The Belfast Film Festival is Northern Ireland's film festival, attracting over 25,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1995, the festival has grown to include the Docs Ireland international documentary festival, as well as an Audience Development and Inclusion program.^[1] The festival also sponsors year-round film screenings around Belfast.^[2]

History

Belfast Film Festival's screening of Mad Max at T13

Founded in 1995 by writer Laurence McKeown, the festival began as a part of Féile an Phobail, and operated as the West Belfast Film Festival (WBFF) from 1995 to 2000. In its third and fourth year, WBFF ran as an independent event and included venues throughout the city. Under the stewardship of Michele Devlin and Laurence McKeown, it became the Belfast Film Festival in the year 2000 and ran as a citywide event, including venues in the North, South, East and West of Belfast.

At the 2004 event, the festival's offices in the Art Deco North Street Arcade were completely destroyed by fire. Despite losing their base and all their records, the festival recovered, relocated to Donegall St, and staged the event again the following year. The 2005 festival was launched by award-winning actor Stephen Rea.

The 2022 festival will see the launch of an International Competition for first or second features, with a total prize fund of £10,000 sponsored by a number of organisations, notably Yellow Moon, Greg Darby’s popular Northern post-production house. An international jury of filmmakers and industry professionals will award a prize of £7,000 to the director of the Best Film, alongside Jury Prizes for Outstanding Craft Contribution and Breakout Performance of £1,500 each.

Site-specific and Summer Program

Belfast Film Festival's screening of The Wicker Man at the Giant's Ring

The inclusion of people and the fabric of the city in the program is an important aspect of the BFF's work. In 2004 they hosted the first ever drive-in movie event in the city in Talbot St car park screening The Shining. They have screened films in used and disused swimming pools including Jaws and Session 9; on a boat in the River Lagan (Piranha); with live piano accompaniment in St Anne's Cathedral (16mm original version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame) and shown Carol Reed's Odd Man Out beside the Albert Clock, which featured heavily in the film. They have profiled unique architectural sites by hosting screenings inside the buildings, including the US political drama The West Wing at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, Oh, Mr Porter! at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra, The Warriors in a dystopian landscape beneath a city centre motorway flyover, and Stanley Kubrick's cult sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odyssey in the historic dry dock in the city's old shipyards where the RMS Titanic last sat on dry ground.

Music has also featured strongly in their programming; some highlights include the collaborations with local talent such as Duke Special and David Holmes on audio visual performances, hosting the band Goblin to perform a live score to Dawn of the Dead, Cercueil (Coffin) the fantastic French duo performing to David Lynch's Eraserhead and a synchronized swim team (Aquabatix) performing live in a pool to alongside a compilation of aquatic and swim themed films and music.

Together with Belfast One, Belfast Film Festival runs the annual Summer Cinema at Belfast City Hall, featuring eight outdoor films across a July weekend.

The Belfast Film Festival Board & Team

Director: Michele Devlin

Programmer (International): Jessica Kiang

Programmer (UK and Ireland): Rose Baker

Assistant Programmer/Print Transport: James Hall

Head of Marketing: Mary Lindsay

Audience Development and Inclusion: Sara Morrison

Festival Manager: Mal O'Hara

Box Office Manager: Simeon Costello

Board of directors: Marie Therese McGivern & Lisa Barros D'Sa (Co-Chair), Nisha Tandon, Mark Cousins, Laurence McKeown, Louise O'Meara, Kevin Jackson & Lucy Baxter.

Patrons: Terry George, David Holmes, Pat Murphy, William Crawley and Stephen Rea.

Belfast Film Festival Award Winners

Short Film Competition

Eoin with his award for Best Short Film at the 17th Belfast Film Festival

Year	Film Title	Director(s)	Country
2022	Sour Milk	Mark Keane
2022	Still Up There	Joe Loftus
2021	Dear Eibhlin	Laura Conlon	🇮🇪
2020	Ciúnas (Silence) (joint winner)	Tristan Heanue	🇮🇪
2020	The Shift (joint winner)	Evan Barry	🇮🇪
2019	Hold the Line	Laura O'Shea and Karen Killeen	🇮🇪
2018	Good Girls	Niamh McKeown	🇮🇪
2017	Incoming Call	Eoin Cleland	🇮🇪
2016	Introducing Brian	Nicolas Keogh	🇬🇧
2015	A Flash	Niall Cutler	🇮🇪
2014	Rúbaí	Louise Ní Fhiannachta	🇮🇪
2013	Toy Soldiers	Mike Hayes	🇮🇪
2012	Exhale	Mal Campbell	🇬🇧
2011	Even Gods	Phil Harrison	🇬🇧
2010	Chronoscope	Andrew Legge	🇮🇪
2009	Of Best Intentions	Brian Durnin	🇮🇪
2008	The Sound of People	Simon Fitzmaurice	🇮🇪
2007	The White Dress	Vanessa Gildea	🇮🇪
2006	Testing Time, Teddy Boy	Kevin McCann	🇮🇪
2005	Fluent Dysphasia	Daniel O'Hara	🇮🇪
2004	Full Circle	Simon Fitzmaurice	🇮🇪
2003	Suffering	Gary Mitchell	🇬🇧

Sponsorship

Key funders are NI Department for Communities, Arts Council NI, Film Hub NI, Yellow Moon, British Council, Belfast City Council, Northern Ireland Screen and the British Film Institute.

2013: Peroni & Selective Travel

2014: Peroni & O2 International Sim^[3]

2015: O2 International Sim, DCAL and Tourism NI

2016: Peroni, Tourism NI and DCAL

2017: The Irish News, Tourism NI and Tourism Ireland

2018: Richer Sounds, Clayton Hotels

2021: Birra Moretti, Hastings Hotels

See also

• Féile an Phobail
• Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival
• Queen's Film Theatre
• Belfast Festival at Queen's

References