26, 27 & 28 May 2023 | 9pm
ACUD Kino, Berlin
Irish Film Berlin is a brand-new film festival showcasing Irish screen creativity across three days in May in Berlin | 26, 27 & 28 May 2023 | 9pm
Curated by OFFline, our three-day event will bring a group of Irish filmmakers to Berlin to showcase and discuss their films; full-length features, live-action and animation shorts.
Our programme features the German premiere of We Ourselves. Written and directed by Paul Mercier, this intimate drama about identity, love and loss is told from the perspective of people who value their friendships and their Irishness but who ultimately feel isolated and in exile. It stars Irish actors Aidan Gillen, Seána Kerslake, Gavin Drea and others.
We’ll delve into ‘Made in Midlands’, specially curated by OFFline. This screening will feature award-winning films distilled from FilmOffaly bursary winners, Screen Ireland-funded shorts and OFFline Animation Residency shorts as well as independent productions.
Plus, we’ll have a surprise or two up our sleeves.
A ‘Best Of Irish Fest’ for Berlin!
A return visit by Berlin filmmakers to Ireland is planned for October 2023, with a special programme of German films to be exhibited at OFFline.
Friday 26th May
WE OURSELVES
A film by Paul MercierWe Ourselves is a formally unconventional film dealing with the lives of a group of seven friends over a period of more than two decades. In consecutive monologues, the film tells the story of seven Irish characters who worked together for a time in a factory in Germany before separating to develop their individual lives and careers as teachers, actors, lawyers, computer programmers and civil servants. This is an intimate drama about identity, love and loss told from the perspective of people who value their friendships and their Irishness but who ultimately feel isolated and in exile.
Written and directed by Paul Mercier (Pursuit, Studs) the film creates a generous space for the acting talents of new and established Irish actors Caitríona Ennis, Gavin Drea, Seána Kerslake, Paul Reid, Catherine Walker, Aidan Gillen and Declan Conlon.
Saturday 27th May
Made in Midlands
Irish Film Berlin brings together a group of Irish filmmakers in Berlin to showcase their films in this specially-curated programme, by OFFline Film Festival.
Featuring hand-picked award-winning films distilled from past OFFline festivals including: FilmOffaly bursary films, Screen Ireland-funded shorts and OFFline Animation Residency shorts as well as some independent productions - all created since OFFline’s inception in 2010.
Films screening includes:
Noreen
2010 | 18min | Live Action
Written and directed by Domhnall Gleeson. Starring Brendan and Brian Gleeson, and Gerard Byrne.
Funded under the first FilmOffaly bursary. Two incompetent Gardaí destroy a crime scene in this viciously dark short.
The Dream Report
2019 | 7 mins | Animation
Directed and written by Jack O’Shea.
Dreams of aliens coming to earth. Winner of Best Animated Short at the Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTA) 2020 . Jack spent six months on the OFFLine Animation Residency in 2018. Voice over by Birr native Peter Campion.
The Passion
2021 | 19 min | Live Action
Directed by Mia Mullarkey, produced by Roisín Geraghty.
Funded by a Film Offaly bursary, The Passion tells the story of a young man who accidentally kills the love of his life in a car crash, and seeks resolution and escape with her mother.
Soft Tissue
2021 | 9min | Animation
Directed and written by Clíona Noonan.
Winner Best Animated Short Film, 2023. Irish Film & Television Award (IFTA). A father takes desperate measures in the hopes of saving his son, but his actions soon become a distraction from what matters to him most.
Neon Meets Argon
2021 | 15min | Live Action
Written and directed by James Doherty and produced by Nicky Gogan.
A neon sign-maker has his solitude interrupted by an energetic young intruder. Can these men forge a kinship amidst the flickering of neon lights? Produced with the support of Screen Ireland’s Focus Shorts scheme. Filmed on location at Lough Boora, Co Offaly.
Gunther Falls in Love
2020 | 2 min | Stop Motion Animation
Written and directed by Josephine Lohoar Self. Produced by Carla Mooney.
One Christmas day, Günter, a pudgy family pug falls madly in love with an inanimate object.
Nothing to Declare
2021 | 30 min | Documentary.
Director: Garret Daly.
IFTA Best Documentary Short Film 2022. The amazing story of the escapades of two young Irish boys who evade all controls to reach the Big Apple in 1985.
Bog Flicks
18:00 | ACUDkino 2
A unique programme of shorts and documentaries with a strong common theme: the bogs of Ireland.
Films screening includes:
Saving the Turf
2020 | 17 mins | Documentary
Director: Fiona Breen Producer: Fiona Breen and Adam Bristow.
Ireland's bogs have been around since the last ice age providing people with fuel and jobs. Saving the Turf pays homage to a rapidly disappearing way of life while highlighting the need for greater social and environmental responsibility.
Bogman
2011 | 14 mins |Live Action Short
Director, Garret Daly. Writer, Garret Daly, Starring Paul Keating.
Bogman is a tale set in the Irish midlands about a quiet man whose lonely existence takes a mysterious turn, when he uncovers something while out footing turf.
Bog Boy
2017 | 2 min | Animation
Directors: Jack O'Shea, Rory Kerr and Paul Ruttledge
A Bogboy Production in association with Eat The Danger. Produced under the RTE Animated Shorts Scheme 2017.
The misadventures of a young boy in his attempts to sell his cow around the world. Director, Jack O'Shea. Writer, Jack O'Shea.
Gan Fód (Without a Sod of Turf)
2020 | 53mins | Documentary | Irish language with English subtitles
Produced and directed by Aine Ní Choibháin, Midas Production.
Gan Fód is a documentary that tells the story of a changing Ireland and of our unique relationship with the bog. The film asks what matters more, people and jobs or sustainability and the
Sunday 28th May | Oscar Night
An Irish Goodbye
Winner of the 2023 Oscar for Best Live-Action Short Film.
Following the reunion of estranged brothers Turlough and Lorcan following the untimely death of their mother. Under the watchful eye of Father O’Shea, the brothers’ pained reunion is worsened by the fact Turlough must now make new care arrangements for Lorcan, who has Down Syndrome.
An Cailín Ciúin
(The Quiet Girl)Nominated for the 95th Academy Awards in the ‘International Feature Film’ category of the Oscars.
Even before its release, Colm Bairéad’s debut feature became one of the most lauded Irish films of recent years. Adapted from Foster, a short story by Claire Keegan, it centres on nine-year-old Cáit, a shy and withdrawn child who receives scant attention or affection from a family ruled by an uncaring patriarch. When she is sent to spend the summer with her aunt Eibhlín (Carrie Crowley) and her husband Seán (Andrew Bennett), she comes out of her shell, blossoming in their care, especially when Seán’s initial aloofness fades. At the end of the summer, difficult decisions and realities must be faced. This is a work of small moments and details, anchored by Catherine Clinch’s remarkable performance as the titular quiet girl, that make for a film of pure artistry, as uplifting as it is heartbreaking.
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