Table of contents:
Day 1 - Saturday, 13th September 2025
Costume Design Workshop - How to Ruin Costume Costume by Lucy Shannon
Feature Film 1 - Listen to the Land Speak
Shorts Programme 1 - 84 minutes, Followed by Discussion
Feature Film 2 - No Other Land
Day 2 - Sunday, 14th September 2025
60 Seconds Short Films Programme - followed by the 60 Second Shorts Award Ceremony
Shorts Programme 2 - 85 minutes Followed by Discussion
Shorts Programme 3 - 89 minutes Followed by Discussion
Feature Film 3 - Solitary
Day 1 - Saturday, 13th September 2025
Costume Design Workshop
In this fun, hands-on workshop, you'll learn beginner friendly techniques for distressing and weathering fabric, whether you want to make your costumes look lived-in or completely apocalypse worthy! Through a mix of engaging theory and practical experimentation, we will explore tools, tricks, and some messy methods to "ruin" clothing for maximum cinematic impact.
All age groups welcome!
Feature Film 1
Directed by Maurice O'Brien
Screening on Saturday 13th Sept. from 13:30 to 15:15 (75mins) Followed by Discussion
L𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗡 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗞 sees Manchán Magan, one of our most acclaimed writers on landscapes and language, reveal the profound knowledge and wisdom contained in our landscape and myths. Filmed over four seasons, the film unfolds from Winter Solstice to Bealtaine through Reek Sunday to Samhain, exploring how the stories and myths associated with the rivers, mountains, and lands around us are crucial to unlocking aspects of how we need to rebuild our relationship with nature today. It also becomes an unexpectedly personal story – as he seeks to help heal society’s relationship with nature. Manchán also realises that there is a serious illness within himself that makes him see these ancient sites and beliefs in a whole new light.
Shorts Programme 1
Programme 1 - 84 minutes, Followed by Discussion
Directed by Damian Farrell & Gerry Hoban
A madcap puppet short film based on the last play completed by legendary Irish playwright and Nobel Prizewinner, George Bernard Shaw, which was written specifically for puppets. Featuring the voices of Colm Meaney as George Bernard Shaw and Derek Jacobi as William Shakespeare.
Directed by Frank Reynolds
After the devil is thrown out of Heaven, he goes into the desert to confront his replacement.
Directed by Sarah Sellman
When Gillian takes on her partner’s identity to confront their father, she finds a connection she didn't expect in the strange exchange she has with him. A short about healing by proxy, and stepping into new identities.
Directed by Pouria Bagheri
A boy who has never seen his mother embarks on a journey to find her, walking the thin line between illusion, dream, and reality.
Directed by Karen Quinn
A little girl comes across an abandoned dog and befriends him. Determined to save him from the dog-pound, and an eccentric dog-catcher, she enlists the help of a local ice-cream man, who's going through his own problems with a son, and his failing eyesight, to help 'Pablo' evade the dog-catcher.
Feature Film 2
Directed by Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal
Screening on Saturday 13th Sept. from 19:00 to 21:30 (92 mins) Followed by a Discussion
Basel Adra, a young Palestinian activist from Masafer Yatta, has been fighting his community's mass expulsion by the Israeli occupation since childhood. Basel documents the gradual erasure of Masafer Yatta, as soldiers destroy the homes of families — the largest single act of forced transfer ever carried out in the occupied West Bank. He crosses paths with Yuval, an Israeli journalist who joins his struggle, and for over half a decade they fight against the expulsion while growing closer. Their complex bond is haunted by the extreme inequality between them: Basel, living under a brutal military occupation, and Yuval, unrestricted and free. This film, by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four young activists, was co-created during the darkest, most terrifying times in the region, as an act of creative resistance to Apartheid and a search for a path towards equality and justice.
As a gesture of solidarity with the Palestinian people, ticket sales for No Other Land will go to the following charities, Gaza Go Brágh and Medical Aid for Palestine.
To learn more about these charities or to make a donation please click below.
Day 2 - Sunday, 14th September 2025
Celebrating our young filmmakers!
Join us to honour the remarkable skills of our young filmmakers, as they encapsulate stories, emotions and imagination within a mere one minute.
The programme will be followed by a 60 Second Shorts award ceremony.
