Cillian Murphy’s new movie to open Berlin Film Festival

An upcoming movie starring Cillian Murphy will open the Berlin International Film Festival this year.

• READ MORE: ‘Oppenheimer’ review: Christopher Nolan’s mind-blowing biopic hits like a bomb to the brain

Small Things Like These, directed by Peaky Blinders’ Tim Mielants, is based on the 2021 book by Irish author, Claire Keegan, and the screenplay has been written by Enda Walsh.

The Oppenheimer star plays a devoted father and coal merchant named Bill Furlong. Set in 1980s Ireland, he discovers unsettling truths about the Magdalene Laundries, which were dreadful asylums run by the Roman Catholic church, said to house “fallen women”, mainly sex workers.

The cast includes Belfast‘s Ciaran Hinds, Emily Watson (Chernobyl), Game Of Thrones’ Michelle Fairley, and Irish actor, Eileen Walsh, who also starred in a 2002 movie about the infamous asylums, titled The Magdalene Sisters.

Murphy produced the film with Alan Moloney through their company, Big Things Films, alongside Catherine Magee. Also producing were Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Air producers Kevin Halloran and Michael Joe.

The 74th Berlinale will run from February 15-25. The Artistic Director for the festival, Carlo Chatrian said: “We are confident that this story that allies the kindness to be directed to the more fragile, and the willpower to stand up against injustice, will resonate with everyone.”

Chatrian continued: “We are looking forward to launching this ‘quiet’ yet quite exceptional film at the start of Zeitgeist Irland 24, a year-long celebration of Irish culture in Germany.”

Keegan’s 2010 short story Foster was adapted into The Quiet Girl, which was nominated for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards, becoming the first Irish film in history to receive the nomination.

Chatrian spoke on the two films’ differences saying: “In The Quiet Girl we already had a sense of Claire Keegan’s skill in portraying small, apparently simple characters and making them unforgettable; here her delicate, rich, and yet down-to-earth writing finds a great interpreter in Cillian Murphy.”

In other news, despite Oppenheimer‘s success so far this award season, Murphy missed out on the Critics Choice Award for Best Actor.

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