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Cillian Murphy has been named Best Lead Actor in the film category of the Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTAs) for the second year running.

Following his win last year for Oppenheimer (which went on to bag him the Oscar), Murphy won for his role in the film Small Things Like These.

The film, an adaptation of Claire Keegan’s novella, also won Best Film.

Complete Winners List Below

An Irish-language film about Belfast rap group Kneecap was nominated in 17 award categories. The film’s director Rich Peppiatt won best director in the film category, and it was also recognised in casting and costume design.

At the ceremony in Dublin, Ireland, Friday evening, Saoirse Ronan was a double winner, taking home Best Lead Actress for The Outrun and Best Supporting Actress for The Blitz.

Ralph Fiennes and Demi Moore were winners in the international acting categories for Conclave and The Substance respectively.

Small Things Like These, an Irish drama starring Cillian Murphy as a coal merchant and father haunted by secret abuses in a local convent sanctioned by the Catholic Church, beat out Kneecap, the hip-hop comedy featuring Michael Fassbender, to win the best film honor at the Irish Film & Television Awards 2025 during a ceremony held in Dublin on Friday. Saoirse Ronan left with two awards (the lead actress honor for her role in The Outrun and the supporting actress trophy for Blitz). Murphy won the best actor IFTA for his work in Small Things Like These. Demi Moore (The Substance) and Ralph Fiennes (Conclave) were honored in the international acting categories, and Colin Farrell (The Penguin) and Sharon Horgan (for writing Bad Sisters) earned TV statuettes.

Rich Peppiatt received the best director IFTA for Kneecap, which follows the West Belfast hip-hop trio of the same name on their mission to save their mother tongue.

Kneecap is leading the charge at this year’s Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) awards, with 17 nominations across 12 categories.

Rich Peppiatt’s feature about the eponymous Irish-language Belfast hip hop act is on an awards season roll, having led the winners at the Bifas back in December with seven awards, as well as having been shortlisted at the Oscars in the international feature category, and being longlisted in seven categories at the Baftas (with nominations announced tomorrow).

Scroll down for the full list of film nominations

Tim Mielants’ Small Things Like These, an Ireland-Belgium co-production that opened the Berlin film festival last year,...

“Kneecap” — the Irish-language music biopic that became one of the buzziest indie films of 2024 and is now tipped for both Oscar and BAFTA recognition — has, perhaps unsurprisingly, emerged far ahead of the pack of nominees for the 2025 Irish Film & TV Academy (IFTA) awards.

Rich Peppiatt’s raucous comedy, about (and starring) the Belfast rap trio of the same name, has landed an astonishing 17 nominations for the awards, including best film, director, three of the six slots for lead actor, three of the six for supporting actress and one for Michael Fassbender in the supporting actor category.

“Small Things Like These,” the considerably quieter Irish drama fronted (and produced) by Cillian Murphy has nine nominations, including lead actor for Murphy, who won the award last year for “Oppenheimer.”

Having been co-produced by Irish company Tailored Films, Ali Abbasi’s Donald Trump biopic “The Apprentice” is also in the mix, with four nominations.

Nominations are out for the 2025 Irish Film & Television Awards with the Cillian Murphy drama Small Things Like These and the music comedy Kneecap among the tipped films. Scroll down for the full list of nominees.

Small Things Like These has nods in Best Screenplay, Lead Actor for Murphy, and Best Film. Other Best Film nominees include Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice, King Frankie, and Kneecap.

Kneecap has a strong showing across the noms, with nods in Best Director for Rich Peppiatt and all three of the film’s leads pop up in Best Actor. Paul Mescal also received a Best Actor nomination for his role in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II.

On the TV side, Sharon Horgan’s Bad Sisters is nominated for Best Drama while the Eddie Redmayne thriller The Day of the Jackal has multiple noms, including Best Director for a Drama Series.

The Irish Film & Television Academy...

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the scripts behind awards season’s most talked-about movies continues with Small Things Like These, Cillian Murphy’s first film after winning the Oscar for his starring role in Christopher Nolan’s Best Picture-winning Oppenheimer.

Enda Walsh, the Tony Award-winning Irish playwright and director, adapted the script for the film from Claire Keegan’s 2021 Booker Prize-nominated novel, which was selected as a final Oprah’s Book Club Pick in 2024. The book itself might seem short at 128 pages, but the story is rich within the context of the silent complicity of Ireland in the 1980s.

