Discoveries from Ireland World Cinema

Haunted by visions, a young woman revisits an abusive past, seeking to expel inner demons and put an end to her torment.

Upon receiving a memento, an old circus personality remembers better times.

David Murphy charts the rise of Denis O'Brien, the richest native born Irishman in the world and one of the country's most controversial businessmen, from his start as a travelling salesman in the US to building a billion euro empire at home and abroad.

A transgender man's anxiety causes life to pass very slowly.

Nestled high on a mountainside in the Middle East, a Syrian Druze village has survived under Israeli occupation, while 136 others like it were wiped out. Using a multi-character narrative, the film weaves its way through streets and orchards revealing how this secretive community have clung onto their land using a simple fruit-the apple

A lonely student struggles with his craving for human touch until he finds comfort in an abnormal alternative.

50 years on from the 1974 Guildford pub bombings, this programme tells the story of four young people who spent 15 years in prison for a crime they didn't commit, and their continued fight for justice.

Directed by Mike O’Connor, and written by his brother, Joycean scholar Ulick O’Connor, this documentary portrays the Dublin in which Joyce lived and worked before his departure for Europe in 1904. Narrated by Micheál MacLiammóir, Joyce’s writing is woven through the scenes as significant locations from his life are revealed: the house in Brighton Square where he was born; Clongowes Wood College where he was educated; Sandymount Strand where he often wandered; derelict tenements once housing the brothels he frequented; and the Martello Tower where he visited with Oliver St John Gogarty.

Filmed the year before his death, Necklace of Wrens is a documentary profile on the life of one of Ireland’s leading poets, Michael Hartnett. The documentary includes contributions from poets Seamus Heaney, Paul Durcan and Liam O Muirthile, artist Graham Knuttle and musician Sean Tyrell.

In a small Irish town a woman is brutally murdered. When questioned by police, Paddy gives his workmate John a cover story. Twenty years later DNA profiling develops and a cold case is opened. John is charged with murder and Paddy's lie is now an alibi.

a soldier returns from a war in Europe, only to grow more bitter as he realises a more sinister truth.

A down-on-his-luck man learns that if you believe, you'll receive a special gift this Christmas.

An old woman is abandoned on a seashore by the men of her village.

'PARENTAL' - A Micro Horror Film taken from the director's YouTube page: "I was heavily inspired by the film LONGLEGS for this. A 5x5 short is a short which is 5 shots long, and each shot is 5 seconds, a fun challenge for anyone learning filmmaking. This was my first time trying to do a horror story rather than comedy, and a fun distraction while I work on a bigger project, let me know what you think or how you might have done the format differently. "

A vividly abstract play of shadowy figures, who portray the voices of those entangled in religious persecution and senseless brutality of the Albigensian Crusade.

Bereaved father Eoin struggles to survive in a mountainside cave after an injury leaves him lame and starving. Desperation drives him to abandon his solitude and descend into a perilous, famine-stricken landscape.

Nora, a farmer's wife, attempts to protect her family's inheritance by sabotage,

Roy is Ireland's only living animated character. He was born in 1972 into an ordinary 'live action' family. This documentary film allows us exclusive access into Roy's life where we learn of the prejudices he must overcome on a daily basis.

Development and destruction seem to go hand in hand when it comes to human progress on earth. There is a celebration of the human ability to create sophisticated environments in which we inhabit, but also a concern at the price that we are paying for this.

Self Decapitation is a Janus-headed self-portrait by Rouzbeh Rashidi and Maximilian Le Cain in which death and desire each take possession of this film in two parts. The ambiguities of inhabiting a human body are conjured by way of film technology in its faults, faulty memories and false promises. There is no escape from its haunting – except perhaps to haunt it in turn…

Directed by her brother Steven O' Riordan and narrated by Tony Award Winning actress Marie Mullen, this film follows Joanne's journey from her home in County Cork to the United Nations in New York, where she delivers a key-note speech and a challenge to the most influential women in technology: to build her a robot. Through touchingly candid interviews with her parents and moving use of old home movies, No Limbs No Limits demonstrates the incredible things one can achieve when motivated by love. It is a story of hope, triumph over adversity and is a story of how human resilience can conquer all by overcoming many obstacle to achieve what others would deem impossible.

A student with a passion for miming falls in love with a classmate who is not all she seems.

This documentary/travelogue film features the color and character of the Irish people set against the background of their beautiful and picturesque country.

Julie, a young woman tormented by her reaction to a life-changing event, must reflect on her return home to the family farm in order to conquer her own feelings of guilt.

The Increasing Melodic Hiss Of Inner Mechanic Malfunction Signifies The Monstrous Destruction Of What Was Presented As “Reality.” Upon Collapse And In Lieu Of Charred Flesh, The Result Of A Methodical Withdrawal Of The Hearts Bloody Essence.

The spirits of Irish émigrés forced over generations of political and economic struggle are called back to their homeland by the majestic stag, perched on a towering Irish cliff.

A single mother longing for connection must choose between her autistic son and the girl next door.

Dexter Glitch is a man’s man. A man so convinced by his own invincibility that he believes he can take on the tide…....and win. A fast furious humorous look at the pointlessness of man taking on nature.

Documentary about Mosney, a village on the Irish coast used to be a holiday camp. Nowadays, it houses refugees from all over the world.

Two criminals plot to kidnap someone on the orders of an unseen crime boss.

