NEXT YEAR, THE Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival celebrates 20 years – and we have the lowdown on what you can expect from the event.

The festival has just released its programme of shorts, where you can get a look at some of Ireland’s filmmakers of the future.

And it’s also released the highlights for the 2022 festival, which will run from 23 Feb – 6 March next year. Once again, Journal Media is delighted to be a media partner for the festival, which has weathered the storm of Covid-19 and brought brilliant films to audiences over the past two years. 

“We not only survived, but after a challenging and successful 2021, we are back, bigger and better and more determined than ever to deliver a memorable 20th anniversary event,” said Gráinne Humphreys, Festival Director. “Alongside a rich and diverse programme of new Irish and international films we will host a photographic exhibition of previous festival guests, screen previous Audience Award winners and create an interactive map of unique Dublin film locations to visit and explore.”

This year, there’s going to be a combined programme of in-person events and screenings alongside with a selection of films to watch at home – so if you’re not based in Dublin you’ll still get to take part. 

For the festival, actor Ruth Wilson will return to Dublin for the Irish premiere of the psychological thriller True Things, adapted from Deborah Kay Davies’s acclaimed novel. It’s about a bored office worker (played by Wilson) who is sleepwalking through life until a chance encounter with a charismatic stranger (Tom Burke) awakens her. Soon she embarks on an emotionally dangerous journey that begins to consume her.

Also at the festival, acclaimed composer Neil Brand will present an evening of music by legendary comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. It will feature music from their early days through to their silent masterpieces before the arrival of sound. It will also be fully illustrated with stills and clips, and should be a right tonic. 

You Are Not My Mother

There’s been a lot of buzz about Irish director Kate Dolan’s psychological thriller You Are Not My Mother, after its successful debut at the Toronto International Film Festival. It features a host of great actors, including Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival (Virgin Media DIFF) Aer Lingus Discovery Award winner Hazel Doupe (Float Like a Butterfly), and will get its Irish debut at the festival.

Sundance triple award winner HIVE is Virgin Media DIFF’s 2022 Festival Access Tour film. HIVE is a drama based on the true story of Fahrije (Yllka Gashi), who lives in a patriarchal village,  and whose husband went missing during the war in Kosovo. The story follows as she pulls the other widows in her community together to launch a business selling a local food product. HIVE will tour to venues outside Dublin during the Festival, in association with access>Cinema, and with the support of the Arts Council.

Short films

This year, Virgin Media DIFF will have its largest programme to date of short films – 48 shorts across six different screening presentations. It will include highlights from Screen Ireland’s funding schemes, as well as a new selection of some of the best shorts from Glasgow Film Festival.

Among the shorts will be work from Irish directors including Dave Tynan’s (Dublin Oldschool) examination of race in Ireland, The Colour Between; Kelly Campbell’s Dublin story An Encounter, written by Mark O’Halloran (Rialto, Viva) and Rioghnach Ní Ghrioghair’s sonic horror, Don’t Go Where I Can’t Find You.

The programme will also show international shorts from countries as far afield as Qatar, Russia, Brazil, USA, Canada, Turkey, The Netherlands and more. Highlights include Greek American Filmmaker Laki Karavias’ look at race and immigration in Texas, The Night I left America; Hannah Currie’s BAFTA winning That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore, Leonardo Martinelli’s Brazilian musical comedy Neon Phantom, and Eliane Esther Bots award-winning experimental documentary about three interpreters of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Flow of Words.

Screen Ireland/Fís Éireann once again supports Irish shorts with a curated programme from Screen Ireland’s Focus, Framework and Short Stories funding schemes. And the festival has announced a new partnership with Glasgow Film Festival, Scottish Shorts: Out of the Margins. This will be a mix of fiction and documentary, with a programme combining wider socio-political issues with deeply personal narratives.

“The short film format has always been a vital part of the festival, acting as both a showcase for future talent and as an art form in its own right and we have expanded our line-up to include the wealth of incredible films made under the most difficult of circumstances,” said Gráinne Humphreys.

Ruthless still

Here’s the 2022 Virgin Media DIFF shorts programme:

Virgin Media DIFF Shorts #1

• Harvest – Tristan Heanue, Ireland
• Libre – Arthur Lopes, Ireland
• Hairy Monster – Oh Jisook Kim, Korea
• Mora Mora – Jurga Šeduikytė, Lithuania
• Store Policy – Sarah Arnold, France
• Film Found – Claudia Munksgaard-Palmqvist, Denmark
• Spirit Level – Eoin Heaney, Ireland
• Motorcyclist’s Happiness Won’t Fit Into His Suit – Gabriel Herrera, Mexico

Virgin Media DIFF Shorts #2

• Don’t go Where I can’t find you – Rioghnach Ní Ghrioghair, Ireland
• Broken: A Lockdown Story – TJ O’Grady Peyton, Ireland
• Birdwatching – Samantha Soule, USA
• The Night I left America – Laki Karavias, USA
• Conversations with my Dead Father – Maurice O’Carroll, Ireland
• Liminal – Dan Ambromovici, Canada
• Ruthless – Matthew McGuigan, Ireland
• In Flow of Words – Eliane Esther Bots, Netherlands

Virgin Media DIFF Shorts #3

• Nothing to Declare – Garret Daly, Ireland
• Cleaner – Edwin Mullane, Ireland
• Sucking Diesel – Sam McGrath, Ireland
• And They Burn in the Sea – Majid Al-Remaihi, Qatar
• Cuties – Theo W Scott, UK
• The Passion – Mia Mullarky, Ireland
• Lessness – Mahdi Safavi, Russia
• The Colour Between – Dave Tynan, Ireland
• Hello – Claire Byrne, Ireland

Virgin Media DIFF Shorts #4

• Neon Phantom- Leonardo Martinelli, Brazil
• This is Why – Sean Roberts, Ireland
• Bounce – Alexander Dinelaris & Lloyd Owen, UK
• Miss Fortunate – Ella Jones, UK
• Miss D – Paddy Hayes, Ireland
• Stiletto – Can Merdan Dogan, Turkey
• Nettle Bush – Francis O’Mahony, Ireland
• Squish – Xavier Seron, Belgium
• Sparkle – Ger Walsh, Ireland

Screen Ireland Shorts

• Bardo – Aisling Conroy, Ireland
• Signal – Diarmuid Donohoe, Ireland
• Lady Betty – Paul McGrath, Ireland
• Momento Mori – Paul O’Flanagan, Ireland
• Pork – Gareth Lyons, Ireland
• An Encounter – Kelly Campbell, Ireland
• If Neon Meets Argon – James Doherty, Ireland
• Hedy – Andy Clarke, Ireland

Scottish Shorts: Out Of The Margins

• The Shift – Laura Carreira, Scotland
• My Name is Anik – Bircan Birol, Scotland
• That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore – Hannah Currie, Scotland
• Once Upon A Time in Easterhouse – Paul Cochrane, Scotland
• Everyman – Jack Goessens, Scotland
• Expensive Shit – Adura Onashile, Scotland

Over the past 19 years, the Dublin International Film Festival has screened more than 1,600 international films from over 52 countries. It has also hosted over 600 high profile guests, including Al Pacino, Angela Lansbury, Brendan Gleeson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Danny DeVito, and Julie Andrews.

The full festival programme will be revealed on 26 January, and tickets will go on sale from 12 noon that day. All festival screenings and events will adhere to government guidelines and Covid safety regulations.

You can currently buy a Festival Pass for €250, which will give you access to the festival’s regular cinema tickets as well as 20% discount on special presentations. Online 5 x film pass vouchers and 10 x film pass vouchers are also available to purchase at diff.ie