Shorts Programme 2
A selection of quality shorts from around “the area”. Either made by filmmakers from the locality, or filmed in the locality, these include films from Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon and Donegal (with one from West Meath for good measure!).
Admission – €8
Age Suitability: All Ages
Accessibility: Wheel chair accessible
Beneath The Quiet
Blaithin Gallagher | Poetic - Experimental | Leitrim | 3:30
Logline
A solitary artist roams the tranquil Irish landscape in search of beauty, but flickers of fire and a haunting soundscape reveal an unsettling truth, a world ablaze, ignored. A poetic meditation on denial, displacement, and the quiet collapse of compassion.
Synopsis
Inspired by Yeats’ line “...and peace comes dropping slow”, Beneath the Quiet is a poetic experimental short set in Ireland’s northwest. A lone artist walks the tranquil landscape, seeking places to paint. But peace is elusive. Flickers of fire intrude, ambiguous and unsettling, accompanied by a soundscape that grows increasingly fractured. The artist arrives at his canvas, nearly complete, but a blank white silhouette disrupts the scene. His gaze leads us to a burning figure in the real landscape, a human aflame, ignored. This searing image, allegorical and real, evokes a world on fire: our planet heating, our societies hardening, the vulnerable left unseen. The artist’s calm exterior masks an inner and collective denial. We are invited to question what we witness, what we omit, and what it means to look away. Beneath the Quiet is a cinematic meditation on displacement, climate breakdown, and the fraying spirit of welcome in a country shaped by its own history of migration.
Blaithin was the winner of the Poetry into Film bursary provided by Creative Heartlands to filmmakers from Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon
An Buichall Nua
Diarmuid Timmons | Drama - Nostalgic | Sligo | 13:03
Logline
It’s sink or swim for a tardy schoolboy on his first day at a new school in rural 1970’s Ireland.
Synopsis
An Buachaill Nua (The New Boy) is a beautiful and heartfelt film set in 1970s Sligo, capturing the innocence of childhood through the playful lens of two eleven year old boys, Johnno and Bren. The boys are television cop show fanatics who lose all sense of time, en route to school, as Johnno regales the plot of last nights episode of “Hawaii Five-O”. Bren has ‘unbelievably’ missed it due to a family event.
On arriving late for school, the boys face punishment from “Bulldog” the headmaster. When the new boy also arrives late for school, Johnno and Bren’s punishment has the potential to escalate. Tensions rise between Johnno and the new boy as they await their fate.
The stakes increase in Bulldogs office and all eyes fall upon the new boy to save the day.
Salt
Alice Ward | Documentary | Sligo | 12.06
”Salt” is an intimate and artistic exploration of the role that sodium chloride has player throughout filmmaker’s Alice Wards life. From her mother noticing her skin was unusually salty at birth which led to a diagnosis of Cystic Fibrosis to Alice becoming the first woman in Ireland to start shooting in the water to capture surfing from a female perspective.
Bringing together hundreds of hand-printed cyanotypes in a beautiful animation, combined with stunning cinematography and stirring narration and interviews. It explores themes of empowerment, motivation, and intuition, offering a compelling insight into the lives of people with chronic and lifelong illnesses.
Salt was the 2024 winner of the Finisterre x LSFF “Women of the Sea Film Fund”. Winner of the ‘Best International Short’ at the London Surf Film Festival and ‘Best Film’ the Irish Surf Film Festival in November 2024.
If I Must Die
Steve Wickham | Poetic - Palestine | Sligo | 1:25
Logline
An adaptation of the poem 'If I Must Die' by Refaat Aleerer
This poem was written by the Palestinian poet Refaat Aleerer shortly before his death in October 2023 in Gaza, when he, along with members of his family were killed by an Israeli bomb. The poem is a foretelling of his death and an appeal to the children of the future.