The film, directed by Tim Mielants, opened in the U.S. on November 8 after it world premiered earlier in the year as the opening-night film at the Berlin Film Festival. Emily Watson, who plays a formidable nun, won the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Actress at the festival. Eileen Walsh,...

This review was originally published on October 22, 2024, as a part of our Middleburg Film Festival coverage.

Based on the novel by Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These is a quietly profound and meaningful film that shows us the story as it unfolds rather than tells it. Through well-placed flashbacks and a kind-hearted protagonist in Cillian Murphys Bill Furlong, director Tim Mielants film is not only a loyal movie adaptation thanks to Enda Walshs lovely script but a poignant story about the way the threat of powerful institutions keeps people from saying or doing anything to help out of fear. Mielants film does a lot with little dialogue, setting the stage for something rich and thought-provoking.

Small Things Like These

Director Tim MielantsRelease Date November 8, 2024Writers Claire Keegan, Enda WalshCast Faye Brazil, Sarah Morris, Louis Kirwan, Liadan Dunlea, Aoife Gaffney, Zara Devlin, Aidan O'Hare, Cillian O'Gairbhi, Tom Leavey, Joanne Crawford, Clare Dunne,...

Small Things Like These (2024) is a film that is intended to disturb, but not because of what it shows. Tim Mielants’ latest historical drama is not the first film about the infamous Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, as it was a major subject in Peter Mullan’s underrated drama “The Magdalene Sisters” and the Oscar-nominated Judi Dench vehicle “Philomena.” However, “Small Things Like These” avoids being derivative by presenting its exploration of the controversy as a mystery of sorts. The sad fact is that the abuse and enslavement of thousands of young women in Ireland is still a relatively unknown moment in history, and one that has certainly been forgotten when compared to other religious controversies.

“Small Things Like These” is perhaps more ambitious in the fact that it doesn’t attempt to summarize the extent of this generational abuse into a broadly accessible tragedy. It is a rather straightforward drama...

Cillian Murphy follows his Academy Award-winning lead turn in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer with an aptly named film a fraction of that size. Director Tim Mielants’ adaptation of Claire Keegan’s 2021 novel Small Things Like These stars Murphy as not a man who became Death, destroyer of worlds, but as...

Director Tim Mielants's new movie is being met with critical acclaim thus far, but theatrical and streaming viewing options for Small Things Like These remain scarce. Based on a novel by Claire Keegan, this historical drama shows a coal merchant discovering dark secrets kept by a convent in the town of New Ross, Ireland, around Christmas 1985. The release of this Cillian Murphy movie will show the actor returning to the big screen alongside actors Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley, Emily Watson, Clare Dunne, Helen Behan, Liadn Dunlea, Agnes O'Casey, Mark McKenna, and Zara Devlin. This film's release comes after Murphy's Academy Award-winning performance in Christopher Nolan's historical epic Oppenheimer.

Though Tim Mielants is a relatively unknown director in the United States, his new movie won over distributor Lionsgate and audiences at the Berlin International Film Festival, scoring a whopping 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. So far, reviews for Small Things Like These...

Small Things Like These, starring and produced by Cillian Murphy, opens today in the UK and Ireland before bowing November 8 in the U.S. The Tim Mielants-directed drama opened the Berlin Film Festival in February to great acclaim, with Emily Watson’s turn as a formidable nun scooping the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Actress.

In the 1985-set film, Murphy stars as Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and devoted father who discovers disturbing secrets kept by the local convent — and uncovers truths of his own — forcing him to confront his past and the complicit silence of a small Irish town controlled by the Catholic Church.

This is the first feature production from Murphy and his recently minted Big Things Films banner, which he runs alongside partner Alan Moloney. It’s a film close to the Oscar winner’s heart with the source material being a best-selling novel by Claire Keegan...

Lionsgate has announced details for the US release of the new film “Small Things Like These.” The drama, set in 1980s Ireland, tells the story of a coal merchant who uncovers secrets kept by the local convent. It is based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Irish author Claire Keegan.

The movie will open in US theaters on November 8. It will first debut in the UK and Ireland on November 1. Lionsgate acquired distribution rights for North America, the UK, and Ireland after “Small Things Like These” premiered to critical acclaim at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year.

Starring Oscar winner Cillian Murphy, the film follows Bill Furlong, a devoted father, as Christmas nears in 1985 Ireland. Furlong discovers disturbing truths kept by the convent in his small town. He is then forced to face the silence of his community about these secrets, as well as confronting parts of his own past.

