bono, Van Morrison, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Run DMC, and Rising Stars of Irish Hip Hop
WASHINGTON, DC (February 1, 2024) - Solas Nua, Washington, DC’s premiere contemporary Irish arts organization, announces the full lineup of films for the 18th annual Capital Irish Film Festival (CIFF), which takes place February 29 - March 3, 2024 and is presented in partnership with AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center.
CIFF is one of the largest programs of Irish cinema in North America, showcasing the latest Irish dramatic and documentary features, shorts, art films, and animation releases by Irish and Ireland-based filmmakers. The four-day festival provides a platform that not only highlights the rich cinematic culture in Ireland, but also amplifies the work of independent filmmakers working in Ireland and beyond. The program spotlights emerging voices on Irish screen, celebrates the exceptional talent and passion of contemporary Irish filmmakers, and is a reflection of the robust and vibrant screen industry that has grown in Ireland in recent years.
FESTIVAL OVERVIEW
The lineup includes 17 feature films (3 North American and 9 Regional Premieres), the addition of a third shorts program dedicated to films that have been funded by Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland (20 short films across all programming), the Norman Houston Short Film Award winner, introductions and in-person Q&As with filmmakers, and special events with dignitaries.
This year’s program highlights the work of Irish women in film - 10 of the 17 features have either been written or directed by women. 14 titles being screened are directed by women (7 features and 7 shorts) and 18 titles have been written or co-written by women (10 features and 8 shorts). The program centers exciting, new, and emerging voices in Irish cinema, with 6 Irish directors making feature film debuts - including 3 women, as well as Irish language titles, animation and family programming in the lineup this year.
CIFF continues to expand on strategic partnerships with Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland - the Irish national body for film, television and animation; Northern Ireland Screen, the national screen agency for Northern Ireland and the Irish Film Institute’s IFI International programme supported by Culture Ireland. The festival will present 18 film titles (10 features and 8 shorts) funded by Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland and 10 film titles (4 features and 6 shorts) funded by Northern Ireland Screen. The relationships and support reflect the increasing platform and profile the festival offers filmmakers and productions from the entire island of Ireland in Washington, D.C. and beyond.
CIFF Director Maedhbh Mc Cullagh shares, “In a year that has seen unprecedented growth and recognition of Irish film in the US, it gives me great pleasure to announce our largest and most expansive festival program to date, presented in partnership with AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center. There is an insatiable appetite and fervent passion for storytelling across this lineup, and it’s such an honor to showcase the talent, skill and artistry of these filmmakers to our audiences in Washington, D.C. As a whole, the program presents a rich, diverse, and fascinating portrait of the Irish imagination and offers some telling insights into aspects of Irish life today. It highlights the majestic, stunning and diverse landscapes of Ireland and beyond our island, featuring, framing, and presenting other worlds through Irish eyes. The best way to engage with the program is to buy a pass and see all of the films.”
U.S. & REGIONAL PREMIERES
Three North American premieres, including Ó BHÉAL, Ciara Nic Chormaic’s (CLOUDED REVERIES) beautiful monochrome cinematic exploration of four Irish language rappers, Oisín Mac, Seán ‘Mory’ Ó Muirgheasa, Limerick rapper Strange Boy, and multi-instrumentalist and producer Fehdah, and the birth of a new music subgenre that merges ancient Irish oral traditions with contemporary electronic music. Director Ciara Nic Chormaic will be present for an in-person post-screening Q&A; MY LOST RUSSIAN MOTHER (The Louis Marcus Documentary Award, IndieCork 2023 Film Festival Cork; Festival Audience Award 2023, Belfast Film Festival 2023), Northern Ireland filmmaker Sam Jones’ epic debut feature, a ten-years-in-the-making documentary following one young American’s odyssey deep into Russia in search of his birth mother; And two-time Irish Film and Television Academy Best Sports Documentary winner, Andrew Gallimore’s ONE NIGHT IN MILLSTREET (Best Documentary, Irish Film Festival London 2023; Audience Award for Best Feature, Cork International Film Festival 2023), a gripping snapshot of pre-Celtic Tiger Ireland in 1995 - on the cusp of seismic change - told through a prize WBO World Super-Middleweight fight between then unknown Cabra underdog, Steve ‘The Celtic Warrior’ Collins, and the larger-than-life champion, Chris ‘Simply the Best’ Eubank. Director Andrew Gallimore will attend the screening and participate in a Q&A afterward.
