Looking for a good movie to watch tonight? Right now, you can stream a variety of Irish screen classics old and new via the RTÉ Player and TG4 Player - and they're all free!
That's right, enjoy a host of celluloid classics featuring the likes of Colin Farrell, Saoirse Ronan, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Paul Mescal, Ruth Negga, Daniel Day-Lewis, Colm Meaney, Pat Shortt, Brenda Fricker and Liam Neeson, along with a couple of acclaimed short films, some must-see documentaries and a few unsung gems as bearla agus as gaeilge. Get stuck in...
That They May Face the Rising Sun
Joe and Kate Ruttledge leave London to live and work in a small lakeside community in Ireland, near to where Joe grew up... Director Pat Collins' IFTA-winning adaptation of John McGahern's final novel is a quiet gem (watch via RTÉ Player)
An 18-year-old living in a Dublin housing estate with his grandfather is caught holding drugs for his friend's brother and sent to prison in director Frank Berry's hard-hitting drama, starring Dafhyd Flynn and Moe Dunford (watch via RTÉ Player)
Ken Wardrop's acclaimed (and emotional) documentary follows a handful of people around Ireland as they navigate a complicated lead-up to the Christmas season (watch via RTÉ Player)
In the Oscar-nominated adaptation of Clare Keegan's novella, Cáit (Catherine Clinch) is sent from her overcrowded, dysfunctional household to live with distant relatives for the summer. Slowly a warmth grows within this makeshift family, and Cáit begins to blossom in their care (watch via TG4 Player)
This look at the world of competitive cheerleading in Ireland, following the young female and male athletes of Team Ireland, is a surprising and uplifting documentary exploring the worlds of young misfits who find a place where they belong (watch via RTÉ Player)
In a Dublin where everyone seems to know everyone else, John hatches a mad plan to undo his foolish breakup with girlfriend Deirdre... Cillian Murphy, Colin Farrell and Colin Meaney lead this kaleidoscopic ensemble piece from writer Mark O'Rowe and director John Crowley (watch via RTÉ Player)
An illuminating tale documenting filmmaker Sinéad O'Shea’s return to her hometown, Navan, to explore the impact of the Catholic Church on the community in decades past (watch via RTÉ Player)
This hilarious adaptation of the second book in Roddy Doyle's Barrytown Trilogy (you'll find the first one below, too) stars Tina Kellegher as a young woman who falls pregnant after a night on the town, and Colm Meaney as her over-protective Da (watch via RTÉ Player)
A pair of Dublin pals are forced to confront the reality of their lives and friendships, which have gone unchallenged since their teenage years, in this comedy featuring Love/Hate stars Peter Coonan and Killian Scott (watch via RTÉ Player)
Trafficked in the back of a van, Taiwo believes she is about to start a new life in Ireland, but she soon finds herself trapped in the dark underworld of vice and drugs... Ruth Negga and the late Karl Shiels star in this gritty and tense thriller (watch via RTÉ Player)
Luke McManus's documentary offers a stunning musical odyssey traveling the length of Dublin's North Circular Road, from the Phoenix Park to Dublin Port, exploring the history, music and residents of this storied street (watch via RTÉ Player)
Christy Brown (Daniel-Day Lewis, in an Oscar-wnning role) is diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at birth, however, he learns to paint and write with the only unaffected limb in his body, his left foot. Three decades on, Jim Sheridan's debut feature remains a milestone in Irish cinema (watch via RTÉ Player)
For the first time, Katie Taylor, the world's greatest female boxer, allows unprecedented access to her life. Ross Whitaker's documentary is a riveting and highly emotional documentary that cuts to the core of Katie's demise and tells the story of her attempt to rebuild her life (watch via RTÉ Player)
A rivalry between twin sisters comes to a head when a mysterious neighbour moves in next door in Hugh O'Conor's coming-of-age comedy-drama, starring Jordanne Jones and Moe Dunford (watch via RTÉ Player)
Ireland, 1845: as the famine progresses, a fisherman (Dónall Ó Héalai) unable to protect his family is subsumed by darkness until a helpless little girl saves him from despair, in writer/director Tomás Ó Súilleabháin's acclaimed Irish language drama (watch via TG4 Player)
Shot over seven years in counties Clare and Galway, Keith Walsh's documentary (which takes its title from a line in a W.B. Yeats poem) is cinematic essay about rural life in the midst of great local, national and global change (watch via RTÉ Player)