Annalise and Chris are bringing up their infant son surrounded by love and care. When Chris brings terrible news home, everything becomes under threat. A film about family and an interracial couple under fire. Annalise is at heart of it all.

A reclusive man sits locked away in his shed, but when things from the outside start to break in his perception of the world becomes compromised.

Four Irish Rugby teams who defy stereotypes tackle their way to the Mixed Ability Rugby World Cup, where full-contact sport meets joyful belonging.

Set in a Southern American diner in the 1950's on a stormy night. A waitress converses with an elderly man, a woman is missing, and something isn't quite right.

A silent exploration of grief.

Three young Irish boys visit the local prostitute.

Minding tells the story of Lorraine and her Mixed Race daughter, Carla. It’s about that time in your life where you are flying the nest. You think you’re an adult, that your mother is suffocating, yet you still look to her for groceries.

The film “Eat Your Children” is a provocation, an inside-out activist film, a film that attempts to document the invisible. It is a road-trip quest by two friends who emigrated from Ireland during the financial crash of 2008 and who have now returned to probe Ireland’s so-called acceptance of debt and austerity. The film uses a visual essay style that mixes observational footage, vox pop, music and archive material to unravel the modern incarnations of Irish identity, post-colonialism, nationalism, globalization and resistance.

A woman visits her husband in the Maze prison. Another man wants to have a relationship with her.

A young woman gets a surprise when she switches on the TV.

".......unafraid that anyone would hear him he sobbed unreservedly till tears ran down his cheeks and dropped to the water that lapped at his feet. When he was finished he heard a voice in the darkness say “Salt water is the cure for everything”. He jumped up clutching the bag in his hand for a fear had taken over him, “who’s there? He said “are you in the water? I can’t see your face the moon is behind you?” The most beautiful woman he’d ever seen emerged from the rocks just to his right ……" Saltwater, it's either sweat, tears or the sea.." This short film is a new telling of an old story, a contemporary exploration of the Irish folkloric figure of the selkie.

A young, discontented single mother must choose between her troubled son or the freedom she desperately craves after a chance encounter presents an opportunity for escape.

Liam Brady presents a history of Dalymount Park, the home to Bohemian FC and Irish football, and a stadium that has played host to many of the game's greatest players.

A Catholic priest's fantasies of pomp and supernatural power seem to come true.

A pair of teenagers enter the ruins of an old mansion, but they're not alone...

Bidemi is an elderly man from the ancient city of Ibadan. He is frequently haunted by the benevolent ghosts of his deceased family members. They transport our protagonist back in time to the village of his ancestors, where he must face them.

Hungry for a better life, a mother and her daughter embark on a perilous journey across a famine landscape in the hope of making it to the boat alive. An interdisciplinary film about the natural cycle of death and rebirth, submerging us into our past, and connecting us with our future.

An experimental movie about sustainability

A freedom fighter in Austrian-occupied Switzerland. An oppressive Habsburg governor. The most famous Swiss apple. And a love story that crosses national divides. Rossini’s thrilling epic, his final masterpiece with the world’s most famous overture, is his most ambitious, forward-looking and vocally challenging opera. Having become the rallying cry of the 1830 revolution in France, Rossini’s final opera is nothing short of revolutionary itself. Retelling the legend of the Swiss folk hero based on Schiller’s play, William Tell is a grandiose ode to freedom. Staged for the first time in Ireland since 1875, this production is conducted by Fergus Sheil and directed by Julien Chavaz who takes a mythological approach. For him, ‘the story is not just about a remote Swiss community facing Austrian invaders. It is the story of a society that suddenly has to face a threat to its model of civilisation.’

Two teen boys in a kitchen at night. One boy wants the other to take him seriously, and does something extreme in order to prove himself.

Patsy Dan Rodgers is the last King of Ireland, who lives on Tory Island, Ireland’s most remote inhabited island. A small rock in the Atlantic with a hundred and a fifty strong Irish speaking community. Diagnosed with cancer, the King leads the islanders’ constant efforts to secure their rights and unique way of living.

The portrayal of a city that refuses to die along with its defunct Soviet-era nuclear power plant. The mainly Russian speaking citizens there face identity issues in modern Lithuania. This portrayal inevitably raises questions of democracy, inclusion, citizenship, and freedom of expression.

“When I was shooting the material that ended up in "Looking at the Sea", I was standing on these cliffs on the west coast of Ireland, looking west into the sun and thinking about the immigrants who wanted to leave Ireland because of the famines and were confronted with that same perspective. They must have seen the sea as this huge complicated obstacle. I was struck by how alluring, how seductive the light on the sea was, and also how, when you’re standing on the shore, there’s something utterly incomprehensible about the sea. I remember being reminded of a piece written by Henry David Thoreau in "Cape Cod", about a ship that crashed at Cohasset, an amazing meditation on the aftermath of the ill-fated St. John, which had come from Galway.” –Peter Hutton

A documentary about the Kalem film company

A personal film where I dissect my resentful thoughts towards myself alongside imagery from my childhood and my art.

An over confident actor's audition goes wrong.

In 1999, Irish national broadcaster RTÉ announced that its weather forecasters would be replaced by attractive young television presenters. But the people of Ireland had something to say about that.

On the day that Clodagh hopes to lose her virginity to her childhood friend Tom, she experiences an unexpected form of rejection that makes her question her race.