World premieres, international filmmakers amid a festive offering
for much loved festival
IndieCork Film Festival, one of the country’s biggest celebrations of independent film, will run from December 15th to 22nd at the newly opened Arc Cinema, formerly The Gate, in Cork City. It will be the first event onscreen at the stylish new venue.
This year’s programme has amongst its highlights, world premieres of internationally acclaimed documentaries and features, special focus programmes and as always, at the heart of IndieCork, an expansive selection of short films curated from a record breaking number of entries this year.
The Opening night film is ‘The Trouble with Jessica,’ directed by Matt Winn, who will attend on the night. Winner of both the Special Jury and the Audience award at the recent Dinard Film Festival, this charming film features a sterling cast of British actors.
The festival closes with the legendary Wim Wenders lastest film ‘Perfect Days’ which won ‘Best Actor at Cannes Film Festival this year. ‘The Settlers,’ is another Cannes winner; awarded the Fipresci Prize this year; an acclaimed Chilean film. A panorama of new international films offering cinematic views into other cultures features this year, with films from Ukraine, Syria, Palestine, Kazakhstan, China, Germany, and the US featuring on the schedule, amongst many others.
Festival Co-Director Úna Feely is confident IndieCork 2023 will be a vibrant and engaging festival: “Our programme is richly diverse this year. We’re privileged to be showing the Irish – Lebanese film ‘In The Shadow of Beirut,’ which is Ireland’s entry to the Academy Awards but also the Japanese and the Slovakian Academy entries. We have a special focus on cinema from Québec, plus international festival directors attending from Tribeca, Flatpack, and Venice film festivals to be on our Juries. It’s an exciting year, being the first event into the new Arc Cinema, and happening right at Christmas time, so we feel sure it will be a special year. We’d also like to extend our thanks to the great support we’ve had from everyone, including our main sponsor Blacknight, Cork City Council, Culture Ireland, National Talent Academies of of course, our amazing venue partners, The Arc Cinema’.
Looking ahead to IndieCork 2023, Festival Co-Director Mick Hannigan said ‘There are so many great films this year, but a standout for anyone interested in Irish history will be the world premiere of ‘Rebel Wife,’ which tells the story of Mary Jane O’Donovan Rossa, the wife of O’Donovan Rossa, the famous Irish Nationalist from Cork. ‘Rebel Wife’ has been directed by her great grandson who will visit Cork for the screening. It’s one of many very powerful documentaries in the line up for IndieCork this year. However, we are also really impressed by the quality and creativity of many documentaries and features this year’.
Tracey O’Brien of The Arc Cinema said IndieCork is a fantastic way to relaunch the premises: ‘We’re thrilled to bring IndieCork into the Arc Cinemas family. We really appreciate the patience and understanding of Úna, Mick and the entire IndieCork team and are delighted to open our newly refurbished cinema with another fantastic edition of the festival. We can’t wait to get the best of Cork, Irish and International independent film on screen’
IndieCork will shortly publish it’s music, performance and industry programme, an important part of the festival offering. The music events take place at The Pavilion venue on Carey’s Lane over December 17th and 18th. Industry masterclasses, talks and events will all be listed on www.indiecork.com
Tickets go on sale from December 5th at https://cork.arccinema.ie
