Ciarán Hinds: IFTA 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award

Ciarán Hinds with the Irish Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement

Ciarán Hinds with the Irish Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement

The Irish Film & Television Academy has chosen to honor Ciarán Hinds with the Irish Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement, a recognition that feels both inevitable and richly deserved for an actor whose five-decade career has left an indelible mark on screens both at home and around the world. The Belfast-born performer will receive the award at the 23rd Anniversary IFTA Awards Ceremony on February 20th at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre, with comedian and actor Kevin McGahern hosting an evening that promises to gather industry colleagues, friends, and family to celebrate a truly remarkable body of work.

What sets Hinds apart is not merely the longevity of his career but the extraordinary caliber of collaborators he has attracted throughout it. An Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA nominee who has already claimed five IFTA awards, Hinds has worked with a constellation of cinema’s most celebrated filmmakers—Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Kathryn Bigelow, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kenneth Branagh, and John Boorman among them. These are directors who choose their actors with exacting care, and their repeated trust in Hinds speaks volumes about his craft. Similarly, his screen partners read like a roster of acting royalty: Judi Dench, Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Frances McDormand, and Florence Pugh have all shared scenes with him, each collaboration adding another layer to an already rich tapestry of performances.

Hinds himself responded to the news with characteristic grace and humility, expressing deep gratitude to IFTA for the recognition and praising the organization’s support for the cinematic and televisual arts over more than twenty years. His journey began after training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, followed by formative years at the Glasgow Citizens’ Theatre before making his film debut in EXCALIBUR. That early role inaugurated a screen presence that would eventually culminate in an Oscar nomination for his deeply moving performance in BELFAST in 2022, a film that allowed him to return to his roots and draw upon the very streets and struggles that shaped him. Now, with upcoming projects including IS THIS THING ON?, MIDWINTER BREAK, and Netflix’s EAST OF EDEN on the horizon, Hinds shows no signs of slowing down, continuing to choose roles that challenge and illuminate, carrying forward a legacy that has made him one of Ireland’s most treasured exports to the world of international cinema.

Lisa McGee (yes, the genius behind DERRY GIRLS) is back with HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN FROM BELFAST and it sounds absolutely unhinged in the best way possible.

Three childhood friends—chaotic TV writer Saoirse, stressed mum-of-three Robyn, and dependable Dara—reunite for the wake of their estranged fourth friend. What starts as a simple journey across Ireland quickly spirals into something darker when eerie events unfold and a buried childhood secret threatens to surface.

Mark your calendars for February 2026 because this Irish odyssey is going to be unmissable!

#Ireland #Irish #Movies #Film #Television #TV #Cinema #Irishmovies #IrishFilm #IrishCinema #Actor #ActorsLife #IrishActor #Netflix #NetflixSeries #LisaMcGee #DerryGirls #Belfast #ComediThriller #IrishDrama #IrishStories #MustWatch #ComingSoon #NewSeries #IrishWriters #IrishEntertainment #TVDrama #NetflixOriginal #BingeWorthy #IrishWomen

...

Fresh from wrapping THE IMMORTAL MAN, Cillian Murphy is teaming up with Daniel Craig and Michelle Williams for Damien Chazelle's mysterious new prison drama—and the buzz is already deafening.

Production starts later this year through Chazelle's Wild Chickens Productions, with Paramount distributing, but details remain sparse beyond the prison setting. 

For Murphy, it's another chance to do what he does best: portray men under impossible pressure with that signature intensity and precision. A contained prison environment with Craig and Williams? 

That's not just a movie—that's a masterclass waiting to happen.

#Ireland #Irish #Movies #Film #Television #TV #Cinema #Irishmovies #IrishFilm #IrishCinema #Actor #ActorsLife #IrishActor #CillianMurphy #DamienChazelle #DanielCraig #MichelleWilliams #Hollywood #MovieNews #ComingSoon #Paramount #Oppenheimer #OscarWinner #PrisonDrama #NewMovie #FilmProduction #ActorLife

...

