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Movies & TV

03rd Feb 2021

These are our 10 must-watches at the 2021 Dublin International Film Festival

Rory Cashin

The entirely virtual festival has an incredible set of movies to check out this March.

Running from Wednesday, 3 March to Sunday, 14 March, the full line-up for the 2021 Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival has been announced today.

The full line-up can be found right here, but we’ve scoured through the scheduled to pick out the ten highlights we’re already very excited to check out:

  • Ammonite

1840s England, acclaimed but overlooked fossil hunter Mary Anning (Kate Winslett) and a young woman (Saoirse Ronan) sent to convalesce by the sea develop an intense relationship, altering both of their lives forever.

Clip via Lionsgate

  • Boys From County Hell

A crew of hardy road workers, led by a bickering father and son, must survive the night when they accidentally awaken an ancient Irish vampire.

  • Deadly Cuts

A black comedy set in a working-class Dublin hair salon where the stylists become accidental vigilantes and community heroes as they take on the gang members and gentrifiers threatening their community.

  • Minari

One of the biggest Oscar hopefuls for the 2021 Academy Awards, this tells the story of a Korean family starts a farm in 1980s Arkansas.

Clip via A24

  • Playback

A dynamic programme of the best contemporary Irish Hip Hop and R&B music videos in Ireland today. Curated for the 2021 Festival by producer Michael Donnelly V and musician Erica Cody, Playback presents 12 music videos alongside specially-recorded interviews with the featured film directors and music artists. This project showcases the vibrant, energetic creativity of the talents involved and gives them a platform to discuss their process, style and collaborations.

  • Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time

Márta, a forty-year-old neurosurgeon, falls in love. She leaves her shining American career behind and returns to Budapest to start a new life with the man. But the love of her life claims they have never met before.

  • Son

When a young boy falls ill to a mysterious illness, his mother must decide how far she will go to protect him from terrifying forces in her past. From Irish director Ivan Kavanagh (The Canal).

  • Supernova

Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci) are traveling across England in their old RV to visit friends, family and places from their past. Since Tusker was diagnosed with dementia two years ago, their time together is the most important thing they have. (Firth and Tucci will also be taking part in a post-movie discussion for those with tickets to the screening.)

Clip via Studio Canal

  • Surprise Movie

Every year, the Dublin International Film Festival plays a movie to the audiences, and every year, it is successfully kept as a complete and total surprise right up until the opening credits begin to play. This year will be no different!

  • Underplayed

Filmed over the summer festival season, this documentary presents a portrait of the current status of the gender, ethnic, and sexuality equality issues in dance music.

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