IFI DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL 2024 PROGRAMME ANNOUNCEMENT

Programme announced for IFI Documentary Festival 2024

Festival runs from September 25th – 29th

Discover intriguing and hidden stories from across Ireland and around the world 

5 days of screenings, panel discussions, and public interviews at the IFI

Explore the programme HERE. Images can be downloaded HERE

Today (August 14th, 2024), the Irish Film Institute announced an exciting programme for the 2024 edition of the IFI Documentary Festival. Running from Wednesday, September 25th to Sunday, September 29th, tickets are on sale now from ifi.ie/docfest  

This much anticipated annual highlight of the IFI’s festival line-up presents a cutting edge mix of screenings, panel discussions, and public interviews. 

This year’s programme explores profound personal stories, confronts conventional narratives, and illuminates unsung communities standing up against societal expectations. The robust selection of Irish and international films on offer invite us to rethink not just the themes at hand, but also the very art of documentary making itself. This idea takes centre stage from the outset in the festival’s enthralling opening film The Gap in Consent, which acts as the festival’s anchor in offering unique and compelling new angles on the relationship between documentary filmmaker and subject. Spanning a diverse array of topics, audiences will find vital new perspectives on the complex issues and remarkable connections at the heart of contemporary culture, giving us crucial insight into how we got where we are today.

It takes us back to the time when the Housewife of the Year competition was a TV highlight; asks us to look back on the ban on anyone affiliated to Sinn Féin and other loyalist and republican paramilitary groups to speak on television / radio; paints a profound and provocative portrait of a community in Belfast’s New Lodge flats; follows musician / filmmaker Nick Kelly as he cycles from Dublin to Glastonbury; invites us to look at the Ukrainian invasion from the POV of those fighting to rescue animals deserted there; and discover an unlikely alliance between a Palestinian activist and an Israeli journalist.

IFI Director Ross Keane said:

“Our annual IFI Documentary Festival is always a huge calendar highlight at IFI, as we take a number of days to delve deeper into the art form of documentary filmmaking by shining a spotlight on fascinating true stories from Ireland and around the world. This year, we will present 14 documentary features, comprising 2 world premieres and 7 Irish premieres, 1 shorts programme, numerous Q&As with special guests, and a panel discussion. Documentary filmmaking really affords us the opportunity to get a glimpse into worlds that we otherwise would not see, exploring both subject matters and subjects that warrant discovery. This year, we invite audiences old and new to immerse themselves in documentary films for 5 days and nights at IFI, and to discover these new worlds and fascinating true stories all for themselves.” 

The festival is programmed by IFI Head of Cinema Programming David O’Mahony (international titles) and IFI Head of Irish Film Programming Sunniva O’Flynn (Irish features) and will include a number of world and Irish premieres. This year, the festival has also collaborated with the GALPAL Collective to present a documentary shorts programme comprising both Irish and international submissions, and centering on the theme of coming-of-age, curated by Aisha Bolaji and Lulit Luis.

The programme in more detail:

THE GAP IN CONSENT 

WORLD PREMIERE: From Tom Burke, this is an extraordinary anthology of interviews with 14 leading Irish filmmakers representing a new body of knowledge in the field of documentary studies. Filmmakers speak about ethics, consent, and relationships with the subjects of their work, the need to develop their own ethical frameworks and about power imbalances between filmmaker and subject. Opening Film + Gala. Followed by Q&A with Director Tom Burke.

Wednesday, September 25th (20.30)

55 mins, Ireland, 2024, Digital 

 

US, OUR PETS AND THE WAR

IRISH PREMIERE: Amid violence and war, Ukrainian citizens are coming together to rescue animals that have been left behind by those forced to flee the country. From cats and dogs in abandoned buildings to lions and tigers in the nation’s zoos, to famous pets such as Patron the Jack Russell Terrier, who was awarded the Order of Courage by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his work locating unexploded ordnance, extraordinary rescue efforts are underway. Followed by a Q&A with Anton Ptushkin. 

Thursday, September 26th (18.30)

79 mins, Ukraine-Canada, 2024, Digital, Subtitled

 

THE BRINK OF DREAMS

IRISH PREMIERE: In a remote village in southern Egypt, a group of girls protest the conservatism of their culture by forming a street theatre troupe. Shot over a four-year period by Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir, The Brink of Dreams, co-winner of the Golden Eye award for best documentary at the Cannes Film Festival, follows the girls from childhood to womanhood, as they face crucial choices whilst trying to remain true to the values of their troupe. 