Barry Keoghan is having a MOMENT 🎬✨

The Dublin actor just dropped the trailer for CRIME 101 (hitting screens February 13!) and he's completely unrecognizable.

Keoghan goes head-to-head with Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry, and Mark Ruffalo in this intense crime thriller.

Watch new trailer now at irishfilmtv.com.

#Ireland #Irish #Movies #Film #Television #TV #Cinema #Irishmovies #IrishFilm #IrishCinema #Actor #ActorsLife #IrishActor #BarryKeoghan #Crime101 #PeakyBlinders #ChrisHemsworth #HalleBerry #MarkRuffalo #CillianMurphy #PaulMescal #TheBeatles #Hollywood #IrishTalent #Dublin

...

Paul Mescal is an Irish God in the new @britishgq interview.

In just a few years, he's become more than an actor—he's a mirror we all project onto, filling him with our ideas about masculinity, vulnerability, and what a leading man can be in 2025.

More Mescal at irishfilmtv.com.

...

A priest. A pool. A Spanish island. And one very dead body. 🏊‍♂️☠️

THESE SACRED VOWS hits RTÉ One on February 1st, and this wedding weekend mystery is about to become your next obsession.

Newly released trailer now at irishfilmtv.com.

...

Killarney's own Jessie Buckley just took home the Critics Choice Award for Best Actress for HAMNET, and her acceptance speech was pure gold 🏆✨

In HAMNET, Buckley delivers a devastating performance as Agnes, William Shakespeare's wife, navigating the grief of losing their 11-year-old son. Critics are calling it unforgettable, and now she has the trophy to prove it 🎬💚

More Jessie at irishfilmtv.com.

...

HAMNET star Jessie Buckley shines in BEAST, now on #Netflix.

A troubled woman living in an isolated community finds herself pulled between the control of her oppressive family and the allure of a secretive outsider suspected of a series of brutal murders.

More at irishfilmtv.com.

...

🕺✨ DANCING WITH THE STARS IRELAND is back for S9 tonight!

Get ready for spray tans, sequins, and Sunday night sparkle because Ireland's favourite winter escape is almost here. Who's ready to vote their faves to victory? 💃

More at irishfilmtv.com.

...

** Now on Netflix **

RUN AWAY brings Harlan Coben back to form with James Nesbitt doing what he does best—playing a tormented father searching for his missing daughter against all advice.

More at irishfilmtv.com.

...

By order of the Peaky Blinders, Merry Christmas!

A teaser for the new film PEAKY BLINDERS: THE IMMORTAL MAN just dropped, and it features Cillian Murphy’s gangster Tommy Shelby returning to his old ways despite leaving them all behind at the end of the TV series.

Watch now at irishfilmtv.com.

...

Domhnall Gleeson heads to a remote Scottish isle for THE INCOMER!

He plays an awkward council worker tasked with relocating two siblings who survive by hunting seabirds, talking to mythical beings, and fiercely defending their homeland from outsiders.

More Domhnall at irishfilmtv.com.

...

Irish Film

Ciaran Hinds in IS THIS THING ON?

Ciaran Hinds in IS THIS THING ON?

When Bradley Cooper steps behind the camera again in 2025 with IS THIS THING ON?, he’s assembled a cast that reads like a masterclass in understated brilliance. Among the names—Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Amy Sedaris—sits Ciarán Hinds, the Belfast-born actor whose face you know even if his name doesn’t immediately register. Hinds will play Jan in this exploration of divorce and stand-up comedy, a pairing of subjects that promises the kind of uncomfortable humor that lands like a punch to the gut before you realize you’re laughing.

For an actor who’s portrayed everyone from Julius Caesar in ROME to the tormented father in BELFAST, from the sinister Steppenwolf in JUSTICE LEAGUE to Albus Dumbledore’s brother in HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, adding a character named Jan to the repertoire feels almost refreshingly ordinary. Almost. Because with Hinds, nothing is ever quite ordinary. He brings gravity to fantasy, warmth to prestige drama, and a lived-in authenticity that makes you forget you’re watching someone act. His Mance Rayder in GAME OF THRONES felt like a king precisely because he never seemed to be trying to convince you he was one.

