Irish Shorts @ IFI is a new short film exhibition initiative at the IFI. Each month a new Irish Film Board funded short will screen before a selected feature film, creating welcome exposure for new and established filmmakers and giving IFI audiences more bang for their buck. A wide range of award-winning, eye-catching, imaginative and memorable short films have been produced under Irish Film Board schemes, many of which, due to their compact shape, fit neatly into the feature film slot. IFI audiences will be enchanted, amused and entertained by these shorts-before-features as they enjoy the more complete cinema experience of days gone by.
The Irish Shorts @ IFI initiative furthers the IFI’s commitment to promoting the best of Irish cinema. Other strands include: the monthly Irish Film Archive programme which features seminal Irish titles from the archive’s collection; Ireland on Sunday, where new documentaries and fiction films can be seen in the presence of their producers; and a regular scheduling of new Irish features in the main IFI programme.
On Wednesday 5th November, Irish Shorts @ IFI will be launched with a screening of the new 2008 Short Shorts and a selection of classic and award-winning shorts films from recent years. The first short film in the inaugural Irish Shorts @ IFI slot is Declan Cassidy’s film Whatever Turns You On (picture above) which will be screened in front of Dublin filmmaker Lance Daly’s third feature Kisses (see page 5 for further details). Whatever Turns You On tells the comic story of a young homeless man who disrupts the smooth running of an electronic store. Irish Shorts @ IFI will be introduced by Sarah Glennie, Director of the IFI, and Simon Perry, CEO of the Irish Film Board.