“Small Things Like This” to open the 74th Berlinale

The 74th Berlinale will take place from February 15 to 25 and has already announced its opening film: Small Things Like This, an Irish-Belgian co-production directed by Tim Mielants, will compete in the Official Selection. Cillian Murphy, Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley and Emily Watson star in this film based on the novel of the same title by Irish writer Claire Keegan (whose Foster was adapted into The Quiet Girl). The screenplay was written by Enda Walsh, (Hunger, Steve McQueen, 2009).

Small Things Like This takes place during Christmas 1985, when devout father and coal merchant Bill Furlong, played by Murphy, uncovers secrets about his town’s convent. The film reveals the truth about the Magdalene Laundries, the terrible asylums run by Catholic institutions from the 1820s until 1996, ostensibly to reform “disgraced young women.”

Carlo Chatrian, artistic director of the Berlinale, has described the film as a work in which Keegan’s delicate and seemingly simple style fits perfectly with the performance of Murphy “whose eyes are as clear as the Irish sky”. The character’s apparent fragility and gentleness contrast with his determined fight against injustice. Moreover, the screening will mark the kickoff of a year-long celebration of Irish culture in Germany (Zeitgeist Irland 24). Oppenheimer‘s leading man has not simply been in front of the cameras on this project, having served as producer alongside Alan Moloney, Catherine Magee, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.