IS THIS THING ON? marks another chapter in a career that’s been less about headlines and more about the slow accumulation of indelible moments. Cooper, fresh from his ambitious turn with MAESTRO, clearly understands that sometimes the most interesting stories about falling apart require actors who know how to hold themselves together on screen. With Hinds in the mix alongside Arnett’s comic timing, Dern’s emotional precision, and Sedaris’s sharp wit, the film has the ingredients for something that could cut deeper than your typical comedy about life’s wreckage. And in an industry increasingly obsessed with spectacle, there’s something quietly radical about a project that seems content to explore the messy, ordinary devastation of a marriage ending and a comic trying to find the joke in it all.

Lisa McGee (yes, the genius behind DERRY GIRLS) is back with HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN FROM BELFAST and it sounds absolutely unhinged in the best way possible.

Three childhood friends—chaotic TV writer Saoirse, stressed mum-of-three Robyn, and dependable Dara—reunite for the wake of their estranged fourth friend. What starts as a simple journey across Ireland quickly spirals into something darker when eerie events unfold and a buried childhood secret threatens to surface.

Mark your calendars for February 2026 because this Irish odyssey is going to be unmissable!

#Ireland #Irish #Movies #Film #Television #TV #Cinema #Irishmovies #IrishFilm #IrishCinema #Actor #ActorsLife #IrishActor #Netflix #NetflixSeries #LisaMcGee #DerryGirls #Belfast #ComediThriller #IrishDrama #IrishStories #MustWatch #ComingSoon #NewSeries #IrishWriters #IrishEntertainment #TVDrama #NetflixOriginal #BingeWorthy #IrishWomen

...

Fresh from wrapping THE IMMORTAL MAN, Cillian Murphy is teaming up with Daniel Craig and Michelle Williams for Damien Chazelle's mysterious new prison drama—and the buzz is already deafening.

Production starts later this year through Chazelle's Wild Chickens Productions, with Paramount distributing, but details remain sparse beyond the prison setting. 

For Murphy, it's another chance to do what he does best: portray men under impossible pressure with that signature intensity and precision. A contained prison environment with Craig and Williams? 

That's not just a movie—that's a masterclass waiting to happen.

#Ireland #Irish #Movies #Film #Television #TV #Cinema #Irishmovies #IrishFilm #IrishCinema #Actor #ActorsLife #IrishActor #CillianMurphy #DamienChazelle #DanielCraig #MichelleWilliams #Hollywood #MovieNews #ComingSoon #Paramount #Oppenheimer #OscarWinner #PrisonDrama #NewMovie #FilmProduction #ActorLife

...

Barry Keoghan is having a MOMENT 🎬✨

The Dublin actor just dropped the trailer for CRIME 101 (hitting screens February 13!) and he's completely unrecognizable.

Keoghan goes head-to-head with Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry, and Mark Ruffalo in this intense crime thriller.

Watch new trailer now at irishfilmtv.com.

#Ireland #Irish #Movies #Film #Television #TV #Cinema #Irishmovies #IrishFilm #IrishCinema #Actor #ActorsLife #IrishActor #BarryKeoghan #Crime101 #PeakyBlinders #ChrisHemsworth #HalleBerry #MarkRuffalo #CillianMurphy #PaulMescal #TheBeatles #Hollywood #IrishTalent #Dublin

...

Paul Mescal is an Irish God in the new @britishgq interview.

In just a few years, he's become more than an actor—he's a mirror we all project onto, filling him with our ideas about masculinity, vulnerability, and what a leading man can be in 2025.

More Mescal at irishfilmtv.com.

...

