The Galway Film Fleadh is proud to present two programmes of documentary shorts this year. This first selection features works from both established and debut directors, including students' graduation films, all showcasing the best of Irish talent.
12+

This selection of six dramas deals with modern day relationships, from old family friction to new funny friendships. This programme, from debuting and established directors, gives us an insight into a wide array of unique relationships.
12+

Acclaimed poet and essayist Doireann Ní Ghríofa was catapulted into the international literary spotlight in 2020 with the publication of her debut novel A Ghost in the Throat. Lauded by the critics from the New York Times to the Guardian, it went on to win the Irish Book of the Year.

Clouded Reveries is an intimate exploration of Ní Ghríofa’s world and creative process. It is a film about memories, motherhood and the mysterious nature of creativity. Captured through intimate performances of her own work and in-depth interviews, the film reveals Ní Ghríofa’s creative impulses and journeys with her to the heart of her inspiration, her homeplace in Co. Clare.

Fat City is both a real and imaginary place located between the gleaming promise of the American dream and its seedier dead ends. It is one of John Huston’s more overlooked films – rarely mentioned in the same breath as ‘classics’ such as Asphalt Jungle, The African Queen or The Treasure of the Sierra Madre – but it’s one of his best. Its secondary status is a shame since it both illuminates Huston’s peculiar genius for adaptation as well as his fascination with male characters poised between vaunting ambition and vain delusion.

Fat City is grounded by brilliant performances from its leads: Stacey Keach as the washed up boxer Tully in search of one more chance, Jeff Bridges as the hopeful journeyman Ernie, and the irrepressible Susan Tyrrell, who received an Oscar nomination for her bittersweet depiction of aging alcoholic Oma.

The first selection of shorts in our world series presents eight films. This programme hosts a mix of live-action, documentaries and animated Irish Premieres, featuring work from an array of countries including, India, Ukraine and the United States.
12+

Keepers of the Flame is a documentary about how individuals and families remember, commemorate and forget painful and difficult events of the past, bringing to light the diverse experiences of some of the 85,000 Irish men and women who served during the violent revolutionary period from Easter 1916 to the end of the Civil War in 1921.

Shedding light on the nation’s post-war psyche, this remarkable documentary examines the long-term impact of the reluctance to talk about events of the period, the lack of desire to re-live decisions, and the secrecy and silence that further isolated individuals and families.

Klostės, translated as pleats or folds, is a black-and-white non-verbal feature film created by the people of Kaunas, Lithuania, and Irish artist Aideen Barry. The film was commissioned by Kaunas 2022, The European Capital of Culture. It takes inspiration from architectural modernism and the hidden histories associated with the unique building heritage of Lithuania's former capital.

Klostės is Barry's debut feature, created through collaboration with hundreds of citizens of the inter-war modernist city of Kaunas – a city that has suffered the ravages and dark legacies of war, occupation and colonial infringement, to rise and reinvent itself. Barry galvanised volunteers to shirk off their ambivalence to these unusual buildings and instead deployed strategies to make generations fall in love with them all over again. The film merges stop motion animation and uses early cinematic trickery to hoodwink the viewer into seeing the architecture as the main protagonist.

The sounds of Kaunas modernism captured by unique compositions by Ieva Raubytė, Patris Židelevičius and Arūnas Periokas, with the physicality of the architecture manifested in a visceral foley by Dominyka Adomaitytė.

Silent Beauty is a personal documentary that follows director Jasmin López as she works to heal from child sexual abuse she endured at the hands of her grandfather, Gilberto, almost 30 years ago. In the process of sharing her own trauma with her large family, Jasmin learns that generations of children in her family were victims of the same abuse. Told from the director’s perspective, Silent Beauty is a film about confronting and accepting difficult truths while finding beauty in the process.

The death of a loved one always triggers distress and poses a real challenge for all members of the family.

Serhiy tries to divert his 12-year-old daughter, Polina, from sorrowful thoughts, but she keeps coming back to reflect upon the tragic event. Polina sees the presence of death in the world around her and tries to comprehend the inevitability of it. Serhiy spends a lot of time in intimate conversations with Polina, which lets him focus on important worldview issues that might help him sort out his adult traumas.

Reflection is a film about the critically dangerous transformations of a grown-up man and the accelerated maturing of a child under the pressure of war.

Dickson Hughes and Richard Stapley, two young songwritersand romantic partners, find themselves caught in movie star Gloria Swanson’s web when she hires them to write a musical version of Sunset Boulevard. Life imitates art when Gloria falls for Richard, and the men find themselves living a real-life version of the classic film.

From the dark alleys of LA to the desert nirvana of Palm Springs, to the posh New York theatre world, Boulevard! A Hollywood Story is the tale of three individuals who attempt to share a melody with all those people out there in the dark... and how the music of that moment defined the rest of their lives

An all-girls’ robotics team in Afghanistan risks it all to prove that it can compete against anyone in the world, and demonstrates that girls can become scientists and engineers instead of teenage brides.