Lionsgate has dropped the official trailer and set UK, Ireland and U.S. release dates for Small Things Like These, starring Oscar winner Cillian Murphy. Check out the trailer above and a new poster below.

Small Things Like These opened the Berlin Film Festival in February, the first time an Irish movie has had the honor. Emily Watson went on to win the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance for her role. Lionsgate later acquired North America, the UK and Ireland. It will release the film first in the UK and Ireland on November 1, followed by the U.S. on November 8; the latter with Roadside Attractions.

Murphy, who also produces, stars as devoted father Bill Furlong in the drama that’s based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Claire Keegan. While working as a coal merchant to support his family, Bill discovers disturbing secrets kept by the...

One thing that rankles about some historical dramas is their tendency to indicate the story’s epoch using the broadest possible signifiers. Movies about the 1980s in particular often draw as much from the spirit of ’80s-themed house parties as they do from history. In contrast, Tim Mielant’s Small Things Like These fashions a believable and at times engrossing vision of the mid-’80s, even if its story could’ve benefited from similar nuance.

Adapted from the novel of the same name by Claire Keegan, the film takes place during the 1985 Christmas season in New Ross, Ireland. In this working-class town, not everything is “from” the ‘80s: People wear clothes that look like they’re from the ’60s, the kids watch ’70s cartoons like Danger Mouse, and some of the vehicles even seem as they’re from the ’40s. Small Things Like These understands how the vestiges of the...

Cillian Murphy and Matt Damon are stepping out for the premiere of their new movie!

The two actors hit the red carpet together at the premiere of Small Things Like These held on Thursday (February 15) during the 2024 Berlinale International Film Festival at the Berlinale Palast in Berlin, Germany.

Fellow cast members in attendance included Eileen Walsh, Emily Watson, and Zara Devlin along with director Tim Mielants.

Keep reading to find out more…Cillian and Matt serve as producers on the new movie, which Cillian also stars in.

Here’s the movie’s synopsis: “It is 1985 in the run-up to Christmas in a small town in County Wexford, Ireland. Bill Furlong toils as a coal merchant to support himself, his wife and his five daughters. Early one morning while out delivering coal at the local convent, he makes a discovery that forces him to confront his past and the complicit silence...

From “28 Days Later” through to his recent, Oscar-nominated turn in “Oppenheimer,” Cillian Murphy has cultivated a reputation as a strong, silent type — all while resisting the inscrutability associated with that masculine cliché. His beautiful, sharp-boned face twitches and tightens and teems with feeling. Closeups always catch it thinking, wrestling with surges of vulnerability or violence, or watching other characters in turn. It’s always busy, never blank. A story of the unspeakable gradually leaving the realm of the unsaid, “Small Things Like These” rests on both his quiet and his disquiet as an actor. As a blue-collar family man growing increasingly alert to misdeeds in the sacred heart of his community, he’s not just the conscience of Belgian director Tim Mielants’ delicate, understated film, but its live emotional current.

For if Murphy’s character Bill Furlong is quiet, the town around him is practically petrified. A sleepy settlement in Ireland’s County Wexford,...

Exclusive: On Thursday, the Berlin Film Festival will kick off with the world premiere of Small Things Like These, starring Cillian Murphy, who also produces, and marking the first time an Irish movie opens the Berlinale. In the exclusive first-look at the 1985-set drama (check it out above), Murphy’s family man Bill Furlong comes face-to-face with Emily Watson’s formidable Sister Mary whose convent is concealing dark and disturbing secrets.

Also starring Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley and Zara Devlin, the story plays out in the weeks leading up to Christmas 1985. Bill, a devoted husband, father and coal merchant living in the traditional Irish town of New Ross in County Wexford, is facing his busiest season. During his delivery rounds, he discovers that the local convent is in fact a cruel institution that takes in so-called ‘fallen girls and women.’ His reaction to this discovery forces him to confront some hard truths about the convent,...

Paul Mescal and Sharon Horgan were among the winners at the Irish Film and Television Awards.

Despite Colin Farrell losing out the best actor award to Mescal, “The Banshees of Inisherin” beat out competitors to win best film. In the international category “All Quiet on the Western Front” took home the top award on Sunday night.

Read on for the full list of winners.

