With the catalogue of films available on IFI@Home growing steadily since the platform’s establishment, it was felt that new viewers might appreciate some tips on where to start, while viewers more familiar with the range of titles on offer may welcome recommendations of films they might not previously have considered. To this end, we have asked some of the guests we are fortunate enough to have had pass through our Eustace Street home to recommend five films that can be seen on the platform, according to their own personal tastes. We hope this will help viewers to find undiscovered gems. This month, columnist, journalist, and novelist Tanya Sweeney chooses her top five films from the IFI@Home catalogue. If you enjoy this selection, you might also enjoy Tanya’s Bigger Picture selection, in IFI cinema in February.
One Million Dubliners (Aoife Kelleher, 2014)
Another profound cinematic experience that I didn’t forget in a hurry. Aoife Kelleher’s feature-length documentary is an intelligent, tactful occasionally humorous portrayal of Glasnevin cemetery and its inner workings: the guided tour, the history, the storied people buried there, the crematorium, its management. It’s certainly a sobering subject matter, and not one we like to dwell on. Yet One Million Dubliners turns out to be elegiac, uplifting, hopeful and poignant in ways an audience member could barely foresee when they first sit down to watch it.
Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2009) When I saw this in the cinema back in 2009, I was rendered speechless for a good 20 minutes afterwards – my favourite kind of movie experience. It’s Lanthimos’ third feature, and for my money his most audacious and original (and that’s saying a lot). The film centres on a family of two parents and their three grown children, who live in a fenced compound and are largely oblivious to the outside world and have been taught little of use; so much so that the children don’t even know the right words for everyday objects. The children have been told that they will be ready to go out into the world once they lose a dogtooth. After an outsider is introduced to the household, the ‘games’ that these adults children play with each other to pass the time soon start to verge on the violent.
The Old Oak (Ken Loach, 2023) I’m not the first person to love how Ken Loach says so much about the parlous state of modern life, in a very quiet, still way. In The Old Oak, the story is set in a once-thriving mining community, now decimated by poverty. Tensions brew and boil over when a group of Syrian refugees are placed in vacant properties within this small town. It’s a very succinct snapshot of what is happening in towns all over the UK and Ireland, but Loach has turned this into something poetic, poignant and beautiful.
Housewife Of The Year(Ciaran Cassidy, 2024) Younger people probably find it absurd that we had a national competition to find the country’s best homemaker, and she was awarded a £300 gas stove (and widespread recognition) for their efforts, and yet here we are._ Housewife Of The Year_ both celebrates the women that won the title, while also lightly probing the theocratic society, gender politics and culture around the decades-long competition. To see it through Cassidy’s lens, and from the privilege of a 2026 perspective, is really something. With a healthy dash of nostalgia in here, Housewife Of The Year is entertaining, poignant and thought-provoking.
Triangle Of Sadness (Ruben Östlund, 2022) How much do I adore Ruben Östlund? This 2022 satire came hot on the heels of Force Majeure (genius) and The Square (hilarious), and takes aim at the super rich, influencers and fashion types. An influencer (played by the late Charlbi Dean) and her model boyfriend (Harris Dickinson) finagle their way onto a free luxury cruise, where they meet up with a motley crew of other pampered, shallow types. The characters occasionally run into 2D, caricature territory, but no harm: they are, as you might imagine, looking down on the liner’s staff – a move they will soon come to regret. If you want a film that evokes, shall we say, a very physical reaction, this is your best bet.
Tanya Sweeney, Fives of Others Guest, February 2026
Previous Fives of Others contributors include Donald Clarke and Sinéad O’Shea.
