Subtitle Film Festival returns to Town Hall Theatre Galway from Friday 16th to Sunday 18th of January to present some of its most popular titles for a weekend of Best Of movies!
After six years away, Subtitle are thrilled to return to Galway with a programme that captures what Subtitle does best: discovering the most exciting new European talent while celebrating the films that have shaped us. This year brings five Irish premieres—bold, intimate, award-winning new work from across the continent—alongside five modern classics that remind us why European cinema endures. From luminous debuts and moral thrillers to beloved favourites like Amélie, The Intouchables and Headhunters, it’s a line-up full of heart, craft and cinematic storytelling at its finest. We’re delighted to be back.
Come and enjoy a magical weekend of popular, accessible comedies, thrillers, and dramas. Tickets are just €10 but you can see all 10 films for just €75 - available from the Town Hall Box Office or online via tht.ie.
Check out the full programme below, which is packed with a variety of interesting films to appeal to all audiences, as well as a lot of Irish premieres, so if you want to see the next big film that people will be talking about, head along to Subtitle Film Festival from Friday 16th to Sunday 18th of January.
DON’T CALL ME MAMA
Friday 16th January 6.15pm
Director: Nina Knag
Cast: Pia Tjelta, Tarek Zayat
Norway | 2025 | Duration 1h 48m | Drama
Irish Premiere
Premiering in competition at the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Don’t Call Me Mama follows a high-school teacher married to the local mayor whose life unravels when she falls for a young asylum seeker. As love and power collide, Nina Knag delivers a bold, empathetic debut about passion, politics and moral awakening. Anchored by a standout debut performance from Tarek Zayat, this is sharp, courageous filmmaking at its most human. An Irish premiere.
HEADHUNTERS
Friday 16th January 8.30pm
Director: Morten Tyldum
Cast: Aksel Hennie, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Norway | 2011 | Duration 1h 40m | Thriller, Dark Comedy
In returning, we also wanted to bring Galway something with real bite—and few European thrillers hit harder than Headhunters, the breakout smash that thrust Norwegian cinema onto the world stage. Adapted from Jo Nesbø’s bestseller, it follows a ruthless headhunter and part-time art thief who’s suddenly plunged into a deadly game of cat and mouse. Slick, darkly funny and breathlessly tense, it’s European genre filmmaking at its most gripping.
OUR GIRLS
Saturday 17th January 11.05am
Director: Mike van Diem
Cast: Thekla Reuten, Fedja van Huêt
Netherlands | 2025 | Duration 1h 43m | Drama
Irish Premiere
Opening film of the 2025 Netherlands Film Festival and winner of Best Film and Best Screenplay at the Dutch Film Awards (Golden Calves), Our Girls tracks two long-time couples whose idyllic Alpine holiday shatters when a tragic accident strikes their teenage daughters. As impossible choices emerge, love and morality are pushed to breaking point. With Academy Award-winning director Mike van Diem at the helm, this is a tense, elegantly crafted moral thriller.
WEIGHTLESS
Saturday 17th January, 1.15pm
Director: Emilie Thalund
Cast: Marie Helweg Augustsen, Ella Paaske
Denmark | 2025 | Duration 1h 36m | Drama
Irish Premiere
Fresh from the New Directors section at the 2025 San Sebastián Film Festival, Weightless follows fifteen-year-old Lea during a summer at a weight-loss camp near sea and forest. Desperate to “fit in,” she fixates on the charismatic instructor Rune and begins to unravel in ways she never anticipated. With subtle emotion and piercing clarity, Emilie Thalund’s debut boldly explores adolescent pain, desire and transformation. An Irish premiere
MY ETERNAL SUMMER
Saturday 17th January 3.30pm
Director: Sylvia Le Fanu
Cast: Kaya Toft Loholt, Maria Rossing
Denmark | 2024 | Duration 1h 45m | Drama
Irish Premiere
This luminous debut follows fifteen-year-old Fanny and her mother Karin through one final summer at their lakeside home—an intimate portrait told with striking emotional clarity. Beautifully shot and quietly devastating, My Eternal Summer explores love, loss and the fragile threads we leave behind. Winner of the prestigious NDR Prize at Lübeck, this Irish premiere announces a major new Danish talent.
LIVE A LITTLE
Sunday 18th January 11.05am
Director: Fanny Ovesen
Cast: Embla Ingelman-Sundberg, Aviva Wrede
Sweden | 2025 | Duration 1h 38m | Drama
Irish Premiere
Premiering in competition at the Göteborg Film Festival, this acclaimed debut from Fanny Ovesen follows best friends Laura and Alex on a couch-surfing trip across Europe. When Laura wakes in a stranger’s bed with no memory, fragments from the night trigger a raw, searching journey through consent, shame and self-definition. Intimate, unflinching and empathetic, it explores the fragile boundaries between desire, doubt and control.
AMÉLIE
Sunday 18th January 1.10pm
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Cast: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz
France | 2001 | Duration 2h 2m | Comedy | Romance
A modern classic of European cinema, Amélie became a worldwide sensation, earning five Academy Award nominations and sweeping the César Awards. Audrey Tautou stars as a shy Parisian waitress who quietly sets out to improve the lives of those around her. Whimsical, romantic and visually enchanting, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s beloved film is a joyful celebration of imagination, kindness and the small wonders that make life extraordinary.
THE INTOUCHABLES
Sunday 18th January 3.40pm
Director: Olivier Nakache & Éric Toledano
Cast: François Cluzet, Omar Sy
France | 2011 | Duration 1h 52m | Comedy | Drama
After six years away, we wanted to return to Galway with something unforgettable—and few films lift the heart quite like The Intouchables, one of Europe’s biggest box-office hits of all time and winner of seven César Awards, including Best Actor for Omar Sy, and nominated for a Golden Globe and BAFTA. Inspired by a true story, it follows the unlikely friendship between a wealthy quadriplegic and his exuberant carer from the Paris banlieues. Warm, witty and deeply humane, it’s a joyous reminder of how connection can transcend every divide.
TANGERINES
Sunday 18th January 6pm
Director: Zaza Urushadze
Cast: Lembit Ulfsak, Giorgi Nakashidze
Estonia | Georgia | 2013 | Duration 1h 27m | Drama
Nominated for both the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best International Film, Tangerines is a quietly powerful anti-war drama set during the 1990s Abkhazian conflict. An Estonian farmer shelters two wounded soldiers from opposing sides, forcing all three to confront the futility of violence. Zaza Urushadze’s humane, beautifully restrained film finds compassion amid chaos—a timeless meditation on empathy, honour and reconciliation.
PARASITE
Sunday 18th January 8pm
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Cast: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun
South Korea | 2019 | Duration 2h 12m | Drama | Thriller
Winner of the Palme d’Or, four Academy Awards, and countless global honours, Bong Joon-ho’s genre-bending masterpiece follows two families on opposite ends of Seoul’s social divide. Darkly funny, thrilling, and devastating, Parasite is a cinematic high-wire act – a perfect reminder that class, greed, and survival know no borders.
Get your tickets for Subtitle Film Festival via tht.ie
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