‘Poor Things’ to open the 68th Cork International Film Festival

CORK International Film Festival has announced that the Opening Gala of the 2023 Festival will be the Irish premiere of Poor Things, the award-winning, critically acclaimed new film produced by Irish company Element Pictures.

The Opening Night Gala takes place at Cork Opera House on Thursday, November 9, and the 68th edition of the festival will screen over 200 films and events across Cork city and county in total until November 26.

Poor Things, the winner of the 2023 Golden Lion, the highest prize given at the Venice Film Festival, is directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and stars Emma Stone, who was also a producer. It tells the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe).

Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe from Element Pictures, producers of Poor Things, said: “We are so proud of this film and of how it has been received by audiences around the world so far. It’s a real honour for us to have Cork International Film Festival host the Irish premiere of the film on their opening night — to screen the film at the longest running film festival in Ireland is another prestigious step in the journey of this very special film.”

Festival director and CEO of Cork International Film Festival Fiona Clark commented: “With the determination of our talented programming team, we are thrilled to be able to open the 68th edition of the Festival this year with the Irish premiere of one of the most talked about films of 2023, Poor Things. This is a phenomenal coup for the festival and firmly maintains our reputation as the leading film festival in Ireland.”

The festival will also be the world premiere of highly anticipated documentary One Night in Millstreet, directed by two-time Best Sports Doc IFTA winner Andrew Gallimore and produced by Morgan Bushe and Peter Murnaghan. The film will bring the Cork audience a reminder of an event that took place over the St Patrick’s weekend of 1995, a world championship boxing match deep in the countryside of Co Cork. It also tells of the trajectory of the two competitors: formidable super middleweight champion, Chris Eubank, and the challenger from Cabra, Steve Collins.

The international premiere of feature film Brave The Dark, by filmmaker Damian Harris and based on the true life of Nathaniel Deen, who will be in attendance, will take place on November 11. Brave The Dark portrays Stan Deen (Jared Harris), a 1980s small-town teacher, as he is drawn into the mysterious past of a student, attempting to reach Nate (Nicholas Hamilton), lost, angry and haunted by fragments of frightening memories that he can’t fully understand.