The Consulate General of Ireland invites everyone to the screenings of films by Irish filmmaker Lenny Abrahamson, who for the first time will be in Brazil to be part of the international jury for the 47th International Film Festival in São Paulo, with support from Culture Ireland and the Consulate. Lenny Abrahamson is one of the main filmmakers of his generation, awarded and internationally recognized for his works Jack's Room and Normal People, and will present his first three films Adam & Paul, Garage and What Richard Did on October 27 and November 1st.
Lenny will also participate in a special conversation at Cinemateca Brasileira on Saturday, October 28th, at 4:30 pm (Espaço Petrobrás), about the experience in adapting the books Normal People and Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney for TV and streaming. The conversation will be led by Thiago Stivaletti, film critic and TV writer. The event will be free and open to the public.
Tickets are available on the Exhibition website at the links below (between R$12 and R$30) and at the box office of the venues on the day of the session.
Lenny Abrahamson: Born in Dublin, Lenny Abrahamson is one of Ireland's most celebrated and award-winning film directors. After graduating in Philosophy and Physics at Trinity College, he made commercials and the short film 3 Joes (1991), awarded at the Oberhausen Festival (Germany). His first feature, the comedy Adam & Paul, was only released in 2004, but is currently considered a classic of Irish Cinema. The film earned him an IFTA Award for Best Director and international recognition. His second feature film Garage (2007), also written by Mark O' Halloran, was equally critically acclaimed and won four IFTA awards, including Best Film, Screenplay, Best Director and was also awarded the CICAE award at Fortnight Directors at Cannes in 2007. The filmmaker collaborated with O' Halloran for the third time on RTÉ's four-part drama series, Prosperity, cementing his reputation as a director of characters on the fringes of Irish society. In 2012, Abrahamson released his third feature film, What Richard Did, turning young protagonist Jack Reynor into a star and becoming the highest-grossing Irish film of the year. The film received almost universal acclaim, including positive reviews in The New York Times and five IFTA Awards. The filmmaker's works also include Frank (2014), starring Michael Fassbender and Domhnall Gleeson, the multi-award winning Jack's Room (2015), The Little Stranger (2018) and the drama series Normal People (2020), for which he won Best Director - Drama and Best Drama at the IFTA Awards 2021, which features the performance of fellow Irishman Paul Mescal.
1. Adam & Paul (47ª Mostra Internacional de Cinema em São Paulo)
Longtime friends, Adam and Paul became two hopeless, addicted adults, united by habit and necessity. They roam the streets of central Dublin, meeting friends and family, while looking for their next fix. A unique portrait, permeated by an absurd, often comical and deeply sensitive vision of drug addiction.
· SATURDAY October 28th, 9:40 pm / Instituto Moreira Salles - Paulista
· WEDNESDAY 1st November, 7:40 pm / Espaço Itaú de Cinema Augusta – Anexo 4
2. Garage (47ª Mostra Internacional de Cinema em São Paulo)
Regarded by his neighbors as a harmless misfit, Josie has spent his entire adult life working as a caretaker at a run-down gas station on the outskirts of a small town in west-central Ireland. Lonely, but a tireless optimist — and, in some ways, happy —, Josie sees his small home come under threat over the course of one summer, while his life is in danger of changing forever.
Winner of the C.I.C.A.E. Award, granted by the art cinema circuit, at the Cannes Festival.
· FRIDAY 27th October, 22:00 / Espaço Itaú de Cinema – Frei Caneca 4
· MONDAY October 30th, 7:50 pm / Espaço Itaú de Cinema – Frei Caneca 5
3. What Richard Did (47ª Mostra Internacional de Cinema em São Paulo)
Richard Karlsen is a talented and charismatic young man, the undisputed leader of a privileged group of teenagers from south Dublin. The boy is heading towards a bright future and everything seems possible, until, one night, Richard does something that destroys everything around him, compromising the lives of those closest to him. A devastating study of a young man who must come to terms with who he thought he was and who he ends up proving to be.
· SATURDAY October 28th, 9:40 pm / Espaço Itaú de Cinema – Frei Caneca 5
· WEDNESDAY 1st November, 8:20 pm / Instituto Moreira Salles - Paulista