IFI Documentary Festival

From the streets of Egypt, where an all-female theatre troupe stands in defiance of patriarchal oppressions, to New York City’s Staten Island where Amazon workers strive to unionise, to the cities of Ukraine, where efforts are underway to rescue pets trapped in abandoned buildings, IFI Documentary Festival returns to bring a bracing crop of long and short form non-fiction film to audiences. Our Irish slate again offers a wide sweep of documentary practice. Our opening film by Tom Burke provides a wholly engaging primer on documentary ethics; a meticulously choreographed essay by Declan Clarke sits alongside Nick Kelly’s memory-laden road-trip; Mike Sheridan’s urgent interrogation of the far-right is counterpointed by Alessandra Celessi’s haunting portrait of post-conflict trauma in Belfast; television archives provide much food for thought in Roisin Agnew’s study of the British Broadcasting ban and in Ciaran Cassidy’s decades-spanning celebration of Irish women. The GALPAL Collective curate an illuminating array of international shorts. With a bumper array of guests for post-show Q&As, the programme is guaranteed to satisfy.

See also the IFI@Home Documentary programme.