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Dublin

28th Jan 2021

Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen announced as part of 2021 Dublin Film Festival

Rory Cashin

Great news for fans of his movies, including Hunger, Shame, and 12 Years A Slave.

The Dublin Film Festival is still going ahead this year, albeit in an entirely virtual way, running from Wednesday, March 3 to Sunday, March 14.

The first of this year’s big guests has been announced today, with Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen set to take part in a conversation with Mark O’Halloran, who is a highly regarded screenwriter in his own right, having written the scripts for Adam & Paul, Garage, and Rialto.

We can probably expect the conversation to cover McQueen’s movies such as Hunger, Shame, and Widows, as well as winning the Best Picture Oscar for 12 Years A Slave, working with Irish talent such as Michael Fassbender and Colin Farrell, his recent hit TV series Small Axe, and what it was like directing Kanye West for the music video to All Day/I Feel Like That.

McQueen said of the upcoming conversation:

“I’m thrilled to join Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival for a conversation with Mark O’Halloran. Since my first film, Hunger, I have formed many special bonds with my Irish collaborators. I look forward to talking to Mark about story-telling and to a virtual visit with my friends in Ireland.”

Festival Director Grainne Humphreys had this to say about this year’s festival:

“We had planned a hybrid festival for March 2021, however in deference to the regulations presently in place and in recognition of the difficulties facing so many, the 2021 VMDIFF will now take place entirely online on our festival platform Eventive.

“We look forward to the opportunities and new audiences which we hope will attend the festival this March. We are thrilled to welcome Steve McQueen and the many fantastic film talents and films in this year’s festival programme. We look forward to a time in the near future when we will be in a cinema together again.”

While the full line-up for the festival is yet to be announced, we did report last week that a new short film starring Paul Mescal has been confirmed to be part of this year’s screenings.

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