Neil Jordan's epic biopic of Michael Collins, the man who led a guerrilla war, helped negotiate the creation of the Irish Free State, & led the National Army during the Irish Civil War, is dominated by a larger-than-life performance from Liam Neeson (watch via RTÉ Player)
Every Christmas in Dublin, crowds gather for singer/songwriter Damien Dempsey's gig at Vicar Street. For many, these shows have become a ritual, a safe space where emotions can be laid bare. Ross Kileen's acclaimed documentary is an emotive celebration of modern spirituality and the power of music to heal (watch via RTÉ Player)
In director Alan Parker's iconic take on Roddy Doyle's classic novel, a would-be music mogul rom Dublin (Robert Arkins) assembles a motley crew to form a soul band... with attitude (watch via RTÉ Player)
Meryl Streep stars in this adaptaion of Brian Friel's classic play. A boy is raised by his mother and her four sisters in 1930s Donegal. The simple, ordered lives of these five women are thrown into turmoil by the appearance of their brother (watch via RTÉ Player)
Set in Connemara and based on characters in the novel The Thing about December by Donal Ryan, Foscadh tells the story of a naïve recluse (Dónall Ó Héalaí) who is suddenly propelled into manhood (watch via TG4 Player)
The inspirational life story of change-maker Mary Robinson: Ireland's first female President, a pioneering UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the successor of Nelson Mandela as Chair of The Elders (watch, via RTÉ Player)
Two young men who have been joined at the hip since they were children find themselves growing apart - this short film features an early appearance from future Oscar nominee Paul Mescal (watch via RTÉ Player)
Liam Cunningham and Orla Brady star in this moving and dramatic tale of a marriage between a Catholic and a Protestant in 1950's Ireland (watch via RTÉ Player)
On a farm in rural Northern Ireland, estranged brothers Turlough (Seamus O'Hara) and Lorcan (James Martin) are forced to reunite following the untimely death of their mother, in this Oscar winning short comedy (watch via RTÉ Player)
Director John Crowley adapts Colm Toibin's novel, with winning results Irish immigrant (an Oscar-nominated Saoirse Ronan) lands in 1950s Brooklyn, where she quickly falls into a romance with a local. When her past catches up, she must choose between two countries and two lives (watch via RTÉ Player)
In 19th-century Ireland, an orphaned teenage heiress (Agnes O'Casey) finds herself forced to embrace the dark legacy of her family when she becomes the ward of her scheming uncle (David Wilmot) in director Lisa Mulcahy's IFTA-winning gothic thriller, based on Sheridan Le Fanu's 1864 novel Uncle Silas (watch via RTE Player)
This knockout documentary tells the story of the 1995 boxing title fight in Millstreet between unknown underdog Steve 'The Celtic Warrior' Collins and the larger-than-life champion Chris 'Simply The Best' Eubank (watch via RTÉ Player)
Dramatising the real-life story of Ann Lovett, a 15-year-old girl who died in childbirth in a grotto in Granard, Co. Longford in 1984, Ciaran Creagh's film revisits a tragedy that shook the nation to its core (watch via RTÉ Player)
Laura is unsettled by the arrival of new neighbours and haunted by the possibility that their child may be the reincarnation of her own daughter, who died some years earler... Oscar nominated actress Andrea Riseborough stars in writer and director Stacy Gregg's psychological thriller (watch via RTÉ Player)
The Artist And The Wall Of Death
This fascinating documentary tells the unlikely true story of Glaswegian visual artist, Stephen Skrynka, and his dangerous life-long obsession with riding the 'Wall of Death', the traditional fairground motorbike ride (watch via RTÉ Player)
An IFTA-nomaited tale about coming of age and coming out, Graham Cantwell's film tells the story of Lily (Clara Harte) and Simon (Dean Quinn) best friends who navigate the troubled waters of school life and explore Dublin's vibrant and sometimes dark LGBTQ+ scene under the sharp eye of reluctant mentor Oonagh (Amy-Joyce Hastings) (watch via RTÉ Player)
Pat Collins' stunning biopic is a critically acclaimed, lyrical and unconventional account of the life of the complex and enigmatic Joe Heaney, one of the greats of traditional Irish sean-nós singing (watch via TG4 Player)
