Search icon

Movies & TV

21st Jan 2020

10 must-see movies at the 2020 Dublin Film Festival

Rory Cashin

vdiff 2020

A great time of year for Irish movie fans.

It is that time of year again, when the stars (and their movies) of the world descend upon the capital for a few days.

This year, from Wednesday 26 February to Sunday 8 March, there will be well over 100 movies to choose from, from all around the world, including a very strong Irish contingent at this year’s festival.

We didn’t want to go too obvious with the picks – because everyone is going to want to see the new Pixar movie Onward and everyone is going to want to hang out with Oscar-magnet screenwriter Charlie Kaufman – so the following 10 movies are our picks of movies you may not have heard of yet, but definitely look fantastic from the early previews and word of mouth from other festivals around the world.

All of the information on tickets and events at this year’s festival can be found right here.

VIVARIUM

Wednesday 26 February – 6.15pm & 9pm – Cineworld

Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) and Imogen Poots (Green Room) star in this psychological thriller about a young couple who visit a quirky suburb to buy a new home, but soon find it impossible to leave.

Directed by Irish helmer Lorcan Finnegan.

Clip via Stockholms filmfestival

PROXIMA

Friday 28 February – 8.30pm – Lighthouse

Eva Green (Casino Royale) plays an astronaut who is chosen to take part in a year-long mission orbiting Earth, but this throws her relationship with her young daughter into chaos.

Clip via Madman Films

LES MISÉRABLES

Saturday 29 February – 11am – Cineworld

Inspired by the 2005 riots in Paris, the movie follows a group of French citizens trying to survive amidst the mounting tensions between local gangs. When an arrest turns unexpectedly violent, three police officers must reckon with the aftermath and keep the neighborhood from spiralling out of control.

Clip via Amazon Studios

ROSE PLAYS JULIE

Saturday 29 February – 8.30pm – Lighthouse

Aidan Gillen (Game Of Thrones) and Orla Brady (Star Trek: Picard) star in this drama about an adopted girl who seeks out her birth mother only to be told her mother has no desire to meet her.

Clip via BFI

RADIOACTIVE

Sunday 1 March – 7.45pm – Lighthouse

Based on the true story of the scientific and romantic passions of Marie Sklodowska-Curie (Rosamund Pike) and Pierre Curie (Sam Riley) and the reverberation of their discoveries throughout the 20th century.

Clip via StudiocanalUK

SAINT MAUD

Monday 2 March – 6.15pm – Lighthouse

Pitched as being the halfway point between The Exorcist and First Reformed, Morfydd Clark (Crawl) plays a highly religious caregiver who becomes obsessed with saving the soul of a dying patient, played by Jennifer Ehle (Zero Dark Thirty).

Clip via A24

CALM WITH HORSES

Thursday 5 March – 8.30pm – Lighthouse

In darkest rural Ireland, ex-boxer Douglas ‘Arm’ Armstrong (Cosmo Jarvis) has become the feared enforcer for the drug-dealing Devers family (including Barry Keoghan), whilst also trying to be a good father to his autistic five-year-old son, Jack. Torn between these two families, Arm’s loyalties are truly tested when he is asked to kill for the first time.

Clip via Film4

RIALTO

Friday 6 March – 8.15pm – Lighthouse

Tom Vaughn-Lawlor plays a happily married man with two kids who finds his life turned upside down after the death of his father and he finds himself becoming increasingly drawn to a 19-year-old male prostitute.

Clip via BREAK OUT PICTURES

SEA FEVER

Saturday 7 March – 8.45pm – Lighthouse

Filmed in Bray, with an Irish director and an impressive international cast including Connie Nielsen (Gladiator) and Dougray Scott (Mission: Impossible 2), this horror revolves around the crew of a West of Ireland trawler, marooned at sea, struggling for their lives against a growing parasite in their water supply.

Clip via Exile PR Office

HERSELF

Sunday 8 March – 6.15pm – Cineworld

Directed by Phyllida Lloyd (Mamma Mia!, The Iron Lady), this powerful drama tells the the story of young mother Sandra, who escapes her abusive boyfriend and fights back against a broken housing system. She sets out to build her own home and in the process rebuilds her life and re-discovers herself.

herself

LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Conor Sketches | Tiger Woods loves Ger Loughnane and cosplaying as Charles LeClerc