Cillian Murphy at Berlinale for world premiere: 'I love coming here'

Irish Hollywood star Cillian Murphy declared his love for Berlin at a press conference hours before his new film "Small Things Like These" was set to premiere as the opener at this year's Berlin International Film Festival.

Murphy, 47, will present his latest film on Thursday evening to start the Berlinale festival. Matt Damon, who was a producer for the film, is expected to join Murphy at the screening.

"I love Berlin, this is my fifth time at the Berlin Film Festival," Murphy said. "I love coming here."

"Small Things Like These," directed by Tim Mielants, is a historical drama set against the backdrop of Ireland's notorious Magdalene "laundries," Catholic Church institutions where thousands of pregnant teenaged girls and unwed young women were exploited between the 1820s and 1996.

The women were almost all generally forced to give up their newborn children for adoption.

The drama follows the inner struggle of a coal merchant, played by Murphy, in a small Irish town in the 1980s who questions whether to conform and remain silent or rebel against the injustice.

The film also stars Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley and Emily Watson. Mielants is previously best known for directing several episodes of the television series "Peaky Blinders," which also starred Murphy.

Murphy is considered an Oscar favourite for best actor at the upcoming Academy Awards for his starring role in last year's hit film "Oppenheimer."

The Magdalene laundries scandal was also the subject of the 2013 box office hit "Philomena," starring Judi Dench and directed by Stephen Frears.