CJ ‘Fiery’ Obasi’s Mami Wata, Ben Hania’s Four Daughters, Baloji’s Omen, Kamal Lazraq’s Hounds, Mohamed Kordofani’s Goodbye Julia, and Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s Banel & Adama will be screening.
By Hope Ibiale
Irish film festival, Dublin International Film Festival has announced the dates for its 2024 edition, to be held from February 22nd – March 2nd, 2024, in Ireland.
This year, the film festival celebrates African cinema through screening CJ ‘Fiery’ Obasi’s Sundance award-winning film, Mami Wata, Ben Hania’s Oscars-nominated docu-drama, Four Daughters, Baloji’s Omen, Kamal Lazraq’s Hounds, Mohamed Kordofani’s Goodbye Julia, and Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s Banel & Adama.
The festival will once again celebrate the Irish film industry by featuring 5 Ireland feature films; Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor’s tense Baltimore, Matthew Brown’s drama Freud’s Last Session, Alan Friel’s sci-fi thriller Woken and Pat Collins’ John McGahern adaptation of That They May Face The Rising Sun. These films will be joined in the line-up by a selection of Irish documentaries, including the Screen Ireland cheerlead documentary Eat/ Sleep/Cheer/Repeat.
There will also be three DIFF-curated screenings of 24 short films selected from 756 submissions from 16 countries, two Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland curated programmes of 13 shorts from the agency’s funding schemes and the World Premiere of four new Virgin Media Discovers films – Naomi Sheridan’s Kiki, Seán Gallen’s The Head on Him, Lee Loi Chieng’s Never Kill a Femboy on the First Date and Colin Brady’s Pregnant with a Drag Queen will be screened.
While commenting on the film festival, Gráinne Humphreys, the director of the festival, said, “I feel it’s a very special line-up of films in this year’s programme, from the wonderful season of African films to the fascinating strand of documentaries to the incredibly diverse and exciting range of new work from Irish filmmakers. We are honoured to open with the World Premiere of TWIG, this fantastic Dublin set film will kick off a packed 10 days of film screenings, public events, talks, panels and parties. Our international and industry guests will share their insights with our audiences and our new hub space The Complex will bring all these events together under one roof. Exciting times.”
DIFF will hold other events such as panel discussions with international film programmers, screenwriters, and cinematographers, networking events, and the IFCO Centenary Lecture Series in association with the National Archives exploring the role censorship played in Irish cinema history. Other events include a Creative Futures Academy student workshop with Steve McQueen and Masterclasses with Guy Maddin and Kevin Macdonald.
The Dublin International Film Festival (DIFF) is an international film festival dedicated to showcasing a diverse selection of films, hosting industry events, and fostering a vibrant film culture in Dublin. Since its inception, the festival has showcased over 1,600 films from 52 countries.
Check the full programme and book tickets here.