The IFI to exclusively release The Fading Light; Ivan Kavanagh’s award-winning new Irish feature from March 12th-18th

Winner of Best Irish Film and Best Actor at the Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards

The IFI is delighted to announce the exclusive release of The Fading Light, from fiercely independent up-and-coming Irish director Ivan Kavanagh, as part of its ongoing commitment to new Irish film. On Saturday, during Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, the film won Best Irish Film and Best Actor for Patrick O’Donnell’s performance at the Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards. After this huge endorsement from all the major Irish film critics, the IFI release will provide an opportunity for the film to be seen by a wide audience and for people to engage with Kavanagh’s distinctive style and working methods.

A study of a family in crisis, Ivan Kavanagh’s fifth feature, produced by AnneMarie Naughton, is an intense affair, by turns touching, fierce and chilling. Returning home to their widowed and dying mother, two estranged daughters become reacquainted with a house of difficult memories. Their brother, disabled and dependent, faces an uncertain future and his predicament tests the sisters’ affection and empathy. The turmoil created by the approach of death intensifies the relationships, and an already fragmented family slides towards disintegration.

There are moments of reprieve, when a straightforward kind of love seems possible; and Kavanagh’s editing offers glimpses of peace, particularly in the final stages of the mother’s agonising illness. Shot with a lucid intimacy by Kavanagh’s regular cinematographer, Colin Downey, the film also boasts brilliant performances from a cast which includes Valene Kane, Emma Eliza Regan, Bibi Larrson and Patrick O’Donnell. 

The emotionally visceral style that has become Kavanagh’s trademark springs from the rigorous background work on each character undertaken by his actors before the plot is revealed to them, step-by-step during filming. The IFI will also show another recent Kavanagh feature Our Wonderful Home (2008) on Saturday 13th March at 2.30pm. Following that there will be an in-depth discussion with the director and members of The Fading Light cast at 4pm.

The Fading Light is presented in association with Bord Scannán na hÉireann/Irish Film Board and Park Films.