IRISH FILM FESTA in short – Online special edition 2020
LIVE ACTION
THE APPOINTMENT (Northern Ireland, 2019) – 16’27”
David Moody
prod. Louise Sinclair
with Ciaran Flynn, Geraldine McAlinden
Ian splits his time between working his dead end warehouse job and taking care of his ailing mother. The stresses of everyday life, alongside Anna’s illness, have created a rift between the two that is seemingly insurmountable.
BREAK US (Ireland, 2019) – 09’13”
Rioghnach Ní Ghrioghair
prod. Claire Mc Cabe
with Gavin Drea, Danielle Galligan, Noni Stapleton, Tristan Mc Connell
Mark and Sophie plan to rob a post office but as things go awry, they each discover what they’re really made of…
CIÚNAS / SILENCE (Ireland, 2019) – 12’34”
Tristan Heanue
prod. Tristan Heanue
with Gary Lydon, Ally Ní Chairáin, Hazel Doupe
A couple embark on a journey in the midst of a family crisis.
CYNTHIA (Ireland, 2019) – 17’34”
Jack Hickey
prod. Lara Hickey
with Clare Dunne, Moe Dunford, Peter Campion, Valerie O’Connor, Caoimhe O’Malley
A dinner party with old friends takes a shocking turn as wounds are exposed, revelations are made, and the past resurfaces. Over one tense evening, Cynthia learns that some things can never be unsaid.
FATHER FATHER (Northern Ireland, 2019) – 18’38”
Michael McDowell
prod. Damon Quinn
with Ian McElhinney, Martin McCann, Diona Doherty,
Father James must decide what kind of a father God wants him to be.
THE GRASS CEILING (Ireland, 2029) – 14’53” / documentary
Iseult Howlett
prod. Frankie Fenton
Three successful female athletes explore how being physically courageous, unapologetically competitive and deeply passionate in team sport can unlock a freedom to really occupy your own skin.
HALO (Ireland, 2019) – 16’14”
Michael-David McKernan
prod. Mícheál Fleming
with Michael-David McKernan, Toni O’Rourke, India Mullen, Patrick Flannery
A lonely taxi driver takes drastic action to protect a passenger from heartbreak.
MAYA (Ireland, 2019) – 16’37”
Sophia Tamburrini
prod. Jessie Fisk
with Pat Shortt, Hannah Mamalis
A man living in an idyllic simulated world is forced to return to a life he sought desperately to escape
PARTING GIFT (Northern Ireland, 2018) – 9’39”
Paul Kennedy
prod. Jason Forde
with Stuart Graham, Hayley McQuillan
When Polly meets homeless Neil, they spark up a strange relationship.
LA PETITE MORT (UK, 2019) – 6’25”
Michael Smiley
prod. Michael Smiley
with Tania Wade, Jonny Phillips
Two lonely people meet in a park. They have more in common than they realise.
RUBY (Northern Ireland, 2019) – 19’36”
Michael Creagh
prod. Liam Creagh, Damon Quinn
with Dan Gordon, Kate O’Toole
Len and Ruby are celebrating their Ruby wedding anniversary. Len has a history of odd and outlandish gifts. Ruby hopes that this year will be different and that he’ll arrange something “nice and normal”.
THE VASECTOMY DOCTOR (Ireland, 2019) – 10’47” / documentary
Paul Webster
prod. Ronan Cassidy
Andrew Rynne, Ireland’s first vasectomy doctor, a man who took on the government over the controversial contraceptive laws of the 1980s and in 1990 survived being shot by a former vasectomy patient.
WAS THAT A YES? (Ireland, 2029) – 4’40”
Ray Mac Donnacha
prod. Kevin Ó Flatharta
with Dara Devaney, Sorcha Ní Chéide
Date night disaster.
ANIMATION
ABE’S STORY (Ireland, 2019) – 12’21”
Adam H Stewart
prod. Eilish Kent
with the voices of Colin O’Donoghue, David Bamber, Owen Roe, Jonathan Ryan
Abe, an overworked and underappreciated theatre manager, struggles to finish a horror novel which he believes will change his destiny.
ARCHIE’S BAT (Ireland, 2029) – 2’25”
Shannon Egan
prod. Shannon Egan
A lonely boy is given the chance at friendship when his path crosses with an injured bat.
STREETS OF FURY (Ireland, 2019) – 4’59”
Aidan McAteer
prod. Aidan McAteer
Max Punchface is only interested in two things – kicking and punching. His life takes a strange twist when he opens a door to the peaceful world of Sheepland…
THEM (Germany, Ireland 2019) – 14’57”
Robin Lochmann
prod. Robin Lochmann, Mathias Schwerbrook
In a forgotten village, where everyone is cut from the same cloth, a new, self-proclaimed leader arrives changing the local way of life.
THE WIREMEN (Ireland, 2018) – 9’44”
Jessica Patterson
prod. Dave Minogue, Richard Gordon
with the voices of Alisha Weir, Ruth McCabe, Barry Ward
When electricity is first brought to rural Ireland, a six-year-old girl believes an actual faerie has entered her home with ‘the light’.
OUT OF COMPETITION
A CONCRETE SONG (Ireland, 2019) – 2’30”
Dave Tynan
prod. Dawn Mac Allister
A Concrete Song is the original poem by Oona Doherty which inspired her Hard to be Soft performance series.