14-05-2025
Éire on the Riviera: Irish films set to shine at Cannes 2025
The Irish are taking over Cannes 2025, here's everything you need to know!
Taking place from 13 to 24 May, the 78th edition of the Cannes Films Festival programme includes several Irish-backed productions, featuring a number of big names.
The esteemed festival will also see some of your favourite Irish actors stun on the red carpet as the festivities well and truly get underway. The Irish are taking over Cannes 2025, here's everything you need to know! Pic:Most notably competing for the Palme d'Or this year is The History of Sound, starring Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor.
Directed by Oliver Hermanus, the film tells the story of two young men during World War I who embark on a journey to record the voices, music, and stories of their fellow American soldiers.
This may be a US/UK co-production, however, the film also lists Mescal among its executive producers. Taking place from 13 to 24 May, the 78th edition of the Cannes Films Festival programme includes several Irish-backed productions, featuring a number of big names. Pic: Brian McEvoy
Element Pictures has an enviable roster at this year's festival, starting with Pillion, starring Alexander Skarsgård and adapted from the novel by Adam Mars-Jones.
The flick follows a man drawn into an unfamiliar world after falling under the spell of a magnetic biker and is backed by BBC Film and the British Film Institute.
My Father's Shadow, directed by Akinola Davies Jr., will also premiere. Based on the real-life events that gripped the world, the cast includes Colm Meaney, Jim Sheridan, Vicky Krieps and Aidan Gillen. Pic: David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock
The film is set against the backdrop of Nigeria's 1993 election crisis and follows a father and his estranged sons as they navigate the turbulence of Lagos during political upheaval.
Also featured is Learning to Breathe Under Water which was directed by Rebekah Fortune and shot in Galway.
The film stars Rory Kinnear, Academy Award nominee Maria Bakalova, and newcomer Ezra Carlisle and centers on an imaginative eight-year-old boy who constructs a fantasy world to better understand his grief. The esteemed festival will also see some of your favourite Irish actors stun on the red carpet as the festivities well and truly get underway. Pic: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for US-Ireland Alliance
The festival will also host a special screening of Bono: Stories of Surrender, a documentary directed by Andrew Dominik, offering an intimate portrait of the U2 frontman.
Another notable mention is Re-Creation follows a fictitious trial where twelve members of a jury must decide whether British journalist Ian Bailey is guilty of the murder of French filmmaker Sophie Toscan Du Plantier in 1996.
Based on the real-life events that gripped the world, the cast includes Colm Meaney, Jim Sheridan, Vicky Krieps and Aidan Gillen.
The award winning Cartoon Saloon will also present a first look at their next animated film Julián on Sunday 18 May at 10am in Palais K as part of the Annecy Animation Showcase. Julián is the feature debut of director Louise Bagnall, and is supported by Screen Ireland.
