BREAKFAST ON PLUTO: Irish Film Week at FOMO Cinema Tbilisi

Irish Film Week at FOMO brings together a week of films from across Ireland and Northern Ireland, moving between black comedy, music, political cinema, animation, cult classics and some of the defining independent films of the last thirty years. The program isn’t intended as a neat history lesson. It’s a snapshot of how strange, funny, dark, inventive and internationally influential Irish cinema has become. Expect familiar faces, lesser-known discoveries, strong accents, bad decisions, great music and a lot of Cillian Murphy.

BREAKFAST ON PLUTO

Neil Jordan | 2005 | Ireland/UK | 2h08m | Presented in the original English audio with English subtitles

BREAKFAST ON PLUTO follows Patrick “Kitten” Braden, a young transgender woman growing up in a small Irish town before leaving for London in search of the mother who abandoned her as a baby. Cillian Murphy plays Kitten with a mixture of wit, stubbornness and romantic optimism, moving through foster homes, bands, nightclubs, relationships and increasingly dangerous encounters while refusing to become the person everyone around her expects.

Adapted from Patrick McCabe’s novel, the film is structured as a series of short chapters that let Kitten drift through Ireland and Britain during the 1960s and 70s. The Troubles are always somewhere nearby, but Jordan keeps the story anchored to Kitten’s personal search for family, identity and somewhere she can live on her own terms. Political violence, Catholic morality and social conservatism keep intruding, while Kitten responds by turning life into performance whenever reality becomes intolerable.

I’ve programmed BREAKFAST ON PLUTO immediately after THE BUTCHER BOY because both films come from the same remarkable collaboration between Neil Jordan and novelist Patrick McCabe. THE BUTCHER BOY turns childhood alienation inward until it becomes rage. BREAKFAST ON PLUTO takes an outsider and sends her outward into the world, using humour, clothes, music and imagination as forms of survival. They make a fascinating double bill because the ingredients are similar, but the emotional destination is completely different.

Cillian Murphy’s performance became the film’s defining achievement and earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy. At the Irish Film & Television Awards, Murphy won Best Actor, Neil Jordan won Best Director, and Jordan and McCabe won Best Script. Nearly twenty years later, the film also looks like an important bridge between several strands of modern Irish cinema: Neil Jordan’s long interest in outsiders, Patrick McCabe’s darkly comic writing, the political memory of the Troubles, and the emergence of Cillian Murphy as one of Ireland’s most internationally recognised actors.

FOOD AND DRINK POLICY: FOMO Cinema Lounge Bar opens 1 hour before the first screening of the day and closes at 02:00, serving a wide selection of beer, wine, cocktails, and non-alcoholic refreshments, as well as fresh hot popcorn! Outside food is allowed in the bar but not in the cinema. No alcohol from outside allowed. All guests are invited to arrive early and stay late!

LOCATION: FOMO Secret Cinema, Bazari Orbeliani, Tbilisi. A five minute walk from Liberty Square metro.

HOW TO FIND FOMO: Enter Bazari Orbeliani via Atoneli St above Carrefour and take the stairs on your left to Level 1. Signage on the door. You can also check our Instagram story highlights for a video showing exactly how to find us: https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE3OTMzMTA2Mjk0MDI5MjM1