Women filmmakers dominate the short films category for this year’s Guth Gafa International Documentary Film Festival.
Eight of the ten short films which will be screened over the two day festival in Malin, Co. Donegal on October 25- 26 and Headfort House, Kells, Co. Meath on November 1-2 were made by Irish women.
A collection of seven outstanding films, curated in association with The Irish Council for Civil Liberties and taken from their Human Rights Film Awards Competition, take pride of place in this year’s short film category. Their selection reflects very much the Guth Gafa ethos.
Niamh Heery’s ‘Harmanli: Trapped on the Fringe of Freedom’ explores life for asylum seekers in a Bulgarian camp, while ‘The Room’ by Roisin Loughrey goes behind the doors of the Sacred Heart Hospital in Castlebar, County Mayo to reveal the small moments of magic that happen in an art class for long-stay patients who have an acquired brain injury.
‘Hold on Tight’ by Anna Rodgers looks at the complexities of public expressions of affection for same sex couples.
Dearbhla Glynn’s focus on violence against women in the Congo in her prize winning short, ‘The Value of Women in The Congo’, reveals not just the experience of the victims of this violence, but the perspective of the perpetrators.
Trish McAdam’s ‘No Enemies’ interprets the inspirational 2009 speech by Chinese human rights defender Lui Xiaobo, read in part by Seamus Heaney and Salman Rushdie and set against spartan graphics.
Others in this category include ‘Chaja and Mimi’, which profiles an 83-year-old friendship between two German women and the ‘Spanish Machine Man’, which elegantly explores the role of manual human labour in a globalised 21st century world.
A trio of Irish shorts that capture the essence of the human spirit on film will also be shown in the Irish Shorts category, each telling stories of older people facing new and often uncomfortable challenges.
They include the world premiere of Tanya Doyle’s ‘Waterlilies’, which focuses on a group of people in their sixties learning to swim.
Guth Gafa is also hosting the Irish premiere of Bryony Dunne’s, ‘The Orchard Keepers’, a profile of an aging herbalist in the Sinai desert.
Hillary Fennel’s ‘Hearing Silence’ meanwhile profiles professional musician Elizabeth Petcu and her struggle to express her creativity as her hearing diminishes.
More information on the Guth Gafa Shorts programmes is available through the Guth Gafa website: www.guthgafa.com
The Guth Gafa International Documentary Film Festival is sponsored by The Arts Council, The Irish Film Board, The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, Honeycomb – Creative Works, Fáilte Ireland, Donegal County Council, Meath County Council, and RTÉ- Supporting the Arts.
