Irish Abroad: Irish films to feature prominently in Luxembourg

Now in its fifth edition, the British & Irish Film Festival will bring some of the latest films from the islands of Ireland and Britain to Luxembourg, with 10 premieres on the programme. Ireland is well represented with six films from these shores featuring.

The big draw will be John Michael McDonagh’s Calvary, already one of the best reviewed and highest grossing Irish films of the year. The film sees Brendan Gleeson plays a priest living in rural Sligo, whose life is turned upside down when he receives a death threat in the confessional.

Another of the big local films is Stephen Bradley’s biopic Noble, the inspiring story of Irish children’s rights campaigner Christina Noble, who in 1989 founded the The Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, an organisation which seeks to help children in Vietnam and Mongolia.

The Daniel Radcliffe starring What If, which is a lovely romantic comedy centred on a guy stuck firmly in the friend zone with Zoe Kazan, and which was partially set in Dublin, is sure to draw a big crowd too.

The two Filmbase Masters films, which have featured prominently on this site, have made the journey to Luxembourg, and will play back-to-back. The first up is mockumentary The Light of Day which follows a film crew trying to make a horror film, with the second the charming romantic comedy Poison Pen, which sees Lochlann O’Mearain and Aoibhinn McGinnity play author and editor locked in a battle of wills and wiles.

Finally from an Irish perspective is the Irish language feature An Bronntanas, a contemporary thriller set against the background of a local independent lifeboat crew working off the coast of Connemara.

From Britain comes an equally impressive line-up, which includes opener Hector and the Search for Happiness, the hilarious The Trip to Italy, the moving Pride, the black comedy A Practical Guide to a Spectacular Suicide, the spectacular Locke, Lone Scherfig’s The Riot Club, historical drama Castles in the Sky, and documentary A Dangerous Game.

For more details visit bifilmseason.lu