Working in secret under Taliban rule, the high-school-aged team members struggle in the face of immense odds and ever present danger, and single-handedly begin to change perceptions in this entrenched Islamic culture.

The film focuses on three team members – Fatemah, Somaya, and Lida – all of whom are fiercely determined to follow their passions and become role models for the next generation. Afghan Dreamers is a film that dares to ask if a better future is possible for women in a country like theirs.

Sweet Disaster tells the story of Frida: German-Finnish, painting therapist and 40-year-old. Two events change the usual course of her life. She gets unexpectedly pregnant and Felix, the father of her child, breaks up with her to re-unite with his ex who is suddenly back. Felix admits that it is not the best timing, however it does not prevent him from leaving. Frida cannot accept his decision. Although some serious health problems caused by the late pregnancy force her to rest, she tries to get Felix back with the help of absurd, exaggerated and sometimes absolutely comic actions.

After snorting a line of powdered horn, a lonely Irishman undergoes a Kafkaesque metamorphosis that turns him into a rhino-headed man. Embodying both hunter and hunted, he guides us into an eclectic series of real and fantasy worlds, from the medieval hunt of the unicorn to the recent death of the world’s last male northern white rhino.

Documentary scenes in Kenya, Vietnam, and across Europe merge with the Theatre of the Absurd-style stage performances of unicorn nightclubbers, horn smugglers, and reproductive biologists to explore the fragile entanglement of all species versus the enduring power of the human imagination. As rhinos surrender their horns to live, and others die for them, we uncover how this creature is being hunted both in life and in death.

Clara, an introverted 40-year-old, lives in a remote region of Costa Rica with her elderly mother and teenage niece. Although inhibited by a spinal condition and learning difficulties, she is widely believed by the locals to have miraculous healing powers and a special connection to God. This faith sustains not only her family but also the entire village, all of whom are in need of hope.

After years of being controlled by her mother’s repressive care, her sexual desires are suddenly stirred by her attraction to her niece’s handsome boyfriend. This newly awakened force opens up an undiscovered world for Clara, allowing her to cross boundaries, both physical and mystical and, empowered by her self-discovery, she gradually finds her own inner strength to break free and finally start to heal herself.

Internationally renowned actor, Stephen Rea narrates the life story of Fr. Des Wilson, who was affectionately known to many as “the people’s priest”. Stephen Rea is a great advocate of Fr. Des and has been involved in a number of his community theatre productions over the years.

Fr. Des, a priest with a socialist and humanitarian outlook, spent his life helping those in need as the British Empire’s hold on Northern Ireland began to unravel from 1969 onwards. Amid civil strife, he followed the path of Jesus in caring for the downtrodden, and for a long period was ostracized by the hierarchy of his own Church for doing this. Courageously though, he continued to work for justice and against inequality until the end of his life in November 2019. An extraordinary man in extraordinary circumstances.

The film’s narrative is primarily recounted in Des’ own words, but has other contributions from massively important people in Des’ life who feature in the documentary through archive footage.

Mathieu Amalric’s 6th turn as director is an adaptation of Claudine Galea’s play I Am Coming Back From Far.

Clarisse (played beautifully by Vicky Krieps), a mother and wife, abruptly abandons the family house, her husband Marc (Arieh Worthalter) and their preteen children, Lucie and Paul. As she drives away making her escape, her imagination runs wild – she imagines them going about their daily lives, she imagines her return, their death… Are these stories real, memories or fantasy? Has she even really left?

In the spring of 1972, police raided an apartment on the South Side of Chicago. Seven women were arrested and charged.
The accused were part of a clandestine network. Using code names, blindfolds and safe houses to protect their identities and their work, they built an underground service for women seeking safe, affordable, illegal abortions. They called themselves JANE.

While an ongoing investigation for the mysterious disappearance of a little girl is shaking the local community, José Manuel continues his daily routine. He works in his modest tapas bar and takes care of his mother. He also attends the weekly meetings of the ufology association, Ovni-Levante, where he exchanges information about extra-terrestrial messages and alien abductions with the rest of its devoted members. When their leader dies unexpectedly, José Manuel is the only person who knows the cosmic secret that could alter the future of humanity.

Mandrake follows probation officer Cathy Madden, who is given the task of rehabilitating notorious killer 'Bloody' Mary Laidlaw back into society after twenty years of jail. Mary murdered her husband decades ago, but only after he had put her through hell. Is she a witch, a psychopath or just another lonely woman rejected by her neighbours? Cathy has always believed that every client deserves a shot at redemption, but her beliefs are firmly tested when two children disappear near Mary's farm.
Davison creates an interesting atmosphere, finding sadness in this story about evil permeating the most mundane of towns, where people don’t forget and they don’t forgive. They never do.