Silvering - Marie-Therese Mackle - 17 mins

Jamesie, a Lough Neagh fisherman, yearns for a past that slowly slips away from him. Living on the banks of the lough with his daughter caring for him, he tries repeatedly to return to the water but is repeatedly stopped in his tracks. When he eventually makes it out amidst the rolling fog, the history and the folklore of the lake are revealed. Jim Norton stars in this moving elegy to the Lough, and the many lives it has seen and sustained on its banks.

Sceillec - dir. Paul Ruttledge - 4 mins

In this bewitching portrait of a remote Irish island, a meditation on Irish life and Irish land, days of yore unfurl and meld with the present. Fishermen, monks and tourists collide and time seems to collapse entirely. Featuring a delicately designed soundscape and a beautifully minimalist animation style, you’ll reach out and wish you were there.

The Galley - dir. Thomas Bennett - 16 mins

Helen is made redundant from her job at the amusements. Falling on tough times, she resorts to a victimless crime to get by. The ghost town of Portrush off-season sets the stage for this intimately observed drama, brought to life with honesty and vulnerability by stars Bríd Brennan & Seán T. Ó Meallaigh.

U Home?x - dir. Edel McCormick & Erin O'Rawe - 15 mins

A woman listens to a true crime podcast on her commute home. Through uniquely terrifying sound design, every moment, glance and interaction becomes charged. Danger lurks around every corner; the ironic American hosts tell us so. This nerve-wracking piece considers the banal horrors of podcasting & true crime, and the flattening of real-life atrocities into passive entertainment for the masses.

The Competition Shorts on Sat 31 Oct will be followed by a networking drinks reception courtesy of EQUITY UK.