#Festival: Full lineup announced for Deep Focus: Women In Film Festival, May 6-8

Deep Focus: Women In Film Festival is a new fixture on the Triskel Arts Centre Cinema programme premiering 6th-8th May 2016. Showcasing the finest feature, documentary and short films from around the world, this festival is a celebration of female directors who tackle a wide range of subjects with unique and distinctive voices.

For the inaugural festival ten feature films and ten short films will be screened. The festival opens on May 6th with The Violators, the directorial debut of best-selling author Helen Walsh, starring newcomers Lauren McQueen and Brogan Ellis. The film centres on two dysfunctional girls from radically different backgrounds who set off on a collision course that will leave one of them shattered, the other re-born. Writer/director Helen Walsh and actor Lauren McQueen to introduce the Irish premiere of The Violators and take part in a post-screening Q&A. Also screening with The Violators will be the short film Join The Club, directed by Eva Vives.

5 films will screen on Saturday May 7th, Larisa Shepitko’s Golden Bear winner The Ascent, Baya Kasmi’s comedy I’m All Yours, Claire Carré science-fiction drama Embers, Evangelia Kranioti’s artistic Exotica, Erotica, Inc., and Sonja Heiss’ dark-comedy Hedi Schneider Is Stuck. The Ascent is screening as part of a tribute to Larisa Shepitko. Also screening with The Ascent will be the short film Mr. Yeats and the Beastly Coins, directed by Ann Marie Hourihane and Laura McNicholas as part of the IFB’s After 16 programme. Screening with I’m All Yours will be the short film Salesmanship, directed by Bruce Bundy and Helen Rogers.  Screening with Embers will be the short film Spoor, directed by Natasha Bourke. Screening with Exotica, Erotica, Inc. will be the short film The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul, directed by Kitty Green. And finally screening with Hedi Schneider Is Stuck will be the short film Quelques Secondes, directed by Nora el Hourch.

Wings, the second feature that forms part of the tribute to Larisa Shepitko, plays as one of four films on Sunday May 8th. The film will will be introduced by film critic Tara Brady, who curated this tribute, and will be accompanied by the short film Entelechy, directed by Ariana Delawari. Sunday also sees screenings of Amy Berg’s Janis Joplin-biopic Janis: Little Girl Blue, accompanied by the short film AiR, directed by Sonya Keogh; and Susanna Fogel’s relationship drama Life Partners, with short Minor Setback, directed by Augustine Frizzell; before closing with Chantal Akerman’s moving tribute to her mother No Home Movie. Short Sleepers’ Beat, directed by Anastasia Kirillova will join No Home Movie.

All ten shorts will be screened collectively again in one special programme at 10.30am on May 8th. This screening is free and tickets are available on a first-come, first served basis. Alternatively tickets can be booked in advance online.

It is not only timely but also long overdue to be hosting a festival dedicated to female filmmakers. In the past five years since Triskel Christchurch began hosting cinema screenings, we have shown numerous fine works by women directors from all over the world. This three day festival will be an opportunity to celebrate such films in an entertaining and illuminating programme. – Chris O’Neill – Head of Cinema, Triskel

Deep Focus: Women In Film Festival is programmed by Fiona Hegarty, Naoimh Ní Luanaigh, Tara Brady and Chris O’Neill. The festival runs May 6th to 8th.

Available Online
Ticket Prices Before 6pm – Full: €6.00 / With Annual Membership: €5.00
Ticket Prices 6pm and After – Full: €8.80 / With Annual Membership: €7.00

Available from Box Office only
Season Ticket (Covers All 10 Screenings) – Full: €60 / With Annual Membership: €45
Any 4 Screenings Ticket Bundle – Full: €24 / With Annual Membership: €20