The festival will also feature the East Coast Premiere of STOLEN, the outstanding critically acclaimed documentary by filmmaker Margo Harkin (HUSH-A-BYE BABY). This harrowing and damning depiction of the obsessive historical state-and-church-sanctioned incarceration of pregnant, unmarried women in mother-and-child homes run by religious institutions in Ireland is unmissable. The film centers survivors’ voices and exposes the shocking details of their treatment in a scandal that sparked a government inquiry and details the campaign for justice that continues today. Film Director Margo Harkin and Producer Martha O’Neill will be in attendance for an in-person Q&A with audience members after the screening.
There will also be an East Coast Premiere of award-winning Irish director, Sarah Share’s THE GRACELESS AGE – THE BALLAD OF JOHN MURRY (Best New Irish Documentary, Galway Fleadh 2023; Audience Award for Best Feature, Irish Film Institute Documentary Festival 2023), a haunting look at musician and artist John Murry's life as he leaves Ireland and retraces his steps back to his childhood home of Mississippi in this remarkable story about the redemptive power of music. Director Sarah Share will attend the screening and participate in a Q&A afterward.
The festival will present the East Coast Premiere of Soilsiú Films’ (YOUNG PLATO) MUCH ADO ABOUT DYING, an achingly funny and poignant multi-award-winning documentary by filmmaker Simon Chambers who finds his life drastically interrupted and uprooted when he is called back to London to look after for his elderly bohemian gay uncle in this incredibly tender and beautiful depiction of aging, and caring for ourselves. THAT THEY MAY FACE THE RISING SUN, director Pat Collins’ (SONGS OF GRANITE, THE DANCE) eagerly anticipated adaptation of acclaimed Irish writer John McGahern's final award-winning novel is another East Coast Premiere on this year's lineup. Set in the luscious landscape of the rural north west, this is a slow and glorious meditation of the daily rituals over a year in the life of a young couple, Joe and Kate, who have moved back to the remote lakeside hamlet where Joe grew up.
DEBUT FEATURES
Ian Hunt-Duffy’s angst-inducing thriller-horror DOUBLE BLIND (Best Cinematography at Newport Beach Film Festival 2023) in which panic ensues at a pharmaceutical facility after an experimental drug trial goes awry and the test subjects face a terrifying side effect: if they fall asleep, they die!; Claire Dix’s debut feature SUNLIGHT, (Narrative Feature Jury Award at Austin Film Festival 2023) is a soaring heartfelt and darkly comic tale of a former addict finding the courage to live without his terminally ill sponsor and friend, that touches upon the subject of assisted dying; Northern Irish filmmaker, John Carlin’s tense drama LIE OF THE LAND (Best Irish First Feature at the 2023 Galway Film Fleadh), unfolds as a farming couple, the Wards, are preparing to abandon their land to escape their dire financial situation, only to have a last-minute change of heart that leaves them fighting for survival. Created through Northern Ireland Screen's New Talent Focus, it won the Best Irish First Feature at the 2023 Galway Film Fleadh. Director John Carlin will be present for an in-person post-screening Q&A; Cara Holmes’ enthralling documentary NOTES FROM SHEEPLAND, (Dublin International Film Festival 2023 DCU Documentary Award Winner, Docs Ireland Pull Focus Award for Best New Irish Feature Documentary 2023), presents a beguiling, fascinating, and captivating portrait of the unique life of artist, shepherd and self-confessed bovine obsessive, Orla Barry as she wrestles with the day-to-day life of caring for her herd of pedigree sheep and art-making.
IRISH LANGUAGE FEATURES
Together with Ó BHÉAL (above), the festival will screen Director Declan Recks’ award-winning Irish language feature TARRAC. Set against the breathtaking landscapes of Corca Dhuibhne in the Kerry Gaeltacht along the wild Atlantic coastline of the Dingle Peninsula, this stunning film is a heartwarming and uplifting portrayal of female friendship, family and community, brimming with humor and exciting action, centered around a “Naomhóg'' rowing competition. Lauded Irish filmmaker Alan Gilsenan’s PAUL MULDOON: LAOITHE IS LIRICÍ/A LIFE IN LYRICS a portrait of the remarkable life of the Pulitzer prize-winning Irish poet and wordsmith. Presented as a poem-song cycle through English and Irish (with subtitles), the film weaves his life's chapters through the artistry of renowned artists, including actors Ruth Negga and Liam Neeson, as well as musical icons such as Bono, Paul Simon, Van Morrison and Paul McCartney, Run DMC and PJ Harvey— reciting and singing Muldoon's gorgeous writings.
