ONLINE EVENTS

Screenwriters Panel

Learn more about contemporary Irish screenwriting – where the inspiration springs from, how the ideas develop and the process through drafts and redrafts to the final version. Whether you’re an aspiring screenwriter, a film lover or passionate about storytelling, this is an opportunity to learn about the behind-the-scenes process of writing a great script.

PANELLISTS INCLUDE: Tiernan Williams & John Connors, Andrew Legge, Ailbhe Keogan, Fiona Bergin & Fintan Connolly

Documentary Panel

The panel will be pre-recorded next month in the second week of February and then released on the festival platform during the 2023 festival. We hope that the panel will provide an opportunity for both the general public and filmmakers of all levels to learn more about contemporary Irish documentary – where the stories come from and the background to bringing them to the screen. Whether you’re an aspiring filmmaker, a film lover or passionate about storytelling, we want to give Irish audiences an opportunity to learn about the behind-the-scenes process of making a great film.

PANELLISTS INCLUDE: Margo Harkin, Cara Holmes, Sinead O’Shea

LGBTQ+ panel

In response to a request from one of our international filmmakers who could not attend this year’s DIFF in person, we are delighted to share this online discussion on how "the queer" has influenced filmmaking and representation in cinema. In recognition that queerness influences not only what these filmmakers do, but also how they approach making it. Queer representation in cinema, and the limits of the private sphere of actors and filmmakers.

PANELLISTS INCLUDE: Daniel Vallejo, Columbian filmmaker; Cracks Will Come, Nathan Fagan; Mud Queen & Tania Notaro (Glitterbug)

DIFF Circle

How To Sell Your Film With Michelle Ryan

Based on years of explaining to filmmakers how important it is to create a good Electronic Press Kit (EPK) It's such a good idea to start planting this seed in filmmakers' heads before they get started on how important this side of filmmaking is. Very often it can become a box to be ticked with no further thought or planning put into it other than it “having to be done” (EPK material). To elevate storytelling and brand identity and translate that into effective content is essential especially in a cluttered market.

Michelle Ryan talks nitty-gritties of working on fast-paced projects to extract daily embedded coverage, on ability to self-produce and how to market films by landing the right press coverage.

DIFF Online films

We're delighted to offer a programme of film highlights online during the festival from Friday February 23 – Saturday March 4. Our digital programme comprises a selection of features and shorts that screened in cinema in the Festival, giving you a second chance to catch them no matter where you are in Ireland. The programme also includes events and films that are exclusive online-only.

Online Exclusive

Tommie Potts: The Fireman

Fiddler of the Coombe Come with me to the CinemaTHE GREGORS

Online and in Cinemas

Victim (See page 45)

My Sailor, My Love (See page 33)

My Imaginary Country (See page 30)

Notes From Sheepland (See page 100)

I Must Away (See page 99)

Mincéir (See page 99)

Day after... (See page 71)

Kanaval: A People’s History of Haiti in Six Chapers (See page 70)

Shorts Programme 1 (See page 78)

Shorts Programme 2 (See page 81)

Shorts Programme 3 (See page 83)

Just like cinema screenings, online screenings have limited capacity so we recommend pre-booking. See www.diff.ie to book and watch.

Safe as Houses

DURATION: 16 mins 11 sec

DIRECTOR: Mia Mullarkey

PRODUCER: Claire Mc Cabe

COUNTRY: Ireland

On a hot summer’s day, Aggie, a woman with Down syndrome, offers shelter to a young girl, Lucy, when her home life is not so welcoming.

Lamb

DURATION: 15 mins 51 sec

DIRECTOR: Sinead O’Loughlin

PRODUCER: Lara Hickey

COUNTRY: Ireland

An ordinary day takes a sinister turn for a woman and her child when a stranger walks into their isolated rural home.

Bad Boy Buck Red Rabbit

DURATION: 21 mins 18 sec

DIRECTOR: James Fitzgerald

PRODUCER: Simon Doyle

COUNTRY: Ireland

After a one night stand with another man, a married farmer attempts to hide the affair from his family as the truth drives him to breaking point.

Regular Rabbit

DURATION: 7 mins 40 seconds

DIRECTOR: Eoin Duffy

PRODUCER: Jamie Hogan

COUNTRY: Ireland

The good name of a seemingly regular rabbit falls victim to an unstoppable tide of disinformation.

Shadow

DURATION: 14 mins 51 seconds

DIRECTOR: Janna Kemperman

PRODUCER: Maggie Ryan

COUNTRY: Ireland

A young girl is her Dad’s shadow as they work their farm. When a family tragedy causes her Dad to retreat into himself “Shadow” takes it on herself to secretly keep the show on the road while her Dad finds his way back to her.

DURATION: 04 mins 52 seconds

DIRECTOR: Rory Kerr

PRODUCER: Ciara Roche

COUNTRY: Ireland

A rabbit struggles to find peace and relaxation at home. These attempts are thwarted by a destructive shoulder devil, who takes glee in ruining any chance of tranquility.