Thursday, September 26th (20.45) 

102 mins, Egypt-France-Denmark, 2024, Digital, Subtitled

 

THE SONG CYCLE

Veteran musician and filmmaker Nick Kelly sets off to cycle from his home in Dublin to Glastonbury, carrying all his gear on his bike and playing in pubs and clubs along the way with his musical partner Seán Millar, who travels by bus to join Nick onstage each evening. A funny and thought-provoking film about Mother Nature, Father Time, and Brothers on the Road. Followed by a Q&A with Nick Kelly & Sean Millar – and a song or two. 

Friday, September 27th (18.20)

85 mins, Ireland, 2024 

 

UNION

IRISH PREMIERE: In April 2022, a group of ordinary workers made history when they successfully won their election to become the first unionised Amazon workplace in America. Heralded as the most important win for labour since the 1930s, this highly cinematic documentary by Stephen Maing and Brett Story captures the ALU’s historic grassroots campaign to unionise thousands of their co-workers. 

Friday, September 27th (18.30)

100 mins, USA, 2024, Digital

 

HOW I BECAME A COMMUNIST

IRISH PREMIERE: The life of an elderly woman running a farm in the countryside between Northern Ireland and the Republic is observed in a portrait marked by stillness and a meticulous chronicling of the everyday.  The film, by Declan Clarke, also explores Grimm’s fairytale The Musicians of Bremen to reflect on the decline of a unified left wing political movement in Europe since the suppression of the Paris Commune in 1871 in this elegantly constructed essay by artist Declan Clarke. Followed by a Q&A with Director Declan Clarke, hosted by Emilie Pine.

Friday, September 27th (20.40)

55 mins, Ireland-Germany, 2023, Digital

 

IFI SPOTLIGHT & IN REAL LIFE PANEL

In collaboration with In Real Life, a Screen Ireland-supported project developing audiences for documentary cinema, explore the evolving role of documentary in the cinema, streaming and TV landscapes.  A panel of filmmakers and industry professionals will consider the ongoing importance and cultural impact of Irish documentary cinema, offering their own reflections on a year of exceptional Irish docs. This panel will be moderated by Luke McManus and Derek O’Connor. 

Saturday, September 28th (12.00)  

 

BLOSSOMING: TALES OF GROWING UP

This selection of short documentaries from Ireland and around the world focuses on issues affecting young people today. Universal themes of adolescence, identity, and self-discovery are explored in a diverse range of cultural narratives. Programme includes: One Flower at a Time (Plex Goldwin / Australia); Cumha (Elena Horgan / Ireland); Nido (Jose Miguel Jimenez / Ireland, Peru); Dear Ishan (Ashish Prasai / Ireland); We Beg to Differ (Ruairi Bradley / Ireland); The Archive: Queer Nigerians (Simisolaoluwa Akande / UK). Curated by The GALPAL Collective’s Aisha Bolaji and Lulit Luis. 

Saturday, September 28th (13.40)

70 mins, 2024, Digital

 

HOUSEWIFE OF THE YEAR 

Between 1969 – 1995, women all over Ireland competed to win the Housewife of the Year, a competition celebrating “cookery, nurturing, and basic household management skills”. Former contestants share our bewilderment at their acceptance of societal strictures and recount their experiences of marriage bars, contraception, Magdalene institutions, financial vulnerability, marital breakdown, and shame.  This film by Ciaran Cassidy is a poignant, often hilarious, and uplifting story of a generation of resilient women and a country in transition. Followed by a Q&A with Ciaran Cassidy and some of the Housewives of the Year.  

Saturday, September 28th (15.30)

77 mins, Ireland, 2024, Digital

 

AMPLIFIED: THE EXPORTATION OF THE CULTURE WARS

WORLD PREMIERE: Featuring interviews with current and former US presidential advisors, presidential candidates, a CIA Director and an evangelical propagandist, and Irish politicians, historians and political commentators the film examines the impact of America’s most contagious export – cultural and political vitriol – on global society. The film investigates how nefarious elements of rhetoric and conspiracy are seeded though paranoia and prejudice, the impact of misinformation, and the cultivation of far-right extremism – culminating in Ireland in the 2023 Dublin riots and in continuing violent anti-immigrant protests. Followed by a Q&A with Director Mike Sheridan and guests. 