A story of grassroots activism engineering change, this documentary traces Ireland's campaign to remove the 8th Amendment and change Ireland's abortion laws. Including voices from both sides of the debate, the film focuses on leaders of the pro-choice campaign as they chart a bold strategy of grassroots activism (watch via RTÉ Player)
Juanita Wilson's Oscar-nominated short film reveals the tragedy of Chernobyl through the eyes of one man as he goes about stealing a door for a mysterious purpose (watch via RTÉ Player)
In Neil Jordan's adaptation of Pat McCabe's novel, a Irish trans woman searches 1970s London for her estranged mother and manages to fall foul of the IRA. Cillian Murphy leads a cast that includes Liam Neeson, Ruth Negga, Brendan Gleeson, Stephen Rea and singers Brian Ferry and Gavin Friday (watch via RTÉ Player)
Pigeon masters from across the globe compete in the highest-stakes bird races on the planet. Fame, fortune and livelihoods rest on the wings of these feathered athletes in this hilarious and charming documentary (watch via RTÉ Player)
Jim Sheridan followed My Left Foot with this powerful adaptation of John B. Keane's play, anchored by an unforgettable performance from Richard Harris as a hard-headed tenant farmer whose fertile holding attracts the attention of a wealthy American (Tom Berenger) when the landlord puts his plot up for auction (watch via RTÉ Player)
Micí Finky, a musician and puppeteer looking to escape his past, steals an envelope full of cash and runs off to Scotland with his childhood friend Tom Tom... Dara Devaney, Ned Dennehy and Diarmuid de Faoite star in this quirky fantasy (watch via TG4 Player)
On the morning of the 16th June 1904, Leopold Bloom set out on a journey that became one of the greatest tales of the 20th century... Stephen Rea, Angeline Ball, Hugh O'Conor and Patrick Bergin lead the cast in a vivid adaptation of James Joyce's novel Ulysses (watch via RTÉ Player)
Following a bad breakup, a relationship councilor starts sleeping with his clients in a misguided attempt to reignite their passions, in this quirky comedy starring Brian Gleeson and Gemma-Leah Devereux (watch via RTÉ Player)
Before In Bruges and The Banshees of Inisherin, writer-director Martin McDonagh teamed up with actor Brendan Gleeson for this Oscar-winning short film, in which a sorrowful train ride home for a grieving man leads to a fateful encounter with a bizarre and psychotic young stranger (watch via YouTube)
In this intimate sporting drama set in the Kerry Gaeltacht, a young woman (Kelly Gough) returns home after her father (Lorcan Cranitch) suffers a heart attack. She finds herself returning to the competitive world of rowing in Naomhógs, native Irish boats (watch via TG4 Player)
Two women going through personal crises do a house swap, in the process proving the old saying that a change is as good as a rest... With a cast led by Andie McDowell, Maeve Binchy's classic novel makes for comfort movie viewing of the finest order (watch via RTÉ Player)
Before the smash hit TV series came the original movie featuring the adventures of two loveable teenage boys from Cork (Alex Murphy and Chris Walley) who steal bicycles and ride off on a quest to find a missing bale of cocaine worth €7,000,000. NB: Please don't try this at home, kids (watch via RTÉ Player)
The Wind that Shakes the Barley
In Ken Loach's celebrated drama, shot in West Cork, two brothers (Cillian Murphy and Padraic Delaney) fight side-by-side against the British for Ireland's independence. When a treaty is negotiated, civil war erupts and the brothers find themselves on opposing sides... (watch via RTÉ Player)
Violet Gibson, The Irish Woman Who Shot Mussolini
Olwen Fouéré stars in fascinating docu-drama telling the true story of Irish woman Violet Gibson, who shot and almost assassinated Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1926 (watch via TG4 Player)
Complications arise when a family sells off old furniture from their elderly mother's residence, only to realize that almost a million Euros were hidden in an old mattress... Pat Shortt and Fionnula Flanagan star in writer/director Lance Daly's warm and engaging comedy (watch via RTÉ Player)
A widow who has given up on life becomes convinced that a stray dog is the reincarnation of her Hurling-loving husband in this uplifting Irish language comedy, featuring an outstanding performance from Bríd Ní Neachtain (watch via TG4 Player)
In Conor McMahon's lively horror-comedy young supermarket worker discovers that his older brother is a vampire and must choose whether to help him or slay him. Watch out for an appearance from Buffy legend Anthony Head (watch via RTÉ Player)
