Awards Gala: Nightbitch
In this wildly entertaining and original exploration of motherhood and identity - somewhere between comedy, drama and dark fantasy - Amy Adams plays Mother, a former artist who has moved out of the city. She says with her toddler in their new suburban home while her husband is away (a lot) for business. Routine defines her life now, from meal time to playground time to Baby Book Time, where she struggles to connect with other mums. Unable to keep her emotions bottled up inside much longer, she begins to see and hear things in the night. Something primal and feral rises up within her.
Director Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me) adapts Rachel Yoder's 2021 bestselling novel and gives all her attention to the women who can’t quite be content with the limited space society has in store for them. The demands placed on mothers, on wives (…on all women?) are essentially unfair, she tells us, and it is a duty to consider them both with the utmost seriousness and to laugh out loud about them.
And then there is Amy Adams. Beautiful. Real. Fearless. Demanding to be heard and to be seen. We are happy to oblige.
This Gala screening will include the presentation of CIFF Features Awards (Best New Irish, Spirit of the Festival, Documentary).