‘Peaky Blinders’ team reunites for Berlin fest opener

BERLIN (AFP): A drama starring Cillian Murphy about the systematic abuse of women at Irish laundries run by the Catholic Church will open next month’s Berlin film festival, organisers said on Thursday.

“Small Things Like This”, which will have its world premiere at the Berlinale on February 15, reunites Murphy with Belgian film-maker Tim Mielants, who directed him in season three of the hit series “Peaky Blinders”.

Murphy, who won a Golden Globe this month for his star turn in “Oppenheimer”, plays a 1980s coal merchant who “discovers startling secrets kept by the convent in his town” linked to the notorious Magdalene Laundries.

The facilities were penitentiary workhouses managed for decades by the Catholic Church, where more than 10,000 women were forced to work.

Berlinale artistic director Carlo Chatrian said Murphy portrays “a man of few words, with wide open eyes, as clear as the skies of Ireland”.

“We are confident that this story, that allies the kindness to be directed to the more fragile and the willpower to stand up against injustice, will resonate with everyone,” Chatrian said.

The film is based on a book by Irish writer Claire Keegan, whose work “Foster” was adapted into the Oscar-nominated Irish-language film “The Quiet Girl”.

Playwright Enda Walsh wrote the screenplay of “Small Things Like These”, whose producers include Murphy, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

The bulk of the Magdalene Laundries’ residents were ostracised “fallen women” who had become pregnant outside marriage.

Others included rape victims, orphans, prostitutes and the disabled.

They worked for no pay even though the religious orders ran the laundries as commercial bodies.

Irish authorities released a 1,000-page report on the laundries in 2013 and then-prime minister Enda Kenny apologised to the victims, as did those who ran the laundries.

The Berlinale, Europe’s first major cinema showcase of the year, ranks along with Cannes and Venice among the continent’s top film festivals.

The 74th annual event has invited Kenyan-Mexican actor Lupita Nyong’o to head the jury for the Golden and Silver Bear top prizes — the first black person to receive the honour.

It has also announced that US director Martin Scorsese is expected in the German capital to collect the festival’s lifetime achievement award.