Hermit

DURATION: 02 mins 27 seconds

DIRECTOR: Sarah Benson

PRODUCER: Stephen Fagan

COUNTRY: Ireland

In a dystopian future, Mother Nature guards the last of Earth's flora deep underwater. When the last of humanity - a hermit building a sheltermakes a discover, greed takes over.

Dolorosa Will You Look At Me?

DURATION: 10 mins 22 sec

DIRECTOR: Emma Martin, Hugh O’Connor

PRODUCER: Zlata Filipovic

COUNTRY: Ireland

A young woman yields to a predetermined story. Someone’s son wrestles inside the abyss of his own skin. A woman’s face marked by hope, pain and triumph; a young girl rebels against expectation and success. Dolorosa is a short film reflecting on humanity in all its glory, innocence and desperation, power and vulnerability.

DURATION: 20 mins

DIRECTOR: Shuli Huang

PRODUCER: Shuli Huang

COUNTRY: China

As a young Chinese filmmaker returns to his hometown in search for himself, a long due conversation with his mother dives the two of them into a quest for acceptance and love.

The Small Makings of A Storm

DURATION: 04 mins 45 sec

DIRECTOR: Avery Angle

PRODUCER: Avery Angle COUNTRY: Ireland

A procession of water through its acts of metamorphosis in its life cycle. From the rising mists to billowing clouds, water weaves its way through every environment leaving an impression on even the smallest of creatures.

Everything At Once

DURATION: 8 mins

DIRECTOR: Henrik Dyb Zwart

PRODUCER: Øystein K. Dyb

COUNTRY: Norway

You’ve heard it before; that a moment can change your life. As if it's possible to point to a single instance when things changed. For Jakob, there's just a myriad of memories, piled up on top of each other. As if everything happened all at once.

Baths

DURATION: 14 mins 16 sec

DIRECTOR: Nell Hensey

PRODUCER: Claire Mooney

COUNTRY: Ireland

An intimate anthology short, with each chapter thematically centred on someone taking a bath at a turning point in their life.

Wednesday’s Child

DURATION: 10 mins 6 sec

DIRECTOR: Laura O’Shea

PRODUCER: Caroline Harvey COUNTRY: Ireland

Marie faces her first day on the job as a Social Care worker. Despite her optimism, a house call to a family in crisis quickly brings her down to reality.

Bean Feasa

DURATION: 17 mins 04 sec

DIRECTOR: Daniel Butler

PRODUCER: Maggie Ryan

COUNTRY: Ireland

The sceptical daughter of a traditional healer has her certainties challenged when she encounters one of 'the Good People'. Bean Feasa is an Irish-language supernatural drama inspired by Donegal folktales and filmed on location in the Donegal Gaeltacht.

DURATION: 13 mins 37 sec

DIRECTOR: Clare Dunne

COUNTRY: Ireland

This is a backwards love story exploring the seismic shifts one conversation can do to our lives and how maybe our biggest mistakes give us a journey we were really seeking.

Deer

DURATION: 13 mins 50 sec

DIRECTOR: Hadi Babaeifar

PRODUCER: Hadi Babaeifar

Ehsan a nine-year-old boy lives with his family in a far village in the North of Iran. His younger brother has a terminal illness. Ehsan’s family does not let him know about his brother’s health and he himself figures out what is happening. Ehsan feels his brother is going to die. From an old story he believes that a death angel comes to get his brother’s life as a deer. Ehsan sees a deer at the window at midnight, he decides to guard the house, not to let the deer take his brother’s life.

Mud Queen

DURATION: 18 mins 17 sec

DIRECTOR: Nathan Fagan, Luke Daly

PRODUCER: Seamus Waters

COUNTRY: Ireland

Set in a remote farmhouse in rural north county Dublin, Ireland in the early 1990’s. Sensitive, artistic Ryan, his 6-year-old sister Katie and his larger-than-life mother, Sue, are preparing to throw a wild and glamorous birthday party for Ryan’s 12th birthday. But is Mum’s behaviour just a normal part of the festivities? Or a sign of trouble to come? As the night wears on, Ryan must try to keep everything under control - and keep reality and the outside world at bay. Even for just one more night. A colourful, energetic film about the messiness of love and the complicated relationships between sons and mothers.

On Xerxes’ Throne

DURATION: 15 mins

DIRECTOR: Evi Kalogiropoulou

PRODUCER: Evi Kalogiropoulou

COUNTRY: Greece

A dystopian workplace at the Perama shipyard. A ban on physical contact has turned human interaction into otherworldly simulations. The suppression of touch has alienated the workers communication transforming the boatyard into a charged landscape of alienation and repressed sensuality beyond stereotypical heteronormative desires. According to local legend, the Persian King Xerxes watched the overwhelming defeat of his fleet from his throne on the rocky peaks of Mount Egaleo, in today’s Perama.

