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Docs Ireland
An industry focussed, all Ireland international documentary festival.
Date
21st, 22nd, 24th, 25th June
I Must Away
21/06/2023 // 14:30 // £5 (£4 concessions) // UM Lecture Theatre
Floating between Ireland, Spain, Chile, Sweden, France and Bangladesh over seven years, I Must Away follows four migrants who have each left home to rebuild their lives abroad. Narrated by a series of letters from the director to his grandmother, the film is a kaleidoscopic vérité essay which disentangles roots, land and identity and explores the unequal distribution of rights and privileges, in our age of migration.
Director Dennis Harvey will take part in a Q&A after the film.
The Artist & The Wall of Death
22/06/2023 // 14:30 // £5 (£4 concessions) // UM Lecture Theatre
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An enigmatic artist becomes obsessed with transforming The Wall of Death, a century-old fairground motorcycle spectacle, into a place of Art, risking life and limb. This documentary tells the unlikely story of a Glaswegian visual artist, Stephen Skrynka, who dreams of transforming the traditional fairground motorbike attraction into an art form, but underestimates the difficulties of combining his artistic vision with the realities and brutality of the wall. Facing a crisis of money and self-belief, salvation arrives in the shape of unexpected comradeship, anonymous donations and the kindness of strangers.
Northern Ireland Screen Pitch
24/06/2023 // 10:30 // Free // UM Lecture Theatre
Docs Ireland and Northern Ireland Screen, in association with Yellowmoon Post Production, return in 2023 for the fifth edition of the Northern Ireland Screen Pitch. This public pitch offers the opportunity for documentary makers, from established filmmakers to new and emerging talent, to receive an award of up to £7,500 towards a pilot for a documentary feature.
Shortlisted projects will present their project at this public pitch at Docs Ireland where they will receive feedback from a panel of leading Irish and international documentary industry players. Previous winners of the pitch include No Place Like Home (Myrid Carten) which is currently in post-production, as well as The Last Balkan Cowboy (Dragana Jurisic), Asking for it (Grace Sweeney), and They Say It Is Love (Roisin Agnew).
Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland
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24/06/2023 // 13:30 // £5 (£4 concessions) // UM Lecture Theatre
Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland gives a voice to the people who lived through Northern Ireland’s violent past by sharing intimate, unheard testimonies from all sides of the conflict. This brand new series from the BBC comes from award-winning director James Bluemel and the team behind the BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning series Once Upon a Time in Iraq. We will screen one of the episodes, which will then be followed by a panel discussion on the documentary series and how it was made.
Eddie Doyle, Head of Commissioning, BBC Northern Ireland, says: “This extensive series puts a fresh lens on the legacies and events of The Troubles. James Bluemel has approached the stories featured with great care and made a series that is both considered and compelling. With the 25th anniversary of the Belfast / Good Friday Agreement, it is a timely and important addition to other BBC programming on The Troubles.”
Development & Pitching for Television Documentary
24/06/2023 // 15:45 // £5 (£4 concessions) // UM Lecture Theatre
With a focus on developing and producing TV documentaries, this session will centre the craft of pitching in this medium, which stories get the most traction, and how to successfully secure funding through broadcasters. Speakers from leading Northern Irish factual production companies will share their advice, experiences, and best practice for the format.
Chair: Eddie Doyle, Head of Commissioning at BBC Northern Ireland
Herb and Dorothy
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25/06/2023 // 12:00 // £5 (£4 concessions) // UM Belfast Room
Household are hosting this special screening as part of UPHOLD - a new platform dedicated to selling artwork by the most exciting contemporary artists in NI and supporting new cultures of collecting. At the end of this screening Household will introduce five new artworks made by their most recently commissioned artists.
This documentary tells the extraordinary story of Herbert Vogel, a postal clerk, and Dorothy Vogel, a librarian, who managed to build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history with very modest means. In the 1960s Herb and Dorothy Vogel quietly began purchasing the works of unknown artists. They proved themselves curatorial visionaries; most of those they supported and befriended went on to become world-renowned artists including Sol LeWitt, Christo and JeanneClaude, Richard Tuttle, Chuck Close, Anderson Collection artist Lynda Benglis, and many more. After thirty years of meticulous collecting, the Vogels managed to accumulate over 2,000 pieces, filling every corner of their tiny one bedroom apartment.
www.upholdart.co.uk & www.householdbelfast.co.uk
Friends of the Earth Present: Nature's Keepers
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25/06/2023 // 14:30 // £5 (£4 concessions) // UM Belfast Room
Nature’s Keepers is a series of short films about the ordinary people who are extraordinary protectors committed to protecting nature across Northern Ireland.
This selection of films is focused on Nature’s Keepers in County Antrim within a 25-mile diameter. These stories clearly show that this small corner of Northern Ireland has become an environmental sacrifice zone with an open invitation for polluting industries. Some site battles are placed in campaign history, some are currently in court, and some are still going through planning. These films will give you an insight into the tireless efforts of these campaigners and the communities they’re in. It is nothing short of remarkable. These are timeless stories of fights for survival against big business and poor decision-making.
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