Colin Farrell’s “Tirage” will be one to watch at this year’s Cannes Film Festival which kicked off last night.

In all there are nine great films representing Ireland in this year’s festival.

In “Triage” Farrell plays a war photographer in Iraq, who struggles to return to normal life after witnessing the horrors of the conflict in Kurdistan in the late 80s.

This is arguably Farrell most challenging role to date. It’s certainly a changed for RomComs and the light side of the movie industry which he might once have leaned toward.

Farrell was so committed to this role that he shed 44 pounds to achieve a more skeletal look. Not quite as dramatic as Edward Norton in “The Machinist” but notable all the same. Farrell lived on only black coffee, Diet Coke and tuna to achieve the rapid weight loss.

Here’s a look at the other nine films representing Ireland this year.

1.       “The Guard”

Staring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle (“Hotel Rwanda”, “Ocean’s 11”), the film tells the story of a  a policeman battling to smash a drug-smuggling ring in the west of Ireland. Cheadle plays an FBI agent who becomes involved.

2.       “Outcast”

A supernatural thriller.  James Nesbitt is a killer pursuing a former lover who comes from an ancient and magical Celtic race.

3.       "Wake Wood"

This is a horror movie and the first to come out of Hammer Films studios in 30 years.  It stars Aidan Gillen and Timothy Spall.

4. "Eclipse"

Ciaran Hinds and Aidan Quinn are caught in a love having visited a literary festival in rural Ireland.

5. "Wide Open Spaces"

A black comedy starring Ardal O'Hanlon who reckons the next big thing is a famine-inspired theme park for kids. The film is written by “Father Ted’s” scriptwriter Arthur Mathews.

6. "One Hundreds Mornings"

A post-apocalyptic story about two couples stranded in County Wicklow after an unidentified disaster in Dublin. This is the first feature film by Dubliner Conor Horgan, who made his name directing commercials.

7. "His and Hers"

Ken Wardrop’s hugely original feature debut listens to a selection of women from the Irish midlands as they discuss the men in their lives.  Weirdly they it seems that they are all talking about the same guy.

8. "All Good Children"

An Irish/French/Belgian co-production which has been selected to have its world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight.  The story centers on an Irish family relocating to France.