Shorts Programme 2
Programme 2 - 85 minutes, Followed by Discussion
Directed by Alanna MacNamee
Kristina, a 17-year old Ukrainian refugee, who grew up learning Irish dancing in Odessa, and dreamed of one day visiting Ireland. But she never imagined she would one day have to flee her home to make a new life in Ireland, leaving her beloved father behind.
Directed by Steven Benedict
Struggling with dementia, an elderly lady has only her little dog to remind her what to do to get through the day.
Directed by Alan Hopkins
In 1847, In the depths of the Irish famine, a bereaved and injured man finds humanity amidst the horror. Eoin, is a bereaved father. The devastation enveloping the country has laid waste to his life and family. After suffering a life changing injury on a failed hunt, Eoin’s continued survival comes into question. He is finally forced to leave his cave and face the dangers of returning to the dangerous and starving landscape below.
Directed by Imelda O'Reilly
A romance at a trippy Halloween rave goes wrong... Lola's public breakup is disrupted when an Elvis impersonator comes to the rescue. Sharing confidences and ghosts from their past, they reminisce about their homeland and discover meaning in their newly shared bond.
Directed by Dorothy Duffy
After a drunken night with her ex that she deeply regrets, Grace tries to mitigate the potential consequences by getting the ‘morning after pill’ but this is not as straight forward as it should be in the Donegal of 2001. She is confronted by the local pharmacist who believes it is his mission to enforce his stringent Catholic doctrine and morals on his young female customers.
Directed by Aisling Byrne
Following a sudden, tragic bereavement, a West Cork cleaner must decide if she will uphold a tightly hidden secret whilst navigating the fast-paced pressures of a tourist property turnaround.
Shorts Programme 3
Programme 3 - 89 minutes Followed by Discussion
Shorts Programme 3 is followed by the MFF awards ceremony. People with a shorts programme 3 ticket are welcome and encouraged to stay on after to watch the ceremony.
Directed by Caroline Harvey
An exploration of those on the front lines of the social care system, I’m Grand shines a light on the human cost of caregiving, the systemic apathy that hinders change, and the power of kindness in the face of overwhelming challenges. *Contains bad language, references suicide and abuse.
Directed by Denis McCardle
The film is a supernatural tale set in Rosenallis, Queen’s County, (Co. Laois) in 1780 where Lydia, a teenager must defy her Quaker upbringing to save her ailing younger sister.
Directed by Shane W. Brennan
A man lives peacefully by the sea until rising water levels flood his home, forcing him to flee. After a long journey through unfamiliar lands, he seeks refuge in a foreign country. Now living in an urban encampment, he longs for the home he lost, escaping to his memories for solace.
Directed by Mustafa Safa Altindul
Bayanin Çiftliği follows the inspiring journey of Halime Çelikkol, a woman from a small Anatolian village who, despite facing personal and societal challenges, pursues her love for horses and archery. Bayanın Çiftliği celebrates the power of dreams and hard work in shaping one's destiny.
Directed by Jack Desmond & Cian Desmond
In a modern retelling of the classic Irish legend, Setanta is a young good-for-nothing, stuck living with his parents in the middle of a housing crisis. When the idea strikes to help aging relative Jim Cullen, in the hopes of inheriting his house, Setanta bites off more than he can chew, especially faced with Cullen's fearsome hound, Bing Bong.
Directed by Michael Harding
In rural Ireland, an old man living in fear and isolation risks everything to protect himself from dangerous intruders.
Feature Film 3
Directed by Eamonn Murphy
Screening on Sunday 14th Sept. from 19:00 to 21:00 (86 mins) Followed by a Discussion
Set in rural Ireland, Solitary follows Brendan, a widowed farmer living a quiet life on the edge of a village. When his home is broken into, a growing sense of fear and isolation begins to take hold. As violence spreads through the community and trust in the system erodes, Brendan is forced to confront what it truly means to feel safe, to grow old, and to be alone.
Directed by Dublin-based filmmaker Eamonn Murphy, Solitary marks his debut feature. His previous short films, A Better You and Lost Memories, are currently streaming on Disney+.
For any queries please don't hesitate to contact us at filmfestivalmeath@gmail.com