As one of Ireland’s most popular cultural events, the Cork International Film Festival runs from November 9 to 26, and this year’s event is screening several exciting LGBTQ+ titles.

The festival is “a local, national and international celebration of cinema”, and the 2023 edition will host some Irish cinema premieres, including the highly-anticipated All Of Us Strangers starring Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, and a new queer thriller called Eileen starring Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway.

This year’s carefully curated selection of films includes six unmissable queer screenings. Here’s the full line-up:

All Of Us Strangers

Starring Irish actors Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, this film follows the life of a screenwriter living in London who develops an intimate relationship with his neighbour Harry. Expect an exceptionally fine script paired with stunning cinematography and a killer ’80s soundtrack in this tale that is equally uplifting and heartwrenching.

All of Us Strangers is playing on Sunday, November 19, at The Everyman.

Eileen

Starring Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway, this psychological thriller set in 1964 Massachusetts follows an unlikely and dangerous friendship between a young prison facility worker and her new glamorous blonde colleague, but everything changes when Rebecca reveals a dark secret.

Eileen is playing on Tuesday, November 14, at The Everyman.

Queendom

A drag activist from conservative rural Russia challenges society “through lone acts of rebellion and quiet revolution”. Despite encountering discrimination from her family, the authorities, and Russian society, Gena prevails. This film is being considered for the Gradam Na Féile Do Scannáin Faisnéise Cinematic Documentary award, which will be announced on Sunday, November 26.

Queendom is playing on Wednesday, November 22, at Triskel.

All The Colours Of The World Are Between Black and White

This film follows the relationship between a popular delivery driver and a photographer. The two men’s friendship blossoms into a romantic relationship in modern-day Nigeria, where homosexuality is criminalised.

All The Colours Of The World Are Between Black and White is playing on Friday, November 10, at Triskel.

Female Trouble

This 1974 John Waters classic follows a rebellious schoolgirl who leaves home and embarks on a life of sex, crime and modelling. The film is described as “transgressive cult cinema at its finest – shocking, entertaining, and utterly hilarious.”

Female Trouble is playing on Friday, November 10, at Triskel.

She Is Conann

This gender-flipped fantasy tale of Conan The Barbarian is a “blood-soaked and glitter-littered spectacle” that follows a young girl who is destined to become cruel and barbaric. She leaps through six lives, forever destined to be killed by her future selves. This film is in the running for the CIFF Youth Jury Award, and the winner will be announced on Sunday, 26 November.

She Is Conann is playing on Friday, November 17, at Triskel.

All of these films are screening at the Cork International Film Festival, which opens this Thursday, November 9. Tickets are available on the festival website.