On the 10th of December, Cork’s coveted film festival, IndieCork, held their Filmmakers programme launch. Filmmakers, both Cork based and nationwide, attended to celebrate the return of the festival for the 11th year. As continuous sponsors of the festival, we are delighted to see what it has to offer this year.
The launch took place in The Blacknight Festival Center, based in the beautiful restored old 1922 cinema The Pavilion, where organisers got the ball rolling ahead of the official start date. The festival begins on the 15th of December and concludes on the 22nd of December. It’s a later start this year compared to previous years and will put a nice festive atmosphere on the event just before Christmas.
The official schedule has been released. There’ll be a wide range of short films, world premieres, documentaries, fiction, awards, and more. Some of the premiers include the Irish premier of ‘Till Love Do Us Part’ and the world premiere of ‘A Sunken Place (Ronan O’Leary)’. There will be DJs and other live music during the festival for music lovers to enjoy. In conjunction to the films and music, IndieCork are helping creatives to learn more about their skill with Flourish, a 10-module talent development programme. They’ve also collaborated with both MTU Crawford College of Art & Design and University College Cork giving students an opportunity to present their work at IndieCork.
The Blacknight Festival Centre will return in the newly reopened The Pavilion. The venue closed as a cinema in 1989 but was renovated and opened in October 2022 as a cinema and multifunctional arts space, accompanied by a cocktail bar. During IndieCork, the Blacknight Festival Centre will have a host of gigs, talks, panels and networking sessions, including one hosted by the National Talent Academies for emerging filmmakers.
The festival is screening a range of Irish and international features, documentaries and shorts, with a special focus on cinema from Quebec. It also screens four films that are on the long-list for the Academy Awards this year. With announcements on nominations on December 21st, there will be great excitement to see if any of the films make it to final nominations.
In addition, IndieCork announced a new Cine Club in partnership with The Arc Cinema which will take place from February to May 2024. There will be screenings of IndieCork films on a bi-monthly basis, giving everyone more access to independent film throughout the year.
The festival begins today and runs until the 22nd of December, so get your tickets here!
About the Author: Aoife Wright
