The Irish Film Institute announced its ambitious plans for 2019 across its core activities of exhibition, preservation and education.

In order to successfully deliver many of these programmes, the IFI will undergo a major capital refurbishment project in summer 2019 which will see, amongst other improvements, two completely refurbished cinema spaces, offering IFI audiences the opportunity to see films with the best of facilities. The major refurbishment will maintain all the charm of the existing 18th century Quaker building in which the IFI makes its home, but will see changes that will bring increased comfort and enjoyment to film lovers who visit.

The IFI's comprehensive exhibition programme will include a complete retrospective of the work of one of the most pivotal figures in French cinema, Robert Bresson, director of such classics as Au Hasard Balthazar and The Trial of Joan of Arc. The programme will also feature the return of the occasional look at the work of forgotten filmmakers, Hidden Figures, which will this year centre on American Dorothy Arzner, the only female director in Hollywood in the 1930s, who launched the careers of many of the era's finest talents including Katherine Hepburn. 2019 will also bring the third Dark Skies season, headlined by a 70mm screening of James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day. IFI remains the only cinema in Ireland with the facilities to screen this format.

Irish filmmakers and their work will remain central to the IFI's focus throughout the year with seasons including Neglected Perspectives, a timely selection of films, co-curated by director Donal Foreman, looking at work that challenged the prevailing representations of the Northern Ireland Troubles. The work of Trish MacAdam, director of Snakes and Ladders and Hoodwinked, will take centre-stage with a retrospective and a career-spanning public interview, while the IFI’s ongoing collaboration with Dublin City Council will continue with the Edna O'Brien Trilogy, featuring screenings of The Country Girls, The Girl with Green Eyes and I Was Happy Here.

The IFI's four flagship festivals will return, with the IFI French Film Festival in November, the IFI Family Festival in August, the IFI Documentary Festival in September, and IFI Horrorthon over the October Bank Holiday weekend.