11:00
Saturday 7 November in Belfast
Belfast times. Last refreshed Fri 20:33.
Showing Film only.
Saturday 7 November 17 listings
Morning 1
Afternoon 6
12:15
Nuisance Bear
The plight of the polar bear is captured with style and grace in this documentary that highlights the tragedy and beauty of the natural world in the era of man-made climate change.
12:45
Wild Horse Nine
Martin McDonagh returns with another tragi-comic two-hander with a razor-sharp script and outstanding performances from a stellar cast. After the success of The Banshees of Inisherin , McDonagh has turned his attention to Chile in the 1970s, where two CIA men discuss morality and mortality during a dispatch to the vanishingly remote and metaphorically rich Easter Island. With John Malkovich as the ailing Chris, mentor to Sam Rockwell’s Lee, and idiosyncratic support from Steve Buscemi, Parker Posey and Tom Waits, the film is an accidental allegory for present-day politics with trademark bittersweet notes, sweeping landscapes and strategically-placed horses.
14:00
Films by Helena Gouveia Monteiro
Helena Gouveia Monteiro is an experimental filmmaker and visual artist from Portugal, currently living in Dublin. She creates films, books, and multimedia installations that engage different levels of visual and cultural recognition to question our perception of language and audiovisual experiences. She manages Dubh Film Lab in Dublin, and is a member of L’Abominable/Navire Argo and Filmwerkplaats. Her new film Laoi Shuibhne|Sweeney’s Lay is currently in production with the support of the film project award from the Arts Council of Ireland. We are screening some of her recent works, showing the range of her analogue and digital experimentation and her ongoing interest in materiality and the sensory possibilities of film: ends meet (2025) SKINFLICKER (2024) Man of Aral (2023) Purkyně’s Dusk (2021) Um Filme Pela Palestina (2025) Laoi Shuibhne|Sweeney’s Lay (in production) Helena will also be running an introduction to Super 8 film workshop; see here for more details.
14:30
All of a Sudden
The peerless director of Drive My Car and Evil Does Not Exist, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, returns with another deeply considered and exquisitely paced drama. His first film set in Europe, it follows the story of nursing home director, Marie-Lou, who, while at a professional impasse, meets terminally ill playwright, Mari. The two women forge a friendship based on shared language, experience and a desire to understand the world and attempt to make it better. A humane film that touches on the profound while being firmly rooted in everyday experience. Themes of aging, illness, care and empathy, art, communication and the human ability to reason are expertly offered with poise and grace. The two leads, Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto, jointly won the Best Actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.
15:00
How Can Cinema Be a Tool for Anti-Racism? Panel Discussion
In 2005, the Belfast Film Festival curated a series of screenings and commissioned a publication on racism in Belfast. This was in response to multiple media outlets describing the city as ‘the most racist’ in the world, and was an attempt to understand how cinema and the moving image can be intertwined with race and racism. 20 years have passed and the world is almost unrecognisable. The advent of social media and the blurred lines of news and fake news has created an environment in which racist pogroms can be incited through AI-generated posts. When the moving image is being manipulated to manipulate others, how can cinema be used to combat this hatred? This panel discussion brings together activists, community workers and film scholars to discuss the question posed and how cinema might fill a vacuum, on a community level, where our own political system has failed. Taking part in the panel will be: Dr Kim-Marie Spence (QUB) Kim-Marie Spence is Lecturer in Cultural Industries and Policy at Queen’s University Belfast. She is also an adjunct lecturer at the Caribbean School of Media & Communication (CARIMAC) at the University of the West Indies (Jamaica). Her research focuses on cultural policy and cultural industries with a focus on Non-West music industries. Recently, she has turned her attention to Black Music/ians in Northern Ireland, as part of a project on British Black Music with the Black