FEATURING IN-PERSON, ONLINE VIEWINGS AND A VISIT FROM FORMER PRESIDENT OF IRELAND
The annual festival includes the Midwest premier of the documentary, “Mrs. Robinson,” and includes 14 feature films and 34 short films selected from more than 300 submissions.
CHICAGO (Jan. 14, 2025) — The 26th annual Chicago Irish Film Festival (CIFF) returns to showcase the best features, shorts, and documentary films from the Land of Storytelling. This year’s festival will screen exclusively at AMC New City from February 27 through March 2, with an additional online format offering digital tickets for at-home screenings from March 3-9.
The festival will include 14 feature films and documentaries, along with 34 short films selected from over 300 entries, covering a myriad of issues and genres that highlight the extraordinary creativity central to Irish filmmaking and storytelling. The festival will open with the U.S. premiere of “Dead Man’s Money,” on February 27, directed by Paul Kennedy and starring Pat Shortt, Judith Roddy, and Ciarán McMenamin, in a twisted tale of love and greed.
The 2025 Chicago Irish Film Festival will feature the Midwest premiere of the documentary “Mrs. Robinson”. Directed by Aoife Kelleher, the film features former Irish President Mary Robinson telling her own story for the very first time—illuminating her battles for justice and equality over half a century, from the streets and courts to the ballot box and backroom corridors of power. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with President Robinson.
Fresh off a strong awards season, CIFF will present the Midwest Premier of the heartfelt Irish-language film “Fidil Ghorm (Blue Fiddle),” about a young girl who believes in the magic of music to help her father wake from a coma. The film stars Edith Lawlor, winner of the 2023 All-Ireland Under-12 Fiddle competition, along with Barry McGovern and Siobhán Kelly.
The documentary “The Irish Question,” from acclaimed filmmaker Alan Gilsenan, presents a provocative, poetic, and cinematic meditation on the prospect of a united Ireland, taking a fresh and sometimes surprising look at the dark trauma of the past and the unique possibilities of the future. With a nod to Irish fables and folklore, the festival is also screening the 1982 classic “The Outcasts,” a coming-of-age story filled with mysticism and intrigue set in 19th-century rural Ireland. Directed by Robert Wynne-Simmons (known for the horror classic “The Blood on Satan’s Claw”), the film is as bleak and disturbing as the landscape in the perfect folk-horror tradition.
Other films screening at the festival include: Ewa Birthistle’s debut feature “Kathleen Is Here,” starring Hazel Doupe as a young girl with a haunted past; “The Spin,” a rollicking road adventure by director Michael Head; Ciaran Cassidy’s “Housewife of the Year,” which looks back at a popular TV show that aired from 1969 to 1995 and shared women’s experiences of marriage and motherhood; “Laoch - Defy the Odds,” directed by Chicago filmmaker Stephen Mazurek, which tells the story of the extraordinary Thomas "Tommy" McCague, Ireland’s only powerlifter with dwarfism; and another Chicago filmmaker, Susan Kelsey, brings the story of Billy Caldwell, an Irish-Native American who helped write the treaty for the Potawatomi people whose land became the city of Chicago, to life in the film “Billy Caldwell + The Great Lakes Treaty.”
In addition to the feature films and documentaries, the festival will screen four shorts programs featuring works by award-winning directors as well as first-time filmmakers. Once again, CIFF has an Oscar contender in the lineup with “Room Taken,” directed by TJ O'Grady-Peyton and starring Brid Brennan and Gabriel Adewusi.
Passes and tickets for this year’s festival are available through Go Elevant. All-access in-person and virtual festival passes are available for $150 (includes opening night), an in-person festival pass for $125, and a virtual all-access pass for $30. Opening night tickets for the U.S. premiere of Dead Man’s Money on February 27 are available for $75 and include a reception at Earl’s Kitchen from 6-8 p.m., followed by the screening at 8:15 p.m. alongside a Q&A with director Paul Kennedy. The Mrs. Robinson special event with President Robinson is available for $20 per ticket.
Individual tickets for in-person films are priced at $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $8 for students and children. All in-person screenings will take place at AMC New City, located at Suite C3401, 1500 N. Clybourn Ave, Chicago. For more information on how to experience this year’s CIFF, visit www.chicagoirishfilmfestival.com.
Presenting sponsors of this year’s festival include the Government of Ireland’s Emigrant Support Program, Culture Ireland, the Consulate General of Ireland, Screen Ireland, and the Irish Film Institute.
About Chicago Irish Film Festival
The 26th annual Chicago Irish Film Festival is Chicago’s celebration of stories and Films from the Land of Storytelling. The festival is available in-person February 27 through March 2, 2024, and online March 3-9. The Chicago Irish Film Festival has been dedicated to presenting the works of Irish filmmakers to the Chicago film community for 25 years. Since 1999, the festival has screened over 1,500 features, documentaries, and short films by many of Ireland’s most talented and award-winning filmmakers. The festival is a celebration of world diversity, creativity and the best independent films created by Irish filmmakers. The Chicago Irish Film Festival is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and a partner of IFI International — a program of the Irish Film Institute and supported by Culture Ireland.