Docs Ireland, Ireland’s only all Island documentary film festival, will welcome hundreds of people to cinemas and venues across Belfast as it celebrates its fifth year.
Opening with the Irish Premiere of Fine Point’s portrait of the legendary Cyndi Lauper, Let the Canary Sing and running to Sunday 25 June, Docs Ireland will showcase the wide ranging and diverse potential of non-fiction filmmaking both on the Island of Ireland and across the globe.
A knockout conversation between the new host of the Late Late Show Patrick Kielty and former champion boxer and mental health advocate Carl Frampton on Northern Irish politics, education and identity will close the festival.
Special screenings include a one-off of extraordinary found footage of a 1970s IRA training video thought to be lost and discovered by BBC journalist Darragh MacIntyre in New York. While the Pull Focus Irish Documentary Competition includes three world premieres, one European premiere and seven Northern Irish premieres.
The New International Documentary strand will bring documentaries from all over the world to Belfast screens. Penny Lane returns with her exploration of altruism with Confessions of a Good Samaritan, Paul Sng’s Tish questions why working-class photographer Tish Murtha never got her dues for exposing the reality of poverty and inequality and in Much Ado About Dying Simon Chambers captures the final years of his eccentric uncle’s life.
Docs Ireland
Inspiring figures are explored in both The Last Rider and Dalton’s Dream. And My Imaginary Country, by master documentarian Patricio Guzmán, expertly examines the 1973 Chilean Revolution through the lens of contemporary revolutionary social movements.
For the first time, Docs Ireland will host outdoor screenings at the Belfast Stories site next to the Sunflower pub, with a programme of music documentaries, Amazing Grace, The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years and Monterey Pop.
Michele Devlin, Director of Docs Ireland said: “Docs Ireland gives us the opportunity to tackle global issues such as the experience of the trans community in Columbia, worldwide immigration and asylum seeking, international struggles in the Middle East and the politics of identity. Whilst shown from various international perspectives, these issues are starkly relevant at this current moment in Ireland. This year’s programme reflects and reaffirms Docs Ireland’s values of inclusivity and amplifying underrepresented narratives, giving space to true stories that often go unheard on the big screen.
“Every year, we bring leading industry experts to Docs Ireland to interact and support our emerging and established local filmmakers. As well as our industry sessions involving documentary industry experts, the Docs Ireland Marketplace is a brilliant opportunity for filmmakers to meet with leading international documentary industry decision-makers on a one-to-one basis. It’s a hub for funding, sales and distribution of documentary film in Ireland and globally.”
Docs Ireland is funded by Northern Ireland Screen, Belfast City Council, Department Of Communities, Film Hub NI, BFI FAN, Screen Ireland and Arts and Business. And proudly sponsored by TG4, BBC Northern Ireland, Birra Moretti and Hastings Hotels.
