Stars Bill Nighy and Maisie Williams introduce the effortlessly funny and deeply moving “500 Miles” for its World Premiere at DIFF 2026

This year’s iteration of the Dublin International Film Festival has featured many on screen depictions of arduous journeys. Be it Ciaran Hinds trekking across Ulster in a horse drawn milk float in The Three Urns, endurance runners surmounting the eponymous 298km mountain race in documentary The Four Trails, or Colin Farrell and Emma Fogarty running the Dublin Marathon in The Slightest Touch. And here, the titular 500 Miles refers to the distance between Sheffield and Dingle, which our two young protagonists travel between.  

Directed by Morgan Matthews and starring Bill Nighy, Maisie Williams, Clare Dunne, Michael Socha, Dexter Sol Ansell and Roman Griffin Davis. The film’s cast and crew were present at The Lighthouse on Friday night for the film’s World Premiere. During his introduction of the film, Bill Nighy proudly boasted of his fresh Irish passport, how “the first woman to ever occupy my heart came from Dublin” and of the wonderful experience they had filming this picture in Wicklow.  

Adapted by Malcolm Campbell, from the book “Charlie and Me” by Mark Lowery, 500 Miles tells the story of two young brothers (Sol Ansell and Griffin Davis), currently living in the midlands of Britain, who after overhearing their parents' plans for separation, decide to run away from home. Their destination is their estranged Grandad (Nighy) in Kerry. Travelling by train, bus, ferry, car and even horseback, the boys make new travel companions in Maisie Williams’ Irish ukulele player and must avoid ticket inspectors and the dreaded, drunken stag party in inflatable costumes.  

Exquisitely photographed by DP Thomas Comerford and featuring a beautiful score, from 24-year-old composer Jamie Duffy, primarily utilising piano punctuated with dramatic swells of strings. The performances are stellar across the board, Sol Ansell and Griffin Davis are the soul of the film and without their excellent work the whole piece would fall apart. Maisie Williams also nails her Irish accent (a sentiment echoed to her from the audience during the Q&A after the film, to which she explained that she perfected the accent via listening to a YouTube video of a girl who had her shoes stolen) while bringing a huge amount of wit and warmth to her role. And Bill Nighy does some of the finest work of his illustrious career, anchoring the more emotional moments while being effortlessly gentle and funny. You can see why his grandchildren would go to such lengths to visit him. 

500 Miles is consistently funny and deeply moving. A film about how families can be seemingly irrevocably broken, but there is always a way to mend them back together, and it is imperative that you do, no matter how hard the journey.