CIFF2025 - Shorts Program 1
Friday, February 28 • 11:00 AM • T2 • Approx. runtime: 105 min.
Screening generously sponsored by Silver Spring Town Center
AFTER THE BOMB
In an era where the violence of war often leaves victims forgotten, a woman whose life was devastated by a bomb in Northern Ireland joins with fellow victims and survivors to fight for restitution and acknowledgment from an unresponsive government. Amidst her fight, she finds new healing in a friendship based on shared need, where one walks and the other sees.
DIR/SCR/PROD Heather Brumley. Ireland, 2024, color, 19 min. NOT RATED
Self-funded.
EARMARK
Meet Mark, a daydreamer who has lived with hearing loss for his whole life. As his condition deteriorates, Mark must listen to his past and face the present in order to move forward with his life. He realizes he can either continue to shut himself off from the world or he can open up and begin to accept himself for who he really is.
DIR/SCR Ste Murray; PROD Mícheál Fleming. Ireland, 2024, color, 11 min. NOT RATED
Funded by Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland (Actor as Creator Scheme).
OPERATION PABLO
After buying dogs to keep them company during the pandemic, many people throughout Ireland have now abandoned their pets in the street. A little girl comes across one of these abandoned dogs and befriends him. Determined to save him from the dog-pound, and from an eccentric dogcatcher, she enlists the help of a local ice cream man — who is going through his own problems with his son and his failing eyesight — to help “Pablo” evade the dogcatcher.
DIR/SCR Karen Quinn; PROD Keith O'Grady, Louise O'Grady. Ireland, 2024, color, 15 min. NOT RATED
Funded by Timber Films.
TO BREAK A CIRCLE
Time and all its hazards have worn down the land and opportunities in Liscommon, a small Northern Irish town. The remaining stragglers live in the long shadow of an ancient stone circle — the wilderness within is the only unspoiled constant, protected by generations of folklore. When a young man, desperate to leave, accepts an ill-fated job offer to aid gentrification efforts and construct a motorway that will run straight through the stones, he quickly learns a road built at such expense does not lead very far.
DIR/SCR Kalia Firester; SCR Dara McWade; PROD Tim Bryans, Andrea McQuade, Lee McQuade. UK, 2024, color, 11 min. NOT RATED
Funded by Northern Ireland Screen and the British Film Institute (Creative Animation Scheme).
NAY DAY
Derek Ugochukwu's dramatic thriller centers on the world of eccentric teenager Naomi, who lives with her narcissistic father and devoutly religious mother. With the help of her best friend, Orla, she is intent on becoming a TikTok star. Set against the backdrop of a menacing urban landscape, the film creates the sense that all is not what it seems, slowly revealing that there may be something more at play within our protagonist.
DIR/SCR Derek Ugochukwu; PROD Eamon Hughes. Ireland, 2024, color, 13 min. NOT RATED
Funded through dlr First Frames Short Film Scheme by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council’s Arts Office and Economic Development Unit, and managed by IADT.
ECHO
An operation 10 years ago left Allister with damaged vocal cords and an obstacle to communication. His unusual solution is a reminder that community thrives in surprising places.
DIR/SCR/PROD Ross McClean. Ireland, 2023, color, 13 min. NOT RATED
Funded by Northern Ireland Screen & The Listening Pitch through a documentary Film Grant delivered in partnership between Aesthetica and Audible.
KIKI
When Adamma and her father, Jide, seek refuge in an asylum center in Ireland, they are greeted by angry protestors. The dangerous situation threatens to become explosive when Adamma ventures out into the neighborhood alone in search of her missing cuddly toy, Kiki.
DIR/SCR Naomi Sheridan; PROD Lindsay Campbell. Ireland, 2024, color, 15 min. NOT RATED
Funded by Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland (Virgin Media Discovers Competition).
DADBOY
Mike, an immature rogue, involuntarily tags along with his girlfriend, Siobhan, and their son Kyle. An exasperated Siobhan leaves Mike with the seemingly impossible task of grocery shopping with sword-wielding Kyle in tow. What could possibly go wrong?
DIR John Jude Haugh; SCR Peter Delaney; PROD Conor Hopper. Ireland, 2024, color, 11 min. NOT RATED
Funded by Engine Shorts, the Mid-West Short Film Scheme run by Film in Limerick through Innovate Limerick.
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