Paddy Duffy’s The UnHolylands starring James Nesbitt is among the world premieres at the 24th Belfast Film Festival (October 31-November 9).
Duffy’s coming-of-age comedy sees two brothers attempt one last house party before their university days are over. It also stars Ciaran McCourt, Peter Jeffries and Sean Daly.
Further world premieres include Michael Head’s comedy The Spin starring Derry Girls’ Tara Lynne O’Neill and Will McConnell’s experimental drama Beautiful And Loud And Clear.
Competition
Eight films comprise Belfast’s third annual international competition including Xiaoxuan Jiang’s To Kill A Mongolian Horse, winner of best directing and screenwriting prizes at Venice film festival. Fellow Venice winner Familiar Touch from Sarah Friedland is also competing, having picked up the Future Lion award, as is Canada’s Oscar submission for international feature – Matthew Rankin’s Universal Language.
Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude, Toronto programmer Dorota Lech and Irish filmmaker Dean Kavanag will preside over the jury for the first- and second-time filmmakers. A £7,000 prize will go to the director of best film, alongside jury prizes for outstanding craft contribution and breakout performance of £1,500 each.
Opening the festival is Aislinn Clarke’s Irish-language horror Fréwaka, which has played several festivals prior including Locarno, while it will close with Sam O’Mahony’s The Wise Guy.
Features in the New Cinema strand include festival favourites A Real Pain, Nickel Boys, Hard Truths and Grand Tour.
On November 2, the festival takes part in Palestine Cinema Day, which is happening around the world, with a screening of Julia Bacha’s Naila And The Uprising.
Belfast Film Festival 2024
International competition
Familiar Touch
Dir. Sarah Friedland
Universal Language
Dir. Matthew Rankin
Paul And Paulette Take A Bath
Dir. Jethro Massey
Second Chance
Dir. Subhadra Mahajan
Windless
DIr. Pavel G. Vesnakov
To Kill A Mongolian Horse
Dir. Xiaoxuan Jiang
Eephus
Dir. Carson Lund
The Ballad Of Suzanne Césaire
Dir. Madeline Hunt Ehrlich
New Cinema
A Real Pain
Dir. Jesse Eisenberg
Nightbitch
Dir. Marielle Heller
La Cocina
Dir. Alonso Ruizpalacios
Rumours
Dirs. Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson
Hard Truths
Dir. Mike Leigh
King Baby
Dirs. Kit Redstone, Aaran Shearing
Flow
Dir. Gints Zilbalodis
Nickel Boys
Dir. RaMell Ross
Armand
Dir. Halfdan Ullmann Tønde
Grand Tour
Dir. Miguel Gomes
The Other Way Around
Dir. Jonás Trueba
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