Cork International Film Festival

A report by Paulius Kanarskas

It is the dream of many cinema lovers to attend a film festival. Festivals always feel tailor-made to those disillusioned with current mainstream films. One will not find the latest blockbusters there, but one might find a film that will affect them for the rest of their lives. I was one of those who had dreamt of attending a film festival, and this year, I finally got the chance.

Cork, and Ireland in general, has a rich history with filmmaking. Some of the most acclaimed films, directors, and actors in the past few decades have been Irish. The Cork International Film Festival (CIFF) has been celebrating Ireland’s rich film history for decades, in fact this year’s was the 69th annual edition. Indeed, the most advertised award category was Best New Irish Feature. Sadly, I did not get to see any nominees in this category, but I will make sure to seek them out in the future.

I did get to see some nominees in different categories: Best Film and Best Screenplay. On my first night, I went to see a Norwegian film called Lovable at the Arc Cinema. The film was a divorce drama, and a character study of a volatile woman going through the toughest period in her life. The film was great, and since I speak Norwegian, I found it interesting watching the film with English subtitles, as some of the translated lines had a slightly meaner attitude than the original ones. If you are visiting Cork from abroad, the CIFF might even provide you with an opportunity to see a film in your first language. This was also the first time I ever experienced an audience clapping for the film’s credits, and I found that unexpectedly wholesome.

The next screening I attended was even more interesting: at the Triskel Arts Centre, there was a ceremony to celebrate this year’s honorary Disruptor award winner, the cult classic 1987 comedy Withnail and I. This year’s festival was the first one to include the Disruptor award, which goes out to groundbreaking and influential films. Withnail and I was certainly a worthy inaugural winner, as it is considered by many to be one of the best and most influential comedies of all time. The film was great, I do just wish that the screening had included subtitles, as the dialogue was very hard to hear at times (most likely due to the audio mixing in the venue). However, seeing the award ceremony was very interesting, as I had never attended anything like that before. Before the film started, the director, Bruce Robinson, went on stage to hold a short speech, and after the film had finished, the award was given to him and one of the lead actors, Paul McGann. There was an interview and a Q&A session with the two winners as well, and listening to that was fascinating even as a first time viewer of the film. Robinson and McGann were just as hilarious and charismatic in an interview setting as the film would have you believe.

On my third and final visit at the festival, I watched another nominee in the Best Film and Best Screenplay categories. This time around, it was a film by a Polish director, and it was almost entirely in Ukrainian. The film was titled Under the Volcano, and it portrayed a Ukrainian family’s life and relationships as their country got invaded while they were on vacation. It was a powerful film, one that leaves the viewer thinking about it long after the initial watch. I was also lucky enough to catch a short interview with another one of the film’s attendees.

Q: Is this your first time attending Cork International Film Festival?

A: It is! I am just visiting Cork, and after some googling, I found this festival was going on, and it looked really interesting.

Q: What did you think about the film you watched?

A: It was a very interesting film, a different film than I am used to watching. But I really enjoyed it, it was very well made! It is a film I will have to digest.

Q: Would you recommend the festival to other people visiting Cork?

A: I would! If they are there at the time, I recommend that they look through which movies are showing, as there is a great variety of movies, both new and old. For anyone interested in movies, the festival is a must. I hope I can attend a film festival in Limerick, where I come from.

After viewing each film, I got a digital link allowing me to rate the film on a scale of one to five. These ratings determine the winners of the audience awards. Although realistically my ratings did very little to affect the outcome, it was still a very fun experience regardless. It really made me feel like a film critic. Another small thing I enjoyed was the seats in the Arc Cinema. Not only were the seats wide and soft, but they also had a reclining function. It helped so much to focus on the finer aspects of the films when I did not have to think about sitting comfortably.

Overall, attending the 2024 Cork International Film Festival was a great experience, and one that I would recommend to any film fan. Not only did I get to see some films that I might never have seen otherwise, but I also got to see them in the very special festival environment. Everything here reminded me of why I love cinema so much. If you happen to be visiting Cork whenever the next festival rolls around, make sure to find some time to check it out.

WORKS CITED

“2024 Festival Brochure.” Cork International Film Festival, 18 Oct. 2024, corkfilmfest.org/2024-festival-brochure/.