A priest. A pool. A Spanish island. And one very dead body. 🏊‍♂️☠️

THESE SACRED VOWS hits RTÉ One on February 1st, and this wedding weekend mystery is about to become your next obsession.

Newly released trailer now at irishfilmtv.com.

...

Killarney's own Jessie Buckley just took home the Critics Choice Award for Best Actress for HAMNET, and her acceptance speech was pure gold 🏆✨

In HAMNET, Buckley delivers a devastating performance as Agnes, William Shakespeare's wife, navigating the grief of losing their 11-year-old son. Critics are calling it unforgettable, and now she has the trophy to prove it 🎬💚

More Jessie at irishfilmtv.com.

...

HAMNET star Jessie Buckley shines in BEAST, now on #Netflix.

A troubled woman living in an isolated community finds herself pulled between the control of her oppressive family and the allure of a secretive outsider suspected of a series of brutal murders.

More at irishfilmtv.com.

...

🕺✨ DANCING WITH THE STARS IRELAND is back for S9 tonight!

Get ready for spray tans, sequins, and Sunday night sparkle because Ireland's favourite winter escape is almost here. Who's ready to vote their faves to victory? 💃

More at irishfilmtv.com.

...

** Now on Netflix **

RUN AWAY brings Harlan Coben back to form with James Nesbitt doing what he does best—playing a tormented father searching for his missing daughter against all advice.

More at irishfilmtv.com.

...

By order of the Peaky Blinders, Merry Christmas!

A teaser for the new film PEAKY BLINDERS: THE IMMORTAL MAN just dropped, and it features Cillian Murphy’s gangster Tommy Shelby returning to his old ways despite leaving them all behind at the end of the TV series.

Watch now at irishfilmtv.com.

...

Domhnall Gleeson heads to a remote Scottish isle for THE INCOMER!

He plays an awkward council worker tasked with relocating two siblings who survive by hunting seabirds, talking to mythical beings, and fiercely defending their homeland from outsiders.

More Domhnall at irishfilmtv.com.

...

Irish Film

Ciarán Hinds in MIDWINTER BREAK

Ciarán Hinds in MIDWINTER BREAK

Ciarán Hinds in MIDWINTER BREAK

There’s something haunting about the way the past refuses to stay buried, the way it surfaces decades later in the canals of Amsterdam, reflected in water that won’t stay still. Focus Features has just dropped the trailer for MIDWINTER BREAK, adapted from Bernard MacLaverty’s novel, and it promises to be one of those quiet devastations that lingers long after the credits roll. Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds embody Stella and Gerry, a retired couple whose winter escape to Amsterdam becomes anything but the peaceful getaway they might have envisioned. Instead, the city’s beauty becomes a backdrop for reckoning, a place where troubled memories rise like ghosts they can no longer outrun.

The film positions itself as a meditation on faith, commitment, and love’s stubborn endurance, but the trailer hints at something darker underneath all that devotion. “A day they can’t forget. A truth they can’t escape,” the tagline warns, and you can feel the weight of those words in every frame. The memories troubling this couple aren’t just personal regrets or marital disappointments, they’re clearly tied to The Troubles in Ireland, that brutal period of sectarian violence that scarred generations. Whatever happened back then, whatever debt is owed, it’s followed them across decades and across the North Sea to Amsterdam’s seemingly serene streets.

Julie Lamberton and Ed Sayer appear as the younger versions of Stella and Gerry in flashbacks, and you sense that these glimpses into the past will gradually illuminate the shadows that have shaped this marriage. The trailer showcases Amsterdam in all its golden-hour glory, those iconic bridges and gabled houses, the play of light on ancient water, but all that beauty feels bittersweet when you realize it’s the setting for a truth finally demanding to be faced. There’s something almost cruel about how gorgeous it all looks, as if the world’s loveliness makes the pain of what they’re confronting even sharper.

