In association with Access Cinema.

From the Oscar and BAFTA-winning filmmaker Asif Kapadia, Laika is a new Virtual Reality animation, giving audiences the chance to be immersed in the moving and tragic real-life story of the first dog in space. The 15-minute short VR presentation features the voices of Sophie Okonedo and Tobias Menzies.

Set in 1957 against the backdrop of the Soviet Union/ USA space race, Laika, an unwanted stray dog from the streets of Moscow became the historic first passenger aboard the Soviet satellite, Sputnik II. Laika became the only living creature whose safe return to earth was never intended nor planned for. Through the 15-minute VR film, Kapadia immerses the audience in Laika’s point of view and presents a tragic tale of love, humanity and discovery.

The film will be viewed through an Oculus Quest 2 headset; therefore, this event will be screened for 4 audience members simultaneously per session in the Galmont Hotel from 10am to 5pm. Sessions begin on the hour every hour and is subject to availability. Tickets 5 euro available at box office.

This second selection of short documentaries covers a range of topics, each diving into a different perspective of our culture and history, both past and present.
This programme features student film and work from more established filmmakers.
18+

A grieving American filmmaker and her Irish assistant tour the West of Ireland to research a film about Granuaile, the legendary 16th-century rebel and “pirate queen”. The two women develop an uneasy intimacy as they journey towards a remote Atlantic island, where boundaries begin to blur between past and present, myth and history, dream and reality…

Filmed on lush 16mm film, and starring distinguished Hollywood character actor Dale Dickey alongside a stellar Irish cast, The Cry of Granuaile is a genre-defying blend of psychodrama and fantasy from the director of the award-winning The Image You Missed.

A richly documented, lyrical and visionary journey into an unknown universe: the origins of Italian silent cinema. A dazzling industry that gave birth to the first international stars and launched the first filmmakers.

Its world of fast and romantic deliriums soon reached international fame, fascinating crowds, intellectuals and artists from all over Europe, reaching out to the United States and South America.

It was an art dedicated to the sublime, to sophistication and death in an era of splendour. We see the history of a country that would soon fall into the abyss of Fascism, from the ashes of which one of the greatest cinematographies in the world would be born again.

This selection of shorts celebrates the creative cornerstone of Irish film: the animation industry. We showcase the latest work from established directors and the best in new Irish animation from the country’s recent graduates.

This programme is not recommended for children. 12+

An Buachaill Geal Gáireach is the remarkable and untold story of a song. An Irish song called “The Laughing Boy” written by a teenage rebel called Brendan Behan in memory of another iconic rebel, Michael Collins – the centenary of whose death is commemorated this year. This song also had an extraordinary and dramatic afterlife as “To Gelasto Paidi”, the powerful left-wing anthem of resistance against the dictatorship that ruled Greece in the late 60s and early 70s. Translated by the poet Vassilis Rotas, Behan's words in Greek were set to music by the legendary Mikis Theodorakis, the most famous Greek composer of all time. The song remains an enduring and potent cultural force in the heart of Greece today.

The film takes poet Theo Dorgan on an odyssey of his own, as he attempts to uncover the truth of the story behind the song. It is a narrative that interweaves the tragic and bloody birth-pangs of both modern Ireland and modern Greece. These histories are also bound together by something more profound and transcendent – the power of a song.

Girl, Taken follows the story of Celeste and Morne Nurse, whose baby daughter Zephany was stolen from hospital three days after her birth in Cape Town, April 1997. Then in 2015, their second daughter, Cassidy, enrolled in a new school, where other pupils pointed out an older student, Miche Solomon, who looked like her.

DNA samples confirmed that Miche was Zephany. The Nurses were overjoyed, and the story saw them becoming media darlings around the world. However, Miche chose to remain with the kidnapper’s family. The Nurses, against all expectations, lost their daughter a second time. This film follows the process of two broken families climbing the difficult path towards forgiveness and wholeness.

When their mother returns to the Philippines, two young sisters, Emy and Teresa, are left alone in Athens where they begin to forge separate paths in search of their own identities. Teresa, secretly pregnant with a Greek sailor’s child, is embraced by the insular Filipino Charismatic Catholic church where Emy feels like an outsider. Emy is drawn toward the home of Mrs. Christina, an elderly Greek woman who runs an alternative healing practice where the sisters’ mother used to work.

As Teresa’s pregnancy advances, Emy explores the mysterious forces and abilities within herself and must learn how to live a life of her own.