Saturday, September 28th (17.50)

80 mins, Ireland, 2024, Digital

 

NO OTHER LAND

Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films as his community of Masafer Yatta is gradually eradicated by the destruction and forced displacements of the Israeli occupation. Adra builds an unlikely alliance with Yuval, an Israeli journalist who reports on what his own government is doing to the West Bank communities. Substantially made before the Hamas attacks of October 2024, and Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza, this extraordinary piece of reportage by a Palestinian-Israeli collective offers an insider view of a West Bank community resisting a programme of demolition by the Israeli army. 

Saturday, September 28th (20.20)

95 mins, Occupied Palestinian Territory-Norway, 2024, Digital, Subtitled

 

THE BAN 

In 1988, following a wave of IRA atrocities, the British Government introduced a Broadcasting Ban, silencing Sinn Féin and other loyalist and republican paramilitary groups by forbidding broadcasters to allow anyone affiliated with these bodies to speak on television or radio. Bizarrely, however, a legal loophole allowed broadcasters to circumvent the ban by simply employing actors to re-voice the original sequences. Using unseen archive footage and present-day interviews with key figures such as Gerry Adams and Stephen Rea, The Ban, directed by Róisín Agnew, reflects on the British government’s use of the threat of ‘terrorism’ to justify censorship, drawing inevitable comparisons with the present. Followed by a Q&A with Róisín Agnew, Stephen Rea, and Danny Morrisson, hosted by Trevor Birney. 

Sunday, September 29th (13.10)

27 mins, Northern Ireland, 2024, Digital

 

THE FLATS

Belfast’s New Lodge is a Catholic neighbourhood violently affected by the Troubles. Many of the men who live here engaged in paramilitary activity in their youth and now suffer from disillusionment, unemployment, and poor mental health. The women work to keep the community afloat.  A profound and provocative portrait of a community infused with deep humanity and caustic wit. Followed by a Q&A with Alessandra Celesia. 

Sunday, September 29th (15.20)

116 mins, Ireland-Northern Ireland-France–Belgium, 2024, Digital

 

SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT

Against the backdrop of the Cold War, the US State Department sends ‘jazz ambassadors’ Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, and Duke Ellington to Congo, a newly independent, resource-rich African nation, to deflect attention from the CIA-backed coup that would lead to the assassination of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. In the months that follow, drummer Max Roach leads Maya Angelou in a protest at the United Nations. Belgian director Johan Grimonprez’s bravura cinematic essay, drawn from a wealth of archival footage, newsreels, testimonials, and newly uncovered home movies, won the Special Jury Award for Cinematic Innovation at the Sundance Film Festival.

Sunday, September 29th (16.30)

150 mins, France-Belgium, 2024, Digital, Subtitled

 

DAHOMEY

IRISH PREMIERE: Twenty-six royal treasures of the Kingdom of Dahomey are about to leave the vaults of a Parisian Museum to return to their country of origin, the present-day Republic of Benin, when the artefacts were plundered by French colonial troops in 1892. Winner of the Golden Bear at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival, Dahomey is an illuminating and engaging contribution to the ongoing conversation about the legacy of colonialism in Africa by Mati Diop. 

Sunday, September 29th (18.20) 

68 mins, France-Senegal-Benin, 2024, Digital, Subtitled

 

BLACK BOX DIARIES

IRISH PREMIERE: Japanese journalist Shiori Ito embarks on a courageous investigation of her own sexual assault to prosecute her high-profile offender; her quest becomes a landmark case, exposing the country’s outdated judicial and societal systems, and has been credited with bringing #MeToo to Japan. Over five long years, Ito went public and pursued her attacker, a well-known media figure. Black Box Diaries captures her tumultuous, heart-wrenching, but ultimately triumphant journey. 

Sunday, September 29th (20.10)

102 mins, Japan-USA-UK, 2024, Digital, Subtitled

 

Tickets: €14.00, with the exception of the Opening Gala Screening at €16.00, and the IFI Spotlight & In Real Life panel discussion at €5.00. A bundle of 5 for €55 is also available (excluding Opening Gala Screening + IFI Spotlight & In Real Life panel.)  

For online documentary rentals, visit IFI@Home for more information at www.ifihome.ie

 

Booking 

Online: ifi.ie/docfest

By phone: 01 679 3477

In person: IFI, 6 Eustace Street, Temple Bar, D2

Get social…  #IFIDocFest 

Facebook / TikTok / Instagram: @IrishFilmInstitute 

Letterboxd: @IFI_Dublin

X: @IFI_Dub

 

IFI Documentary Festival is supported by RTÉ Supporting the Arts. 

The IFI acknowledges the support of the Arts Council.