What makes MIDWINTER BREAK so compelling, even just from the trailer, is how it refuses easy answers about love and loyalty. This isn’t a story about whether they stay together or fall apart, it’s about the cost of staying together, about what we carry for each other and what that carrying does to us over time. The film seems to ask whether love can survive not just the passage of years but the weight of shared history, especially when that history is stained with violence and loss. Can a marriage endure when it’s built on foundations that include tragedy, complicity, or secrets that have calcified into the very structure of who they are together?

The sadness that creeps in while watching the trailer isn’t just about anticipating their revelation, it’s about recognizing that sometimes learning the truth about a relationship means confronting how much has been left unsaid, how much has been sacrificed or suppressed in the name of keeping going. Amsterdam becomes a kind of crossroads where the past and present finally collide, where the life they’ve built together has to stand up against the memories they’ve tried to leave behind. The city’s beauty only amplifies the tragedy of what they’re facing, making their crisis feel both intimate and somehow universal, a reminder that no one gets through a long life, or a long love, without accumulating wounds that never fully heal.

Lisa McGee (yes, the genius behind DERRY GIRLS) is back with HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN FROM BELFAST and it sounds absolutely unhinged in the best way possible.

Three childhood friends—chaotic TV writer Saoirse, stressed mum-of-three Robyn, and dependable Dara—reunite for the wake of their estranged fourth friend. What starts as a simple journey across Ireland quickly spirals into something darker when eerie events unfold and a buried childhood secret threatens to surface.

Mark your calendars for February 2026 because this Irish odyssey is going to be unmissable!

#Ireland #Irish #Movies #Film #Television #TV #Cinema #Irishmovies #IrishFilm #IrishCinema #Actor #ActorsLife #IrishActor #Netflix #NetflixSeries #LisaMcGee #DerryGirls #Belfast #ComediThriller #IrishDrama #IrishStories #MustWatch #ComingSoon #NewSeries #IrishWriters #IrishEntertainment #TVDrama #NetflixOriginal #BingeWorthy #IrishWomen

...

Fresh from wrapping THE IMMORTAL MAN, Cillian Murphy is teaming up with Daniel Craig and Michelle Williams for Damien Chazelle's mysterious new prison drama—and the buzz is already deafening.

Production starts later this year through Chazelle's Wild Chickens Productions, with Paramount distributing, but details remain sparse beyond the prison setting. 

For Murphy, it's another chance to do what he does best: portray men under impossible pressure with that signature intensity and precision. A contained prison environment with Craig and Williams? 

That's not just a movie—that's a masterclass waiting to happen.

#Ireland #Irish #Movies #Film #Television #TV #Cinema #Irishmovies #IrishFilm #IrishCinema #Actor #ActorsLife #IrishActor #CillianMurphy #DamienChazelle #DanielCraig #MichelleWilliams #Hollywood #MovieNews #ComingSoon #Paramount #Oppenheimer #OscarWinner #PrisonDrama #NewMovie #FilmProduction #ActorLife

...

Barry Keoghan is having a MOMENT 🎬✨

The Dublin actor just dropped the trailer for CRIME 101 (hitting screens February 13!) and he's completely unrecognizable.

Keoghan goes head-to-head with Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry, and Mark Ruffalo in this intense crime thriller.

Watch new trailer now at irishfilmtv.com.

#Ireland #Irish #Movies #Film #Television #TV #Cinema #Irishmovies #IrishFilm #IrishCinema #Actor #ActorsLife #IrishActor #BarryKeoghan #Crime101 #PeakyBlinders #ChrisHemsworth #HalleBerry #MarkRuffalo #CillianMurphy #PaulMescal #TheBeatles #Hollywood #IrishTalent #Dublin

...

Paul Mescal is an Irish God in the new @britishgq interview.

In just a few years, he's become more than an actor—he's a mirror we all project onto, filling him with our ideas about masculinity, vulnerability, and what a leading man can be in 2025.

More Mescal at irishfilmtv.com.

...

A priest. A pool. A Spanish island. And one very dead body. 🏊‍♂️☠️

THESE SACRED VOWS hits RTÉ One on February 1st, and this wedding weekend mystery is about to become your next obsession.

