We've been waiting for a year for an Irish language film, then two come along at the same time

(This article is produced by our Gaeltacht team. You can read an Irish version of this piece here.)

TWO Irish-language films will be released in cinemas nationwide from next week, an Irish-language version of SpongeBob the Movie: Where Are You SquarePants? and the Gaeltacht noir film, Báite(Drowned).

This is the first time since the release of Fidil Ghorm last year and, before that, Kneecap in 2024, that an Irish-language film has been released in cinemas nationwide. The film about a Belfast rap group managed to generate €1.5m in Ireland that year, the first Irish film to reach that milestone since The Banshees of Inisherin.

The two new films are being released as Seachtain na Gaeilge begins next Sunday. Seachtain na Gaeilge lasts seventeen days, from March 1-17.

Spongebob Squarepants could be described as a must-sea! The wee yellow man with the funny pants is a character brought to Ireland by TG4 and children and their parents will be also familiar with the character who lives with friends like Patrick and Mr. Krabs at the bottom of the ocean in Bikini Bottom.

In this film, which will be in cinemas nationwide starting next weekend, SpongeBob and his friends hit the road in their most challenging adventure to date, where the cartoon character sets out with his pals to prove he’s a big man.

The second film also has a watery setting. Báite, which will be in cinemas starting Friday, March 6, is not set by the sea but on the shores of a man-made lake and will also reel back the years to September 1975. 

When a body washes up in the lake, a murder mystery involving a family feud are revealed as the life of the main character, Peggy Casey, begins to fall apart.

The film is directed by Ruán Magan and written by Sheena Lambert, based on her book The Lake. Ruán has directed many of the films in which his brother, Manchan, played the role of an explorer who travelled the world making travel programmes for TG4.

Eimear Noone and Craig Stuart Garfinkle won an IFTA award at the weekend for the music they composed for Báite.

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According to TG4′s commissioning editor, Máire Ní Chonláin, Báite is a confident and atmospheric Irish language film.

‘It is deeply rooted in place and characters, it brings a strong story to the big screen and it highlights the richness of Irish storytelling,’ she said.

 Tá tacaíocht á fháil ag Beartas Gaeltachta The Journal ón Scéim Tuairiscithe ar Dhaonlaáthas Áitiúil