2023 ACADEMY AWARD WINNERS
The expanded shorts program offerings this year include the multi-award-winning THE GOLDEN WEST (Winner, Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film, Raindance Film Festival; Winner, Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film, Aesthetica Film Festival; Winner, Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film, Norwich Film Festival) by 2023 Academy Award winning directors Tom Berkeley and Ross White, (AN IRISH GOODBYE, Best Live Action Short Film at the 95th Academy Awards® 2023; Norman Houston Award Winner, Capital Irish Film Festival 2022).
OPENING & CLOSING NIGHTS
The 2024 festival will be opened on Thursday, February 29, by Orla Keane, Deputy Ambassador of Ireland to the United States, with a gala screening and East Coast premiere of the previously announced, award-winning Irish director Lisa Mulcahy’s LIES WE TELL (Best Cinematography in an Irish Feature, Galway Fleadh 2023 - Eleanor Bowman), fresh from its American Premiere at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. The film is a sharp, taut, suspenseful and gritty gothic drama with a feminist twist, adapted by Elisabeth Gooch from the revered Sheridan Le Fanu novel Uncle Silas. The cast includes the great granddaughter of Seán O’Casey, Agnes O’Casey (Bingham Ray New Talent Award Winner at the Galway Fleadh; Ridley Road), David Wilmot (The Wonder), Holly Sturton (Smother) and Chris Walley (Young Offenders). The screening will take place on Thursday, February 29, 7:00 p.m. in AFI Silver's historic art deco theater, Silver Theatre and will be followed by an in-person Q&A with Director Lisa Mulcahy and writer Elisabeth Gooch. This will be followed by a reception in the AFI lobby for all opening night ticket and festival pass holders, sponsored by the Embassy of Ireland.
The festival will be closed on Sunday, March 3, by Ireland’s Ambassador to the United States, Geraldine Byrne Nason, (as previously announced) with a gala screening and the announced East Coast premiere of Patricia Kelly’s multi-award winning VERDIGRIS (Best Independent Film, Galway Fleadh 2023; Best Narrative Feature, Kerry Film Festival 2023; Best Feature Film, Irish Film Festival London 2023; Audience Award–Best Irish Film, Newport Beach Film Festival 2023), an edgy debut feature depicting an unlikely friendship and the diverse social realities of two women from opposite ends of Dublin (Geraldine McAlinden and Maya O’Shea). Using incredible humor and charm, the film tells a powerful story about class, female friendship, and empowerment. The screening of VERDIGRIS will be followed by an in-person Q&A with Director Patricia Kelly, Producer Paul Fitzsimons and lead actor Geraldine McAlinden, and will be followed by an exclusive closing festival reception for all ticket and festival pass holders in the AFI lobby, sponsored by the Embassy of Ireland.
2024 NORMAN HOUSTON AWARD
As announced, the Norman Houston Award will be presented ahead of the winning film’s screening on Friday, March 1, 2024 by Andrew Elliott, Director of the Northern Ireland Bureau, North America. This year’s winning film THE SILENT PEOPLE by Derry-born writer and director Keith O’Grady was filmed as part of the Cinemagic CDTA Project supported by the Department of Economy Northern Ireland in partnership with Belfast Met and North West Regional College. THE SILENT PEOPLE is an unflinching look at the impact of economic vulnerability and a housing crisis on a young couple in Northern Ireland. The Norman Houston Award honors the life, spirit and legacy of the former long-time director of the Northern Ireland Bureau in the United States, Norman Houston, who died in 2021. Presented annually for the best new short film made within the previous two years by a filmmaker from or based in Northern Ireland, it includes a $2500 prize. The award is made possible by support from the Northern Ireland Bureau, the Embassy of Ireland, and individual contributions. The screening will be presented in a double bill with LIE OF THE LAND and will be followed by a reception sponsored by the Northern Ireland Bureau.
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
PUFFIN ROCK AND NEW FRIENDS, a new action-packed film of the much beloved animated TV show by Academy Award-nominated Cartoon Saloon and award-winning creative-studio Dog Ears in a co-production with Penguin Books will have a special sneak peak preview screening at Capital Irish Film Festival on March 3rd. The heartwarming film celebrates belonging, courage and friendship set against the backdrop of climate change threatening Ireland's magnificent natural environment.