Music Research Unit, University of Westminster – which is currently the subject of a BBC Black Music project with the V&A East. Kim-Marie is also a former Jamaica Film Commissioner/Head of Creative Industries. She is director of sits on the boards of international award-winning cultural institutions, The MAC Belfast; Kingston Creative; and Co-Chair of the John Hansard Gallery. Dr Elspeth Vischer Dr Elspeth Vischer is a filmmaker, writer and project coordinator based in Belfast. Elspeth runs the production company Vish Films and specialises in making non-fiction and experimental work concerned with counter-hegemonic perspectives. To date Elspeth has had films screened at international festivals including Docs Ireland, Gaze, Silver Wave, Canada and RVK Feminist, Reykjavik. Elspeth completed a Creative Practice PhD at Queen’s University in 2023 and has been published in numerous academic journals. Elspeth coordinated the Northern Ireland Now Project with Nerve Centre and Northern Ireland Screen between October 2023 – July 2026. This project aimed to diversify the Digital Film Archive through collaborative community engagement across Belfast and the North of Ireland. From August 2026 Elspeth has been a part of the Belfast Stories team working as a Coordinator to bring community engagement and story gathering to this large scale screen centre, creative space and visitor hub due to open in Belfast 2030. Tabassum Islam Susmi Tabassum Islam is a PhD researcher at Ulster University, studying South Asian women’s participation in the UK film industry. Working as a film programmer across Bangladesh, Netherlands, Scotland and Northern Ireland, she has delivered more than 25+ community film screenings in the past three years, driven by a commitment to making cinema more accessible for the underserved audience. This has led to roles including Sparks Programmer at Belfast Film Festival and, currently, Project Facilitator for Spotlight NW at the Nerve Centre. She also hosts Conversations Across Borders, a podcast featuring South Asian film talent from around the world. Claire Mullaly Claire Mullaly is a film and borders researcher. Her fields of research are censorship, identities, and the role of cinema as the alternative public sphere in activism and resistance.
15:30
Everytime
The upcoming Austrian director with a singular vision, Sandra Wollner, returns with her latest film, a story of a family tragedy, a trip to Tenerife in the hope of finding existential answers, and one woman’s relationship with her daughters and a teenaged family friend. With reference to small, personal gestures that almost go unnoticed, patterns of behaviour, and the deeply forged bonds of childhood, youth and parenthood, the film captures the precarity of young life and the mystery of memory while being continually surprising and captivating, like a meandering dream. It’s a moving film with a quietly bold style and nontraditional method of storytelling, set against the backdrop of both urban Berlin’s sleek lines and the rugged volcanic coastline of Tenerife’s north coast. The film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year where it won the prestigious Un Certain Regard award for emerging filmmakers, and is the German entry for the 2027 Oscars.
Tonight 10
18:00
BFF: Mouse
A beautifully-acted story of teenaged girl Minnie finding solace in her best friend’s mother as they both grieve, with the huge talent of Sophie Okonedo, and newcomer Katherine Mallen Kupferer in an impressively well-rounded role. The film affectionately presents a range of fully fleshed-out female characters, including overly-dramatic teenaged girls navigating rocky emotional terrain, and middle-aged mothers with a lot on their minds. There is a sweetness to both schoolgirl Minnie’s romantic efforts and blundering errors, all the while revealing a broader astute take on the class system and life’s expectations. With a through-line of humour and never giving into the cliches of cinematic grief, this is a coming-of-all-ages story about adapting to unexpected change with bravery, heart and wit. You will want to hug every character and make them your best friends - a truly feel-good film! Screening as part of Belfast Film Festival . Find out more about the festival programme here . Seating for Belfast Film Festival screenings is unallocated. If you have access requirements, please contact us on qftmanager@qub.ac.uk.