Newly released trailer now at irishfilmtv.com.

...

Killarney's own Jessie Buckley just took home the Critics Choice Award for Best Actress for HAMNET, and her acceptance speech was pure gold 🏆✨

In HAMNET, Buckley delivers a devastating performance as Agnes, William Shakespeare's wife, navigating the grief of losing their 11-year-old son. Critics are calling it unforgettable, and now she has the trophy to prove it 🎬💚

More Jessie at irishfilmtv.com.

...

HAMNET star Jessie Buckley shines in BEAST, now on #Netflix.

A troubled woman living in an isolated community finds herself pulled between the control of her oppressive family and the allure of a secretive outsider suspected of a series of brutal murders.

More at irishfilmtv.com.

...

🕺✨ DANCING WITH THE STARS IRELAND is back for S9 tonight!

Get ready for spray tans, sequins, and Sunday night sparkle because Ireland's favourite winter escape is almost here. Who's ready to vote their faves to victory? 💃

More at irishfilmtv.com.

...

** Now on Netflix **

RUN AWAY brings Harlan Coben back to form with James Nesbitt doing what he does best—playing a tormented father searching for his missing daughter against all advice.

More at irishfilmtv.com.

...

By order of the Peaky Blinders, Merry Christmas!

A teaser for the new film PEAKY BLINDERS: THE IMMORTAL MAN just dropped, and it features Cillian Murphy’s gangster Tommy Shelby returning to his old ways despite leaving them all behind at the end of the TV series.

Watch now at irishfilmtv.com.

...

Domhnall Gleeson heads to a remote Scottish isle for THE INCOMER!

He plays an awkward council worker tasked with relocating two siblings who survive by hunting seabirds, talking to mythical beings, and fiercely defending their homeland from outsiders.

More Domhnall at irishfilmtv.com.

...

Irish Film

Hinds in THE RINGS OF POWER


Ciaran Hinds

Oscar-nominated Belfast actor Ciaran Hinds will take the role of The Dark Wizard in the upcoming Prime Video series LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER, premiering Aug 29. Hinds is best known for his roles in the TV series KIN and the film BELFAST, the latter earning him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 2022. The first season attracted more than 25 million global viewers on its first day, marking the biggest premiere in the history of Prime Video, and has since been viewed by more than 100 million people worldwide.

Watch Trailer

THE DRY Season Two on RTE

Roisin Gallagher

THE DRY series, starring Ciaran Hinds and Roisin Gallagher, is returning to RTÉ One and RTÉ Player for its second season. The acclaimed comedy-drama series is produced by Element Pictures, who scooped a number of Oscars earlier this year for POOR THINGS. Season two picks up seven months on from the events of the first season and will see the Sheridan family in their new state of normality.

First Look

Irish Film

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KIN on Netflix May 1

Ciaran Hinds

Hard-hitting Irish crime drama KIN, described as “the best Irish drama series in years”, will begin streaming on Netflix from May 1. The show, which won four Irish Film and Television Awards in 2022, initially aired on Irish channel RTÉ in 2021, for series one, and in 2023, for series two. KIN stars a plethora of Irish acting talent including Ciaran Hinds (BELFAST), Clare Dunne, Emmett J. Scanlan (FOOL ME ONCE) and Charlie Cox.

Watch Trailer

 

IN THE LAND OF SAINTS & SINNERS trailer

Liam Neeson

Watch IN THE LAND OF SAINTS AND SINNERS trailer! The film, starring Liam Neeson, receives its premiere at the Venice Film Festival today, September 6. Neeson is joined by a powerhouse list of Irish stars including Kerry Condon (THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN), Jack Gleeson (GAME OF THRONES), Sarah Greene (ROSIE), Ciarán Hinds (BELFAST) and Colm Meaney (THE SNAPPER). Netflix has acquired the Irish and UK rights, however, a release date has yet to be announced.

Watch Trailer

Irish Film

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