23rd-29th June, Belfast

The Docs Ireland film festival will run in Belfast from 23-29 June. It promotes documentary film from Ireland and around the world.

As part of this year’s programme, there will be a special focus on Poland and there is a link up with the Kraków Film Festival and Kraków Film Foundation.

Highlights from spotlight on Poland at the Docs Ireland Film Festival:

Friday 27 June, 11am in The MAC Belfast – Spotlight on Poland Discussion

Docs Ireland is honoured to spotlight the documentary film industry of Poland, and the infrastructures and mechanisms that keep it sustainable. Partnering with Creative Europe Desk Ireland, through presentations, case studies and discussion with invited speakers, this event will give a holistic insight into the ecosystem surrounding the documentary community within Poland and how filmmakers based upon the island of Ireland can work with them. The main aim of this panel is to foster future co-production opportunities with Poland for Irish filmmakers through knowledge-sharing and information exchange. 

Speakers:

• Adam Ślesicki – Head of Doc Lab Poland
• Anita Piotrowska – Programmer, Kraków Film Foundation
• Justyna Fogler – Festival Programmer & Distributor, Millennium Docs Against Gravity
• Monika Braid – Producer, Braidmade Films

Book Tickets here: What’s On – Docs Ireland

Saturday 28 June at 6pm in Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast – Polish Documentary Screenings

As part of a collaboration between Docs Ireland and the Krakow Film Festival in Poland, two specially selected documentaries will show the best in new Polish documentary, along with a classic from one of the masters.

1. Talking Heads (14 mins)

Basic existential questions are asked here in the form of a street survey probe: Who are you? What is most important to you? What would you like? As a result, we see a collective portrait of Poles – 44 people, from a one-year-old child who cannot speak yet, to a nearly hundred-year-old woman who, in turn, cannot hear, but certainly wants to live even longer.

2. Silent Trees (84 mins)

When her mother dies on the Polish-Belarusian border, a 16-year-old Kurdish girl Runa has to quickly grow up to take care of her 4 younger brothers and helpless, depressed father. Runa’s greatest fear is being forced to return to Iraq. She wants to live like her newfound European friends and become a lawyer. But just as her dream of going back to school comes true, another threat appears – the threat of deportation. The film artfully weaves animated sequences throughout, and through Runa’s eyes we see the human side to a discussion that is too often political. Supported by the British Council Northern Ireland.

Book Tickets here: What’s On – Docs Ireland

The full Docs Ireland programme can be viewed HERE.