The largest festival of Irish film outside of Ireland, Irish Film Festival London is taking place across the capital this weekend (Fri 19 – Sun 21 November). And a particularly impressive part of the programme are the industry events, if you’re a filmmaker (aspiring or otherwise) and you can get to London this weekend these are three events not to miss.
Directing Your Debut Feature
Friday 19 November, 2pm, Irish Cultural Centre, Hammersmith
Making the leap into feature-length filmmaking can, for many, feel like an unachievable goal, with a huge number of hurdles and challenges in the way. Director of Redemption of a Rogue (2020), Philip Doherty shares insights, advice and anecdotes for anyone interested in making a feature film.
Tickets are £4.50, book here bit.ly/DebutDirect
The Explosion of Irish Documentary
Saturday 20 November, 12:30pm, Irish Cultural Centre, Hammersmith
For all documentarians, this session hosted by curator and film programmer Dr Colm McAuliffe discusses how to tap into the extraordinary recent successes of Irish documentary filmmaking.
The panel includes both Gillian Marsh (The Funeral Director, 2019) and Paul Duane (While You Live, Shine, 2018 – also screening at #IFFL2021 on Sun 21 Nov)
Tickets are £4.50, book here bit.ly/IrishDocu
Meet the Festival Programmers
Saturday 20 November, 2pm, Irish Cultural Centre, Hammersmith
You’ve made your film, congratulations! What now?
This is an informative discussion with the programmers of some of Ireland’s largest film festivals. A unique opportunity to talk to and learn from festival programmers about what’s they’re looking for when selecting films and how you can make sure you do your film justice after it’s made!
Advice and tips from Grainne Humphreys (Dublin International Film Festival), Anna Kopecka (Cork Film Festival) and Eibh Collins (Kerry Film Festival, Galway Film Festival).
Tickets are £4.50, book here bit.ly/FestivalProg
Redemption of a Rogue
Sunday 21 November, 5:30pm, Genesis Cinema
Okay, not an industry event – but a film not to be missed, and if you’re in the area anyway, it’d be a shame to miss Redemption of a Rogue.
Described as a “bible-black” comedy and living up to its name from the first scenes, this debut feature from director Philip Doherty presents a tale of the prodigal son returning to his home town to seek salvation for his sins. But finding that life, and death, is never simple and never easy.
Tickets are available from the Genesis Cinema website. Irish Film London are a not-for-profit organisation championing Irish film, TV and animation across the UK. They run a year-round programme of screenings, industry and community workshops, the annual Irish Film London Awards, the St Brigid’s Day Film Festival each February, the St Patrick’s Film Festival each March, and the annual Irish Film Festival London each November.
