Latest news with #SaoirseRonan
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
New Voices fund launched to support next generation of Wexford filmmakers
Wexford People Today at 23:00 Wexford has a rich cinematic history. Back in 1998, Oscar winning film director Steven Spielberg picked Wexford's coastline to stage the most dramatic and intense scenes of Saving Private Ryan. More recently, Saoirse Ronan brought Colm Tóibín's Brooklyn to life on the streets of Enniscorthy. Now, Screen Wexford have launched the New Voices Short Film Fund to support the next generation of Wexford filmmakers The fund was created in partnership with Wexford Arts Department, Wexford County Council, Bodecii Film Ireland, and Film Equipment Ireland. The hope is that it will serve as an incubator for short films that reflect the creativity, diversity and truly unique voices of the region. The call for applications is open to short films of all kinds, including drama, animation, documentary and experimental art films, from directors, writers and creative producers. Competition is expected to be fierce for the total fund of €20,000 which will be awarded to two successful projects. Both winners will receive €7,000 in production funding and €3,000 worth of equipment hire, in December 2025, with production commencing in 2026. At least one of the creative team must be either from or living in Wexford and the film must have either a cultural focus on Wexford be based in the county. Applications for the fund opened at the end of June and will remain open until Monday September 30, 2025.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Toronto film festival: Angelina Jolie, Saoirse Ronan and Keanu Reeves lead lineup
World premieres starring Angelina Jolie, Saoirse Ronan and Keanu Reeves lead this year's lineup for the Toronto film festival. The 50th edition of the festival will again feature a string of films hoping to gain awards traction, taking place after the Venice film festival. Jolie, who premiered a film at last year's Toronto as director, will return in front of the camera for the French director Alice Winocour's drama Couture. She will play a film-maker arriving in Paris for fashion week, following her role as Maria Callas in last year's Netflix biopic Maria. Winocour previously premiered the Eva Green-led sci-fi film Proxima at the festival. Ronan, who was last seen in the alcoholism drama The Outrun and Steve McQueen's Blitz, will lead the Bristol-set comedy thriller Bad Apples, playing a teacher forced into drastic lengths while dealing with a particularly troubling 11-year-old. The official synopsis promises 'uneasy laughs' and a 'provocative' tone. Reeves will lead Aziz Ansari's directorial debut, Good Fortune, as an angel who engineers a body swap between a poor and a rich man, played by Ansari and Seth Rogen, respectively. Ansari has said he hopes the film helps to resurrect the theatrically released R-rated comedy. 'Aziz is great,' Reeves told Entertainment Weekly. 'A great writer, director, actor. I had such a fantastic experience working with him.' Toronto will also see directorial debuts from actors James McAvoy, Brian Cox and Euphoria's Maude Apatow, daughter of Judd Apatow. McAvoy directed California Schemin', based on the true story of Scottish rappers pretending to be American, Cox has helmed Glenrothan, a drama described as a 'love letter to Scotland', and Apatow is behind Poetic License, a comedy starring her mother Leslie Mann. The festival will also see the world premiere of Christy, a biopic of the groundbreaking female boxer Christy Martin starring Sydney Sweeney. The film, from the Animal Kingdom director David Michôd, will cover Martin's rise in the 1990s and then later her husband's attempt to murder her. 'Our film is a wild mix of inspiring underdog sports-world story and personal saga,' Michôd said to W Magazine. 'Sydney trained her butt off to play the part. The beauty of Sydney is that she turned up to work every day with her tail wagging, ready to go. No matter how tough it was, she was like a ray of sunshine.' Other true stories premiering include the 1930s-set Palestine 36 about a Palestinian uprising against colonial British rule, the historical drama Nuremberg starring Rami Malek and Russell Crowe, Agnieszka Holland's Franz Kafka biopic Franz, Swiped which stars Lily James as the founder of the dating app Bumble and Paul Greengrass's previously announced survival thriller The Lost Bus, which stars Matthew McConaughey as a schoolbus driver trying to save children from the deadly 2018 Camp fire in California. Premieres that had also already been announced before Monday include Rian Johnson's much-anticipated Knives Out sequel Wake Up Dead Man, which brings back Daniel Craig and adds Josh O'Connor, Glenn Close and Mila Kunis, the buzzy Brendan Fraser-led comedy drama Rental Family from Beef director Hikari, the Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance's Roofman with Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst, Nicholas Hytner's period comedy The Choral starring Ralph Fiennes and based on an original Alan Bennett script and Steven Soderbergh's dark comedy The Christophers with Michaela Coel, Ian McKellen and Baby Reindeer breakout Jessica Gunning. Chris Evans will also play a movie star abducted by a group of radicals in Sacrifice, an action comedy also starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Salma Hayek, John Malkovich and Charli xcx. Director Bobby Farrelly, known for co-directing hit films such as There's Something About Mary, will unveil Driver's Ed, a new comedy starring the White Lotus breakout Sam Nivola. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Theo James will also headline the heist thriller Fuze from the Scottish director David Mackenzie. Other notable premieres include the offbeat romantic comedy Eternity with Elizabeth Olsen and Miles Teller, mystery thriller The Ugly from Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho and Easy's Waltz from True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto with Al Pacino and Vince Vaughn. Documentaries set to premiere include Baz Luhrmann's EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert and films about subjects such as John Candy, teen series Degrassi and music festival Lilith Fair. The festival takes place from the 4 to 14 September.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Toronto film festival: Angelina Jolie, Saoirse Ronan and Keanu Reeves lead lineup
World premieres starring Angelina Jolie, Saoirse Ronan and Keanu Reeves lead this year's lineup for the Toronto film festival. The 50th edition of the festival will again feature a string of films hoping to gain awards traction, taking place after the Venice film festival. Jolie, who premiered a film at last year's Toronto as director, will return in front of the camera for French director Alice Winocour's drama Couture. She will play a film-maker arriving in Paris for fashion week, following her role as Maria Callas in last year's Netflix biopic Maria. Winocour previously premiered the Eva Green-led sci-fi film Proxima at the festival. Ronan, who was last seen in alcoholism drama The Outrun and Steve McQueen's Blitz, will lead Bristol-set comedy thriller Bad Apples, playing a teacher forced into drastic lengths while dealing with a particularly troubling 11-year-old. The official synopsis promises 'uneasy laughs' and a 'provocative' tone. Reeves will lead Aziz Ansari's directorial debut Good Fortune, as an angel who engineers a body swap between a poor and a rich man, played by Ansari and Seth Rogen, respectively. Ansari has said he hopes the film helps to resurrect the theatrically released R-rated comedy. 'Aziz is great,' Reeves told Entertainment Weekly. 'A great writer, director, actor. I had such a fantastic experience working with him.' Toronto will also see directorial debuts from actors James McAvoy, Brian Cox and Euphoria's Maude Apatow, daughter of Judd Apatow. McAvoy directed California Schemin', based on the true story of Scottish rappers pretending to be American, Cox has helmed Glenrothan, a drama described as a 'love letter to Scotland' and Apatow is behind Poetic License, a comedy starring her mother Leslie Mann. The festival will also see the world premiere of Christy, a biopic of groundbreaking female boxer Christy Martin starring Sydney Sweeney. The film, from Animal Kingdom director David Michôd, will cover Martin's rise in the 1990s and then later her husband's attempt to murder her. 'Our film is a wild mix of inspiring underdog sports-world story and personal saga,' Michôd said to W Magazine. 'Sydney trained her butt off to play the part. The beauty of Sydney is that she turned up to work every day with her tail wagging, ready to go. No matter how tough it was, she was like a ray of sunshine.' Other true stories premiering include the 1930s-set Palestine 36 about a Palestinian uprising against colonial British rule, historical drama Nuremberg starring Rami Malek and Russell Crowe, Agnieszka Holland's Franz Kafka biopic Franz, Swiped which stars Lily James as the founder of dating app Bumble and Paul Greengrass's previously announced survival thriller The Lost Bus, which stars Matthew McConaughey as a schoolbus driver trying to save children from the deadly 2018 Camp fire in California. Premieres that had also already been announced prior to today include Rian Johnson's much-anticipated Knives Out sequel Wake Up Dead Man, which brings back Daniel Craig and adds Josh O'Connor, Glenn Close and Mila Kunis, the buzzy Brendan Fraser-led comedy drama Rental Family, Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance's Roofman with Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst, Nicholas Hytner's period comedy The Choral starring Ralph Fiennes and based on an original Alan Bennett script and Steven Soderbergh's dark comedy The Christophers with Michaela Coel, Ian McKellen and Baby Reindeer breakout Jessica Gunning. Chris Evans will also play a movie star abducted by a group of radicals in Sacrifice, an action comedy also starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Salma Hayek, John Malkovich and Charli xcx. Director Bobby Farrelly, known for co-directing hit films such as There's Something About Mary, will unveil Driver's Ed, a new comedy starring The White Lotus breakout Sam Nivola. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Theo James will also headline heist thriller Fuze from Scottish director David Mackenzie. Other notable premieres include offbeat romantic comedy Eternity with Elizabeth Olsen and Miles Teller, mystery thriller The Ugly from Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho and Easy's Waltz from True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto with Al Pacino and Vince Vaughn. Documentaries set to premiere include Baz Luhrmann's EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert and films about subjects such as John Candy, teen series Degrassi and music festival Lilith Fair. The festival takes place from the 4th to the 14th of September.