In a special tribute to the late Irish musician Shane Mac Gowan, there will be a special screening of the groundbreaking 2020 documentary, the Johnny Depp-produced CROCK OF GOLD: A FEW ROUNDS WITH SHANE MACGOWAN (Special Jury Prize, San Sebastian International Film Festival 2020). Director Julien Temple’s in-depth and revealing portrait gets to the heart of the boldness and brilliance of the late great Irish poet, artist, writer and punk-folk legend Shane MacGowan, lead singer of The Pogues. The documentary is slated for Thursday, February 29, 9:35 p.m.
The Capital Irish Film Festival is supported by the Government of Ireland Emigrant Support Programme, Culture Ireland, Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, Embassy of Ireland, Northern Ireland Bureau, Northern Ireland Screen, and the Irish Film Institute’s IFI International programme supported by Culture Ireland.
FESTIVAL DAY-BY-DAY SCHEDULE
DAY 1 | Thursday, February 29, 2024
Opening Night: LIES WE TELL | 7:00 p.m. | T1 | Guest Q&A/reception
CROCK OF GOLD: A FEW ROUNDS WITH SHANE MACGOWAN | 9:35 p.m. | T1
DAY 2 | Friday, March 1, 2024
CIFF2024 - SHORTS PROGRAM 1 | 11:20 a.m. | T2
TARRAC | 1:15 p.m. | T2
NOTES FROM SHEEPLAND | 3:20 p.m. | T2
MUCH ADO ABOUT DYING | 4:15 p.m. | T3
MY LOST RUSSIAN MOTHER | 5:20 p.m. | T2
THE SILENT PEOPLE (Norman Houston Short Film Award) with LIE OF THE LAND | 7:45 p.m. | T2 | Guest Q&A/reception
DAY 3 | Saturday, March 2, 2024
CIFF2024 - SHORTS PROGRAM 2 | 10:00 a.m. | T2
SUNLIGHT | 12:00 p.m. | T2
STOLEN | 2:00 p.m. | T2 | Guest Q&A
PAUL MULDOON: LAOITHE IS LIRICÍ [A LIFE IN LYRICS] | 4:45 p.m. | T2 | Guest Q&A
ONE NIGHT IN MILLSTREET | 7:00 p.m. | T2 | Guest Q&A
DOUBLE BLIND | 9:20 p.m. | T2 | Two screening dates
DAY 4 | Sunday, March 3, 2024
PUFFIN ROCK AND THE NEW FRIENDS | 10:00 a.m. | T2
Ó BHĖAL | 11:00 a.m. | T3
CIFF2024 - SHORTS PROGRAM 3: SCREEN IRELAND SPOTLIGHT | 12:00 p.m. | T2
THAT THEY MAY FACE THE RISING SUN | 2:00 p.m. | T2
THE GRACELESS AGE: THE BALLAD OF JOHN MURRY | 4:20 p.m. | T2 | Guest Q&A
Closing Night: VERDIGRIS | 7:00 p.m. | T2 | Guest Q&A/reception
DOUBLE BLIND | 9:35 p.m. | T2 | Second screening
ABOUT SOLAS NUA
Solas Nua - ‘new light’ in Irish, is a leading multi-disciplinary arts organization that is dedicated exclusively to bringing contemporary Irish arts to Washington, D.C. Solas Nua acts as an ambassador and advocate for Irish arts in the U.S., promoting multi-disciplinary Irish arts and culture. Solas Nua presents, produces, and commissions thought-provoking and ground-breaking work across the arts, and is recognized for making a substantive, unique contribution to the artistic and cultural richness of the city of Washington, DC and beyond. Support and follow Solas Nua via their newsletters, on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Solas Nua’s Capital Irish Film Festival has been showing Irish films, films by Ireland-based filmmakers and the best of Irish cinematic talent, annually for 17 years. The four-day festival is presented in partnership with AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center at their historic art-deco theater in Silver Spring, MD.
ABOUT AFI SILVER THEATRE AND CULTURAL CENTER
A program of the American Film Institute (AFI), AFI Silver and Cultural Center offers a year-round program of the best in American and international cinema, featuring a dynamic mix of retrospectives, special events, tributes, on-stage guest appearances, specialty first-run movies,festivals, premieres and education and community-based programs in a theatrical setting of the highest standards. Anchored by the stunningly restored 1938 Silver Theatre, the three-screen AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center is a state-of-the-art film and digital media exhibition venue that serves as a national model for preserving and honoring our shared film and film-going heritage. Read about all of these programs and more at AFI.com/Silver, and follow AFI Silver on social media at Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.
Capital Irish Film Festival
February 29 - March 3
AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center
8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910
