Cillian Murphy’s New Film, Steve, Premiers at ‘Sounds from a Safe Harbor’ Festival in Cork City, September 11-14

Sounds from a Safe Harbor, a biennial festival of music, dance, art, theatre and conversation, takes place on September 11-14, 2025 in Cork City, Ireland.  

The festival was co-founded by Irish movie actor Cillian Murphy, who recently portrayed the “father of the atomic bomb” in the hit film Oppenheimer.  In addition to his acting talents, Murphy is also a talented and passionate musician.

Premiering at this year’s festival on September 13 is Murphy’s newest film, Steve, an adaptation of the novel  Shy by Max Porter. Murphy and Porter will appear in a post-screening Q&A with the audience.

The film schedule at this year’s festival includes:

▫️Steve (European premiere) 
▫️Train Dreams (Irish premiere)
▫️It’s Never Over: Jeff Buckley (Irish premiere) 
▫️It’s All Gonna Break: Broken Social Scene
▫️Conor Walsh: Selected Piano Works
▫️Eno 
▫️Listen to the Land Speak 
▫️In Time: Dónal Lunny

Rhiannon Giddens  and Francesco Turrisi

Dozens of musicians, singers, dancers, storytellers and entertainers are also appearing throughout the festival. A partial list includes Gemma Doherty, Fionn Regan, Villagers, Lisa Hannigan, The Staves, Conor Walsh, Ye Vagabonds, Rhiannon Giddens  and Francesco Turrisi, Bobby Fingers, Dakabrakha, Donal Lunny and Black Country New Road.

As one of the original co-foumders of the Sounds from a Safe Harbor Festival, Murphy told the Irish Examiner,  “I just feel the city is so profoundly musical, and Cork people have such an understanding and love for music. All my youth in the city was about playing music and going to pubs and going to clubs, so this feels like a natural extension of that.”

Read more travel stories about visiting Ireland.