This year the much-loved Irish classic, Into the West, celebrates its 30th anniversary. A defining film of a defining era of Irish cinema, the award-winning family adventure follows young Mincéirí Tito (Rúaidhrí Conroy) and Ossie (Ciarán Fitzgerald), on their runaway journey to hold onto their mythical horse Tír na nÓg, and fulfil their dreams of becoming cowboys.

Mature themes and a star Irish cast – Gabriel Byrne, David Reilly, Colm Meaney, Brendan Gleeson (this is the only time they all appear together in the same film) – as well as Byrne’s then Hollywood partner Ellen Barkin, ensured the film was a draw for adult audiences, but it was pure wish fulfilment for a generation of young Irish viewers. An annual staple on Irish television screens through the 90s and early 00s, Into the West represented that rare occasion where Irish children – and in particular, Irish Travellers – could see themselves on-screen in a film. Running away from home on a horse, camping under the stars, and spending the night in a cinema… the dream!

In the intervening years, that audience will have left such simple dreams behind. And, perhaps, such notions as mythical Ireland. And so, an opportunity presents itself, on the occasion of its 30th year, to revisit Tir na nÓg and return…Into the West!

Dublin's North Circular Road defines the working-class north inner city as it curves from the Phoenix Park in the west to Dublin Bay in the east, passing parks, barracks, asylums, stadia and prisons along the way,

North Circular is an ensemble documentary featuring disparate, marginal urban characters, which explores numerous themes and histories as it progresses along the street.

The film is shot in black-and-white Academy ratio (4:3), an aesthetic choice made to bind together the diverse tales and reference the echoes of history. And...it's a musical.

In 1981, members of the renowned Ustad Imrat Khan Indian classical music family travelled to the West Cork village of Cúil Aodha. They were invited to perform at the 10th-anniversary commemorations of Irish composer Seán Ó Riada. Now, 40 years later, Ustad Wajahat Khan and Peadar Ó Riada have come together to continue the conversation through a creative collaborative exploration of what their respective traditions share and what makes them so radically different.

Compiled from over 40 hours of footage, filmed over a two-year period, Continuing Traditions intimately captures the creative process, charting the birth and evolution of two new compositions, from their initial conception right through to their first public performance.

Brothers Ethan (17) and Derek (19) try their best to navigate the pressures of teenage life while tending to their mother’s debilitating prescription drug addiction. Based on the filmmaker’s adolescence in small-town America, Stay Awake is a personal exploration of the roller-coaster ride that families go on while trying to help their loved ones battle a disease that affects millions every day.

Nikolaï is 16 years old, and lives between his foster institution and host families.
Lonely and haunted by the origins of his abandonment, he dreams of starting a family. When 15-year-old Camille, intriguing and brazen, arrives at his home, Nikolaï convinces her to go and live with him in the forest.

Almost eight years after his death, Kurt Vonnegut remains one of the most popular literary figures of the 20th and 21st centuries. Readers from one generation to the next, the world over, continue to find their lives transformed by his comic and cosmic insights, on display in such bestselling books as Cat’s Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast of Champions, Mother Night, God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, and on and on.

Amazingly, all of Vonnegut’s works remain in print, and his popularity shows no sign of waning. Yet, to-date, there has been no definitive film documentary covering his extraordinary life and work. Robert Weide has been trying to correct that oversight for 33 years. In 2015, with your help, it will finally happen.

Eat the Peach is a compelling story of two ordinary men who set out to do something extraordinary.

Frustrated by life in a small Irish border town, Vinnie and Arthur see Roustabout, a movie where Elvis Presley rides a fairground Wall of Death. To the amusement of hte local community, the two men proceed to build their very own Wall of Death on the outskirts of town. As their enthusiasm increases, their cash decreases and it becomes necessary for the pair to hire themselves out to the local smuggling baron.

Eat the Peach is a film about losers who are authentic heroes, and the search for a sense of freedom.

Carol of the Bells is the story of three families – Ukrainian, Polish, and Jewish – who lived in the same building in Stanislaviv in Ukraine between 1938 and 1944. All three families disappeared one by one, leaving their children in the building. The last one to disappear was a Ukrainian woman who was a teacher of music. She lost her husband then managed to save her children at the expense of her own life.

The story itself is from the memories of Teresa, a Polish woman who became a famous singer in New York. She recalls these events one Christmas night in 1984 while in the airport waiting for the arrival of Yaroslava – a Ukrainian woman with whom she survived the war. They have not met since 1945. The only thing that she has from the past is the Ukrainian song – “The Carol of Bells” – which saved her during the war and made her popular. And now she dreams of singing it with Yaroslava.