Originally written around 2012, If I Must Die is one of Alareer's earliest English language works. As the poet explained in a 2018 interview with Global Rights International Magazine, he felt obliged, during Israel's offensive on Gaza, "to write back in English to reach out to the world to educate people about Palestine and save them from the dominant Israeli multi-million-dollar campaigns of misinformation.”
His works were not published in a collection before his death on December 6, 2023, from an Israeli airstrike.
Sligo-base musician Steve Wickham started to interpret the poem with his band, and performing it at gigs. "It was powerful every time we did it," he recalls. "It was just connection with him on a human level, just the pain and suffering of it.” Despite the heaviness of the work's themes – made even more poignant by the tragic end of Alareer's life – its words are lined with a certain hopefulness, or a "strange celebration of life," as Wickham puts it. When considering how to share his interpretation of the poem with the world, the idea for the video came naturally. "My earliest memories are making a kite with my brother and my father when I was three, or four," Wickham says. "That idea of making a kite is a universal one."
The rest was simple – just follow the poem's instructions:
"...buy a piece of cloth
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail)
so that a child, somewhere in Gaza...
sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above."
Roma: A film about chips and Wonder
Conor English | Documentary - Quirky | West Meath | 12:29
Logline
An Italian chipper in a small Irish town becomes the setting for untold stories, celebrating the everyday moments that shape our shared history.
Synopsis
Set in the heart of rural Ireland, this short documentary explores the deep-rooted connection between a humble chip shop and the local community it has served for over five decades. Established by an Italian immigrant who moved to Ireland aged just 16, the "chipper" has become a constant in the lives of the townspeople, offering much more than just food. Through a series of interviews with patrons, the film uncovers stories of childhood memories, first dates, family traditions, and even relationships that span generations—all tied to the chipper's enduring presence. At the centre of it all is the same chip machine that has been in use since the day the shop opened, acting as a symbol of continuity and unity in the town.
Beneath the surface, the film reveals a more subtle story: while the patrons view the chipper with fondness and nostalgia, the family running the shop remains in the background, quietly working behind the scenes. They are the unsung heroes, sacrificing their own sense of existence to facilitate the memories and connections of the community. Through surreal and symbolic visuals, the documentary contrasts the simplicity of the chip shop with its profound impact on the town, leaving viewers to reflect on how something as mundane as a plate of chips can quietly shape the lives of many.
Funded by the West Meath Arts Office and the Arts Council, Conor English was the winner of the West Meath Film Award.
Cailini Granna
Hillary Bowen Walsh | Comedy Drama - Irish Language | Sligo | 10:37
Logline
Gaelic parody celebrating twenty-one years of the iconic film 'Mean Girls'
Synopsis
In this iconic Irish camp comedy celebrating twenty-one years of Tina Fey’s Mean Girls, a socially awkward new girl from Sligo must navigate the precipitous social hierarchy of the Gaeltacht. In a tour de force, Sligo Native Hillary Bowen Walsh wrote, directed and starred in this comedic Irish language film.
"One by one, the lights go out"
Kathy Raftery | Poetic | Roscommon | 6:36
Logline
As an elderly farmer steps away from the land, One by One the Lights Go Out reflects on legacy, memory, and the quiet ending of a family chapter, narrated by writer Michael Harding.
Synopsis
As the filmmaker’s 87-year-old father leaves the land he tended for decades, the film captures the quiet end of an era for the family farm. Narrated by Michael Harding and inspired by his essay, it’s a tender meditation on legacy, loss, and the passage of time.
Kathy was the winner of the Poetry into Film bursary provided by Creative Heartlands to filmmakers from Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon
A Day in the Sun
Edwin Mulane | Drama | Sligo | 6:36
Logline
Beneath the shadow of time, how can we grab the golden hours?
Synopsis
As time is slipping away, a devoted daughter and her ageing father fight against separation, duty and the inevitable to steal precious moments together.
Written and directed by Edwin Mulane, this stunning film was shots around some of Sligo’s most scenic locations.