Sons of the Crezent

DURATION: 10 mins 49 sec

DIRECTOR: Brendan Canty

PRODUCER: Roberto Nascimento, Valentine Taylor

COUNTRY: New Zealand

With his neighbourhood in South Auckland under threat from gentrification, a young man recalls his youth, his roots and his upbringing through spoken word memories and dance. The film is a kaleidoscopic blend of emotion, nostalgia, humour and tenderness all woven together across scenes of dance and play.

My Girlfriend

DURATION: 17 mins

DIRECTOR: Kawthar Younis

PRODUCER: Sandro Canaan

COUNTRY: Egypt

Desperate for intimacy, Ali follows his girlfriend’s suggestion that puts their relationship to the test. The plan unfolds unexpectedly when gender roles become blurred.

INFO: Mon 27 Feb / Light House 2 / 18:00 / 118 mins

You’re Not Home

DURATION: 10 mins 57 sec

DIRECTOR: Derek Ugochukwu

PRODUCER: Gregory Burrowes

When an ominous mould appears in their room, two African brothers seeking asylum are faced with a dark entity lurking within their direct provision centre.

DURATION: 18 mins 05 sec

DIRECTOR: Daniel Mateo Vallejo

PRODUCER: Anderson Ascanio, Andre del Sur. Daniel Mateo Vallejo, Kees de Klein, María Paula, Jiménez Trujillo

COUNTRY: Columbia

Keisi wakes up one morning with the obsession of escaping into the thick of nature that has been stalking her lately. A photograph as fantasy; the art gallery that exhibits it as a nightmare.

Sons of Róisín

DURATION: 10 mins

DIRECTOR: Conor Bradley

PRODUCER: Hana Mohammed Sami, Ruairi Bradley

COUNTRY: Ireland

Pádraig's life has been turned upside down after the tragic passing of his brother, Fionn. One month later Pádraig visits an audiologist to learn that his hearing has deteriorated beyond repair. Left in the silence of his own grief, Pádraig hides from the world.

Blind Spot

Cracks Will Come People of the Plaza

DURATION: 14 mins 35 sec

DIRECTOR: Elias Neijens

PRODUCER: Elias Neijens

COUNTRY: Tunisia

Under the dictatorship of Ben Ali, a man is kidnapped, tortured and killed, then vanishes without ever being found. Thirty years later, he comes back to talk to us. Taking over the question of his mother: "Where did you abandon my son's body?"

DURATION: 14 mins 23 sec

DIRECTOR: Paul Gleeson

PRODUCER: Emma Langan, Anna Lugard, Fionn Quigley, Luan Rogers, Naoise May

COUNTRY: Ireland

Should cities be shaped around people, or should people be shaped around cities? The passer-by's of Dublin 8 respond to the controversial fencing of Portobello Plaza for the building of yet another Dublin hotel. Is it a sign of a far bigger problem?

DURATION: 9 mins 38 sec

DIRECTOR: Ethan Barrett

PRODUCER: Tiffany Barrett

COUNTRY: USA

As he cradles his new-born, a father wonders if his daughter would be better off without him and imagines her life once he is gone. Completely hand-drawn with crayons.

Warsha

DURATION: 15 mins

DIRECTOR: Dania Bdeir

PRODUCER: Coralie Dias

COUNTRY: France/Lebanon

A Syrian migrant working as a crane operator in Beirut volunteers to cover a shift on one of the most dangerous cranes, where he is able to find his freedom.

Full Moon

Rosemay A.D. Tsutsué

DURATION: 9 mins

DIRECTOR: Alexander Wilson-Flynn

PRODUCER: James Flynn, Keith Browett

COUNTRY: Ireland

On a stormy night, a father tells his daughter a scary story before bed. But the darkness the story reveals hits perhaps a little close to home.

DURATION: 15 mins 35 sec

DIRECTOR: Amartei Armar

PRODUCER: Ike Yemoh

COUNTRY: France, Ghana

Set in a small Ghanaian town at the edge of a large landfill site that spills into the ocean, the sons of a fisherman, Sowah and Okai, struggle to cope with loss of their eldest brother who drowned during a fishing expedition. Haunted by his demise, Okai believes their brother is still out there…

Glitterbug La Tumba

DURATION: 14 mins

DIRECTOR: Tania Notaro

PRODUCER: Ali Doyle, Trish Ryan

COUNTRY: Ireland

Set in 90’s Dublin, two young female DJ’s have their dreams of making it big in London crushed when one of them is diagnosed with HIV.

DURATION: 14 mins 15 sec

DIRECTOR: Natasha Waugh

PRODUCER: Natalie McAuley

COUNTRY: Ireland

When park ranger Paddy discovers Pilar, an elderly Spanish lady with no English, at a freshly dug grave, he thinks his fantasy of solving a murder case has finally come true.