Clio Barnard’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight prize winner I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning and Kieron J. Walsh’s Edinburgh International Film Festival award winner Skintown will compete in competition at the upcoming Dinard British and Irish Film Festival (October 7-11).
This will be the last edition under the artistic direction of Dominique Green, whose fixed tenure has come to an end, having been appointed in 2020.
I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning won the People’s Choice award in Directors’ Fortnight this year. The Birmingham-set drama stars Anthony Boyle, Joe Cole, Jay Lycurgo, Daryl McCormack and Lola Petticrew as a group of friends whose lives have taken them in different directions, set against the backdrop of a national housing crisis.
Skintown won the £50,000 Sean Connery prize for feature filmmaking excellence at EIFF this year, and is the story of two best friends who plan to escape small town life in Northern Ireland during the 1994 ceasefire. Jack Rowan and Chris Walley star.
Further films in non-competitive sections include Grant Gee’s Berlin Silver Bear best director winner Everybody Digs Bill Evans, Tina Gharavi’s SXSW London premiere Virgina Woolf’s Night And Day and Maria Fernandez Bayona’s Cannes title The End Of It.
This year’s jury comprises UK producer Stephen Woolley and actor Ben Hardy, alongside UK-French actor Amira Casar and French stars Zoé Adjani and Thibault de Montalembert.
The festival is running a week later than is usual, which means it now overlaps with BFI London Film Festival (October 7-18).
Dinard British and Irish Film Festival 2026 lineup
Competition films
H Is For Hawk (UK)
Dir. Philippa Lowthorpe
I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning (UK)
Dir. Clio Barnard
Rose Of Nevada (UK)
Dir. Mark Jenkin
Skintown (Ire-UK)
Dir. Kieron J. Walsh
The Education Of Jane Cumming (Ger-Switz-UK)
Dir. Sophie Heldman
Talent of Tomorrow award
Wasteman (UK)
Dir. Cal McMau
Extra Geography (UK)
Dir. Molly Manners
Lady (UK-Nigeria)
Dir. Olive Nwosu
The Son And The Sea (UK)
Dir. Stroma Cairns
Opening night
Once Upon A Time In A Cinema (Ire-Belg)
Dir. David Gleeson
Closing night
(UK)
Madfabulous
(UK)
Dir. Celyn Jones
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