The full programme for the 2017 Audi Dublin International Film Festival has been announced, with a very exciting selection of films. Seàna Kerslake, festival director Grainne Humphreys and Richard Molley, Head of Marketing and Product at Audi Ireland were on hand Wednesday morning at the Hugh Lane Gallery for a photo call for Dublin’s biggest film festival, which spans from the 16th to the 26th of February. The 15th edition since its revival in 2003, the festival’s programme was officially launched at Eden Quay’s Laughter Lounge yesterday evening. Kerslake, star of A Date For Mad Mary and one of Ireland’s fast-rising acting talents, will be on the jury this year for the ADIFF Discovery Award. Featuring eagerly anticipated films from Ireland and around the world and a number of special guests, February 2017 promises to be the most exciting time of the year for Dublin film fans, spanning righy across the screens of the city’s cinemas, including the Savoy, Light House, Cineworld and IFI.
Vanessa Redgrave, Nathalie Baye, Kerry Fox, Ross Noble, Ben Wheatley and Anna Friel will join Irish talent like Jack Reynor, Moe Dunford, Cillian Murphy, John Butler and Aiden Gillen as guests walking the red carpet at numerous events at this year’s festival.
The festival will open on the 16th of February with the Irish premiere of Aisling Walsh’s Maudie, which stars Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke and tells the story of the folk artist Maudie Lewis, who falls for a fishmonger while acting as his housekeeper. The film by Song For A Raggy Boy director Walsh was a gala presentation and one of several Irish films shown at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival that will be screened for Irish audiences for the first time this February.
Another among that number is The Secret Scripture, the latest film directed by Jim Sheridan. The adaptation of Sebastian Barry’s novel was filmed on location in Dublin and Kilkenny and stars festival guest Vanessa Redgrave, Rooney Mara, Eric Bana and features Irish talents Jack Reynor and Aidan Turner and tells the story of a Lady Rose, an elderly woman with an extraordinary story of love and injustice. Redgrave will also receive the Volta Award, the festival’s honour for career achievement.
Guest Ben Wheatley and his stars Cillian Murphy and Jack Reynor will be on hand to show their film Free Fire. The director or arty cult cinema like High Rise and A Field in England, Wheatley lends his distinct style to Free Fire, an action thriller also starring Brie Larson that sees the stars engage in a shoot-out that spans almost the entirety of the film.
The anticipated next film by John Butler, Handsome Devil will serve as the festival’s Closing Gala, following the always mysterious and packed out Special Presentation, a secret film chosen for the festival known only by the festival director. Handsome Devil is a coming-of-age story set a rugby-mad Irish boarding school and features Moe Dunford and Andrew Scott as supporting acts to its young stars.
Films that have been receiving press around the world for months such as The Love Witch, the Kristen Stewart-starring art horror Personal Shopper, Neasa Ní Cheanaín’s documentary In Loco Parentis and the Raoul Peck documentary I Am Not Your Negro are all set to be shown at the featival, as well as a restoration of To Live And Die In LA, curated by director William Friedkin himself. All this, a host of films by Irish directors including some first-timers and the festival’s expanding Fantastic Flix progranme bringing the world of cinema to our next generation of young film fans, ADIFF 2017 is shaping up to be very exciting indeed. See the full programme here.
Tickets for ADIFF 2017 are on sale now and can be purchased online, by phone on +353 1 687 7974 or in person at the DIFF House Box Office, 13 Ormond Quay. Pop-up box offices will also be in place at each venue from 30 minutes prior to each screening.