Shorts Programme 2

Birdwatching

By a stream in the woods - a place between worlds - two women find each other ankle-deep in the water, letting go of what's past and wondering what will come.

Directed By: Samantha Soule

Country: United States

Year: 2020

Duration: 12:02

Broken: A Lockdown Story

A man plunges from the sky, a militia chase down two siblings, a woman weeps in a derelict house: vignettes from a surreal family breakdown, visions from an unreliable narration who speaks only in idioms.

Directed By: TJ O Grady Peyton

Country: Ireland

Year: 2021

Duration: 04:28

Conversations With my Dead Father

Who do you talk to when you're frantically looking for a car space, need advice, help with the lotto numbers, or just to rant? This man talks to his dead father. Conversations With my Dead Father is an episode in the life of someone who lost their father but wants to continue the conversations. It's a film about remembering memories, some bitter, some sweet. It's about fights, diets; it's about missing the ones you love, it's about not letting go. It's about everyday chats. It's about life.

Directed By: Maurice O' Carroll

Country: Ireland

Year: 2021

Duration: 14:55

Don't Go Where I Can't Find You

Margaret is an internationally renowned composer who witnesses the violent accidental death of her partner - and becomes convinced her spirit is still within the house. In the search for an answer, she composes a suite of new music to drive the spectre out from the shadows. In doing so, she evokes her own deep unresolved pain and guilt - and what she's afraid to confront about her own feelings for someone else....

Directed By: Rioghnach Ní Ghrioghair

Country: Ireland

Year: 2021

Duration: 19:50

In Flow of Words

In Flow of Words follows the narratives of three interpreters of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. They interpreted shocking testimonies from witnesses, victims and perpetrators, without ever allowing their own emotions, feelings and personal histories to be present. Contrary to their position at the tribunal, this film places their voices and experiences center stage.

Directed By: Elaine Esther Bots

Country: Netherlands

Year: 2021

Duration: 22:15

Liminal

Steve lives both his past and present concurrently. As time is compressed and he flows through spirals of love and sexuality, Steve finds himself in a transition: stuck between a family life built on half measures, and a desire for a more authentic experience.

Directed By: Daniel Abramovici

Country: Canada

Year: 2020

Duration: 11:59

Ruthless

In 1970’s Northern Ireland, a young boy, bereft of his mother, defies his father to get the Glam Rock album he so desperately wants. It’s Belfast - early 70’s… BOOM! Something’s in the air and it’s not a bomb - it’s a revolution. Glam Rock is drowning out the noise of armoured cars. As British soldiers patrol the streets, kids are glued to Top Of The Pops, entranced by Marc Bolan, the androgynous, satin-clad, glitter-god. In a high-rise flat lives a recently bereaved father and his ten-year-old son PJ, who is desperate to get his hands on the new T. Rex album Electric Warrior. The problem is he’s skint and his Da is on the dole. PJ comes up with a cunning plan to get the dough, involving a sock, a prosthetic leg and a pawnbroker. Ruthless is a humorous, heartwarming story of how a prosthetic leg and a T. Rex album become the conduit for overcoming grief.

Directed By: Matthew McGuigan

Country: Ireland

Year: 2021

Duration: 17:08

The Night I Left America

While awaiting the results of his mother's visa renewal request, a teenage boy from Texas is forced to confront memories he so desperately wanted to leave behind in Uganda.