The 74th Berlin International Film Festival will open on February 15 with the world premiere of Small Things Like These, an Irish-Belgian production. The film is based on the book by the award-winning Irish writer Claire Keegan (who also wrote Foster, adapted into the Academy Award nominated Irish language film An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl)). The international cast includes Cillian Murphy, Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley and Emily Watson.

In a small Wexford town in 1984, during the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant, works hard to provide for his wife and five daughters. Early one morning, while delivering coal to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the Church.

“We are looking forward to launching this ‘quiet’ yet quite exceptional film at the start of Zeitgeist Irland 24, a year-long celebration of Irish culture in Germany,” says the Berlinale’s Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian.