Sunniva O'Flynn introduces the Irish programme at this year's IFI Documentary Festival, its annual celebration of non-fiction filmmaking, bringing together bold voices, urgent topics, and inventive forms via a cutting edge mix of screenings, panel discussions, and public interviews.
We are looking forward to IFI Documentary Festival, the most provocative programme in the IFI calendar, where a broad swathe of Irish and international documentary provides new perspectives on contemporary experience and stimulates lively post-screening discussion among filmmakers, expert guests and audience.
This year's slate of Irish films presents short and feature documentaries spanning a range of documentary forms from experimental essays, personal memoirs, and archive-based yarns to in-depth portraits of Ireland’s leading cultural and political figures.
In a programme chock-full of highlights the following films should not be missed:
BEO FAOIN BHFÓD / BURIED ALIVE – this fascinating yarn from the 1960s tells of a Tipperary man in London who chose to distinguish himself by attempting to beat the world record for being buried alive to the delight of his fellow Irishmen and his proud family back home. The story is told with great good humour, warmth and terrific archive material.
Michael Higgin’s mesmeric A SHOOTING ON BRANDON: part documentary, part daydream, a playful multi-layered essay about a hill in Co Kilkenny and the people who visit it.
A WANT IN HER is Myrid Carten’s award-winning film about the fraught and dysfunctional relationship with her mother who has struggled with addiction throughout Myrid’s life. Harrowing, frank and immensely creative, their world is revealed through home videos from childhood, through present-day conversations with her mother and other relatives and through fictional elements drawn from her artistic practice. Raw and deeply unsettling it will chime with all who have been touched by addiction.
GERRY ADAMS: BALLYMURPHY MAN is a lifetime-spanning profile of Gerry Adams told through his uncensored recollections, made by one-time community activist, Englishwoman Trisha Ziff.
Nuala O’Connor’s IN TIME: DONAL LUNNY, assembles personal and public moments to create an exquisite portrait of one of Ireland’s greatest musical geniuses.
ONCE WE WERE PUNKS is a film about a bunch of witty, self-effacing Cavan men who meet up after many years to reignite friendships and their musical youth.
THE ART OF LOSS: Carmel Winters' remarkable short film is a meditation on bereavement, on love and loss. Carmel will continue to reflect on these profound, universal themes in an extended post-screening conversation with Oscar-nominated director Lenny Abrahamson.
We are also delighted to welcome two new partners in championing the work of up-and-coming documentary makers – Dublin City University who will showcase the work of the first wave of graduates from Ireland’s first dedicated Masters Degree in Documentary production and the Galway Film Fleadh who have selected a programme of excellent short documentaries from hundreds of short films submitted for their consideration.
The IFI Documentary Festival 2025 runs from Wednesday 10th to Sunday 14th September at the Irish Film Institute, Dublin - find out more here