Daily Mirror
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
‘Outstanding and raw' war film with Saoirse Ronan streaming now
The drama is said to be a tough watch An 'outstanding' war film featuring a little-known Saoirse Ronan role is currently streaming. Released back in 2010, The Way Back stars the Little Women star, alongside Hollywood heavyweights Colin Farrell, Jim Strugess, and Ed Harris. The film is currently available to stream at no extra cost for Prime Video subscribers. Set in 1939, the drama follows a group of gulag prisoners who escape a Siberian labour camp, and must trek thousands of miles to freedom. It is inspired by Polish prisoner of war Sławomir Rawicz's 1956 memoir, The Long Walk, in which he claimed to have escaped a Soviet gulag during World War Two. Although the memoir tells an inspiring story, its authenticity is widely debated. While Rawicz, who died in 2004, claimed to have embarked on this gruelling 4,000 mile escape, historical evidence suggests the author may not have taken on the journey at all. Despite this, famed Australian director Peter Weir was drawn to the story's heart and decided to adapt it for the big screen. Ronan plays Irena, a young refugee who encounters escapees Janusz Wieszczek (Sturgess), Mr Smith (Harris), and Valka (Farrell) during their journey. Upon its release, The Way Back earned widespread critical acclaim, bagging a respectable 73 per cent critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes. Reviewers raved about the period drama, with one saying: "This Peter Weir epic offers sweeping ambition and strong performances to go with its grand visual spectacle." Casual moviegoers were equally impressed by the drama, with one Google Review stating: "It's a masterpiece and it's a pity that this movie is so underrated." The same fan continued: "From actors to the dialogues, lights, camera-angle, background music, scripting, screenplay, art direction of sets, cinematography, everything will just blow your mind." Someone else crowned the feature as "one of the greatest movies of WW2". Meanwhile, another fan said: "[It is a] tough to watch but an incredible story!" Elsewhere, viewers claimed the "acting was outstanding and so was the story," with yet another fan praising the "raw" storyline. A final viewer took to IMDb and simply penned: "Grim but beautiful."
Irish Times
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
The Movie Quiz: What was the last film made in the truncated Chronicles of Narnia series?
Who is set to continue what Terence Young began? Denis Villeneuve Christopher Nolan Edgar Wright Matthew Vaughn Jurassic World Rebirth is out this week. How many films in the Jurassic Park/World sequence does that make? 5 6 7 8 The director of which film is currently favourite to become mum to the next mayor of New York? Which doesn't feature a Gleeson? Phantom Thread Peter Rabbit The Smurfs Assassin's Creed What was the last film made in the truncated Chronicles of Narnia series? The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Prince Caspian The Silver Chair The Magician's Nephew Who is the odd character out? Sherlock Jr Batman Annie Hall Liberace A song by which post-punk band shares a title with the name of a Werner Herzog feature? Blondie The Dead Kennedys Magazine The Raincoats Which is not a character in the Austin Powers series? Ivana Humpalot Dixie Normous Gloria Passworthy Fook Mi Who did not win an Oscar when Saoirse Ronan was nominated in the same category? Brie Larson Frances McDormand Renée Zellweger Ariana DeBose Which of these Tilda Swinton films does not take its title directly from a famous painting?
