Docs Ireland launches its seventh festival programme
Posted: 28th May 2025
Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland welcomes the launch of the seventh programme of Docs Ireland. The festival will be returning in Belfast from June 23rd-29th to showcase hard-hitting, eye-opening, and life-affirming documentaries from Ireland and around the world. Dedicated to powerful non-fiction storytelling through premieres, screenings, and awards, it also features a robust industry programme, connecting filmmakers with leading commissioners and film financiers, drawing a host of influential industry representatives to the city.
Highlights include a screening of Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man with live commentary from editor Joe Bini, special screenings celebrating Irish documentary legend Bob Quinn, an exploration of David Lynch through documentary, IGNITE-Docs LASAIR a new Irish language Talent development programme, and a host of brand new documentaries from across the island of Ireland and around the world.
Michele Devlin, Chief Executive at Docs Ireland said:
Among the international guests, Docs Marketplace and brilliant films, audiences will find stories about incredible music, film culture, social justice, current world conflicts and the people who strive to resolve them. Rare archive and modern tales sit alongside brand new exhibition concepts, with fusion events including documentary and theatre, a planetarium and a homage to the great David Lynch. This year's programme is bursting with creativity and talent from across the island of Ireland and beyond.”
Closing Docs Ireland this year will be the award-winning debut feature by Belfast-based artist Myrid Carten, A Want In Her. A deeply personal, beautifully conveyed film which explores the filmmaker's relationship with her mother. Her search takes her into a feuding family, a contested house; and a history that threatens to take everyone down, including herself. The film will be part of a wide programme of new Irish and international documentary screening at the festival, including Screen Ireland supported documentary Born that Way by Éamon Little, exploring disability, care and the life of Music journalist Patrick Lydon in the last years of his life and many more.
This year the festival will recognise acclaimed Irish cinematographer, stills photographer and documentary director Ross McDonnell, who tragically lost his life in 2023 with the Ross McDonnell Award for Best Cinematography in an Irish Feature, the winner of which will be selected from the films nominated for the Pull Focus Irish Documentary Competition by an independent jury.
Special events at this year's festival will include celebrations of filmmakers Werner Herzog and Bob Quinn, as well as Docs Ireland’s Night for Palestine will bring together artists from throughout Ireland to raise money for Palestine with a night of live music, poetry readings and talks.
Docs Ireland returns with a jam-packed industry programme of workshops, panels and networking opportunities. The BFI Doc Society’s Creative Documentary Making in Focus will present the first roundtable addressing issues in the documentary film industry across both the UK and Ireland. The How to Fund Market and Sell a Documentary in a Post-Covid Landscape panel will provide vital industry insight into sustainable documentary filmmaking in our current landscape. This will be followed by a screening of Tom Burke’s documentary The Gap in Consent in which he spoke to Irish filmmakers about the complicated issue of consent and documentary participants.
The Anatomy of the Frame panel with world-class filmmakers such as Kate McCullough (An Cailín Ciúin/ The Quiet Girl, Normal People) and Magda Kowalczyk (Cow, High & Low - John Galliano), will be a fascinating deep dive into the work of cinematographers in documentary; the return of the Northern Ireland Screen Pitch in association with Yellowmoon and Docs Ireland’s Industry flagship Marketplace will bring decision makers from throughout the industry to Belfast to meet with filmmakers.
In collaboration with Cork International Film Festival, Docs Ireland has announced the first short documentary in the Irish language training/mentorship programme, supported by TG4, and the Irish Language Broadcast Fund. LASAIR New Talent Development scheme is an extension of the IGNITE-Docs talent development programme which is currently in its fifth year.
Docs Ireland is supported by Northern Ireland Screen through the Department for Communities, Belfast City Council, Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, BFI/Film Hub NI, and British Council and is proudly sponsored by TG4, BBC NI, Yellowmoon, FinePoint Films and Stellify Media.
The full Docs Ireland 7 programme can be found here.