Film Categories

Best Film

“Aisha”

“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Winner

“God’s Creatures”

“Lakelands”

“Róise & Frank”

“The Wonder”

Director – Film

“Aisha” – Frank Berry – Winner

“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Martin McDonagh

“It Is In Us All” – Antonia Campbell Hughes

“Joyride” – Emer Reynolds

“Let the Wrong One In” – Conor McMahon

“Róise & Frank” – Rachael Moriarty & Peter Murphy

Script – Film

“Aisha” – Frank Berry – Winner

“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Martin McDonagh

“God’s Creatures” – Shane Crowley

“Joyride” – Ailbhe Keogan

“Let the Wrong One In” – Conor McMahon

“Róise & Frank” – Rachael Moriarty,...

“The Banshees of Inisherin,” starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, led the nominations for the Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTAs) as the full list of nominees was unveiled on Monday night local time, picking up 11 nods in the film category.

“Bad Sisters” – Sharon Horgan’s Apple TV+ mystery series – led the pack in the drama category with 12 noms.

Coming off the back of a stellar year for Irish film and television, the nominations include a number of familiar names and titles, including Paul Mescal, who has been nominated for best lead actor in a film for “Aftersun” and best supporting actor in a film for “God’s Creatures” while Farrell is also competing in both categories, both for his star turn in “Banshees” and his supporting role as Penguin in “The Batman.”

“Conversations with Friends” has also scored noms in multiple categories while Aoife McArdle is up for best drama...

Apple’s comedy series Bad Sisters and Martin McDonagh’s latest feature, The Banshees of Inisherin, lead this year’s Irish Film And TV Academy Award nominations (IFTAs). Scroll down for the complete list.

Bad Sisters leads across film and TV with 12 nominations, including Best Drama, Lead Actress (Sharon Horgan), Director (Dearbhla Walsh), and four nods in Supporting Actress for Anne-Marie Duff, Eva Birthistle, Eve Hewson, and Sarah Greene.

The Banshees of Inisherin clocked 11 nominations, including Best Film as well as Best Director and Screenplay for Martin McDonagh. Colin Farrell, Barry Keoghan, Brendan Gleeson, and Kerry Condon also pop up in the acting categories.

Irish filmmaker Frank Berry’s latest pic Aisha trails Bad Sisters and Banshees with ten nominations. The film follows a young Nigerian woman, played by Letitia Wright, who struggles to navigate the asylum system in Ireland.

Paul Mescal also picked up two nominations: The first in...

’The Banshees Of Inisherin’ has 11 nominations including best film, director and actor.

Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees Of Inisherin leads the way at the 2023 Irish Film And Television Academy (IFTA) awards with 11 nominations.

The film earned nods for best film, director and script, lead actor for Colin Farrell, supporting actress for Kerry Condon, and supporting actor for Barry Keoghan and Brendan Gleeson. Farrell also has a supporting actor nod for The Batman.

Scroll down for film nominations

Frank Berry’s immigration drama Aisha, starring Letitia Wright and Josh O’Connor, is next up with 10 nominations including best film.

Paul Mescal has...

With just a few days until the 2023 Oscars, hot contender The Banshees of Inisherin has been given a boost on home soil.

Martin McDonagh’s period tragicomedy — which has nine Academy Award nominations (an all-time Irish record) — has now landed the most film nods this year for the Irish Academy Awards.

Announced by the Irish Film & TV Academy (IFTA), Banshees has 11 nominations, including best film and, as with the BAFTAs and Oscars, the film has been nominated in all of the performance categories for its main cast of Colin Farrell (who also got a nod for supporting actor for The Batman), Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon. Banshees‘ 11 nominations is the same number in 2022 amassed by Irish-language drama The Quiet Girl, which is now also in contention for an Oscar in the international category.

Further down the list, Frank Berry’s immigration drama Aisha — starring Letitia Wright and Josh O’Connor — landed 10 nominations.

Live performances may be on pause, but fans of Sing Street, John Carney’s cinematic ode to Eighties British bands, can still get their fix. On Wednesday, the cast of Sing Street‘s Broadway adaptation premiered a short video for “Riddle of the Model” — includes Brendan C. Callahan, Zara Devlin, Jakeim Hart, Brenock O’Connor, Gian Perez, Sam Poon, and Anthony Genovesi — and announced that Sing Street: Original Broadway Cast Recording will be out on Tuesday, April 21st.

The theater production of Sing Street — Carney’s semi-autobiographical story of a teenage...