Next Goal Wins premiere, Q&A with Oscar®-winner and All of Us Strangers starring Paul Mescal at Foyle Film Festival in Derry

The 2023 festival from Friday November 17 to Sunday November 26 will also host a Q&A with Oscar®-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker following a screening of Raging Bull, while Irish and international talent is showcased with an array of screenings, special events and other industry guests.

The festival's grand opening premiere film Next Goal Wins, courtesy of Searchlight Pictures, is described as a heart-warming underdog comedy starring Michael Fassbender. It chronicles the journey of the American Samoa soccer team, infamous for their devastating 31–0 FIFA loss in 2001.

Closing the festival is the Northern Ireland premiere of one of the most acclaimed titles from the festival season: winner of both the Silver Lion at Venice Film Festival and Best Film at BFI London Film Festival, the eco-political thriller Evil Does Not Exist by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, the director of the Oscar® and BAFTA-winning Drive My Car, courtesy of Modern Films.

Christopher Morrison, Festival Programmer said: “For our 36th edition, we offer another programme brimming with advance preview screenings, guest events, special industry gatherings, festival club music events, and the only Oscar® and BAFTA- affiliated Short Film Competition in Northern Ireland. As always we’ll have festival favourites including Cinematic Breakfasts, Dementia Friendly screenings, and a variety of special guests to ensure that there is something for everyone to enjoy. We can’t wait.”

A number of advance preview screenings will feature, including the uniquely fantastical tale Poor Things starring Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo, the ghostly heartbreak of All of Us Strangers led by two of Ireland’s finest screen talents, Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott, Alexander Payne’s comedy The Holdovers and psychological thriller, Eileen, starring Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie.

The festival team have extended thanks to the distributors, “who have generously allowed these previews to be part of this year's programme: Searchlight Pictures, Universal Pictures, Picturehouse Entertainment, BFI, Modern Films, and New Wave Films”.

Among the special features this year will be a focus on the work of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger in ‘Powell and Pressburger: Fantasy and Wonder season’, featuring a series of their most celebrated titles including 28 Days Later and Wings of Desire, as well as Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull with special guest, Oscar®-winning editor, Thelma Schoonmaker.

These events are part of Cinema Unbound: The Creative Worlds of Powell + Pressburger, a UK-wide film season supported by National Lottery and BFI Film Audience Network.

For music lovers, the Festival Club will host live music by melodic duo Tessio and alt folk band Polar Bolero among others.

Screenings include Alison Elwood's documentary on Cyndi Lauper, Let The Canary Sing, 40th anniversary 4k restoration of the Talking Heads concert movie Stop Making Sense and Angelheaded Hipster, the first documentary to explore Marc Bolan and T. Rex.

This year’s edition also showcases the crossover between international productions and Irish talent, and visa versa. Irish language screenings include Puffin Rock agus Cairde Nua by Oscar®-nominated Kilkenny animation studio Cartoon Saloon and Derry studio Dog Ears, and Declan Recks’ Tarrac featuring a discussion with writer Eugene O Brien.

Derry-native Margo Harkin’s Stolen reveals how women who had the misfortune to fall pregnant ‘out of wedlock’ were treated in Ireland and is followed by discussion with director Margo Harkin and producer Martha O’Neill.

Meanwhile, Ulster University's Dr. Victoria McCollum meets writer/ directors Ross White and Tom Berkley from An Irish Goodbye to revisit the road to their Oscar and BAFTA success at one of many industry focused events.

Check out the full programme at foylefilmfestival.org

Foyle Film Festival is led by Nerve Centre, and funded by Department for Communities through Northern Ireland Screen and Derry City & Strabane District Council, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Foras na Gaeilge and Film Hub NI.

Venue Partner is Brunswick Moviebowl amd Awards Sponsor is City of Derry Crystal.

Industry & Skills Partner: Screenskills HETV, BFI Film Academy, National Lottery, Ulster University, and Ulster Screen Academy, while Food Partner is the Sandwich Co. and Mekong.