18:00
BFF: The People Under the Stairs & Walking Tour
Wes Craven’s People Under the Stairs (1991) is a razor‐sharp horror satire on gentrification. More resonant now than upon its release in 1991, it follows a young boy who breaks into the home of two slum landlords, only to explore the horror hidden within their walls. This screening is paired with a cinematic walking tour in collaboration with CATU Belfast . The tour highlights the destructive impact Airbnbs have on communities, and the ongoing housing crisis. Just as importantly, it opens a conversation about what we can do to challenge these pressures. Community Action Tenants Union (CATU) is an Ireland-wide, members-owned-and-run tenants union, dedicated to tackling housing issues, protecting renters’ rights and grassroots community organising. Together, the walking tour and the film create a two‐part reflection on the increasing harm caused by landlordism. Audiences can join us for the combined tour and screening, or attend the screening on its own. Event timings: The walking tour leaves from Writer’s Square at 4pm . The screening of The People Under the Stairs (1991) begins at 6pm . This is a Relaxed Screening (RS)
18:00
Mouse
A beautifully-acted story of teenaged girl Minnie finding solace in her best friend’s mother as they both grieve, with the huge talent of Sophie Okonedo, and newcomer Katherine Mallen Kupferer in an impressively well-rounded role. The film affectionately presents a range of fully fleshed-out female characters, including overlydramatic teenaged girls navigating rocky emotional terrain, and middle-aged mothers with a lot on their minds. There is a sweetness to both schoolgirl Minnie’s romantic efforts and blundering errors, all the while revealing a broader astute take on the class system and life’s expectations.
18:00
Movement and Translation
We are very excited to be collaborating with The Masonic Screen (formerly The Shankill Screen) on this screening of three new, exciting experimental works in Vault’s newest location in East Belfast. The Glass Booth by Jenny Brady considers the role of interpretation in society. What must we consider when translating from one language to another? How do you paraphrase an emotion? How does rally car driving fit into all of this? Bodyverses — Alastair MacLennan : Nalam Nalam by Juana Robles is part of an ongoing series collaborating with performance artists across Ireland. This piece focuses on MacLennan, whose bodybased “actuations” explore personal, cultural, and social experience through performance, drawing, installation, and found materials Go Ye Afar by Frank Sweeney follows an Irish Nigerian taxi driver as he embarks on a magical realist odyssey from Dublin to Calabar. Through back-seat confessionals and a miraculous continent hopping car, we learn about Ireland’s dark past in the country and the corporate interests driving it all.
18:00
The Act Of Killing documentary screening
Join us at the Sunflower Public House for a documentary screening raising funds for Palestinian aid. Every contribution makes a difference.
18:00
The People Under the Stairs & catu Walking Tour
Wes Craven’s The People Under the Stairs (1991) is a razor-sharp horror satire on gentrification. More resonant now than upon its release in 1991, it follows a young boy who breaks into the home of two slum landlords, only to explore the horror hidden within their walls. This screening is paired with a cinematic walking tour in collaboration with CATU Belfast. Community Action Tenants Union (CATU) is an Ireland-wide, members-owned-and-run tenants union, dedicated to tackling housing issues, protecting renters’ rights and grassroots community organising. The tour highlights the destructive impact Airbnbs have on communities and the ongoing housing crisis. Just as importantly, it opens a conversation about what we can do to challenge these pressures. Together, the walking tour and the film create a two-part reflection on the increasing harm caused by landlordism. Audiences can join us for the combined walking tour and screening, or attend the screening on its own. Event timings: This screening is Relaxed (RS) and has subtitles for d/Deaf or hard of hearing. There will be BSL signing for the introduction of the film.
19:00
I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning
With an incredible ensemble cast including Belfast actors, Lola Petticrew and Anthony Boyle, alongside Joe Cole, Jay Lycurgo and Daryl McCormack, comes the latest film from acclaimed British director, Clio Barnard. Written by Enda Walsh and adapted from the novel by Keiron Goddard, it centres five childhood friends in Birmingham, entering their thirties in the midst of the UK housing crisis. Tackling themes of gentrification, class and family, the friendships are tested by the increasing demands and responsibilities of adulthood. The use of actors lip-synching in her first film, The Arbor, about playwright Andrea Dunbar, marked Barnard as a bold new visionary in British cinema. Most recently, the tender drama Ali & Ava, was another Yorkshire-set story. I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning is Barnard’s fifth feature film in a remarkable career and Belfast Film Festival is delighted to present its Irish Premiere.
20:30
BFF: Rose
There’s another incredible performance from one of the greatest actors of our time in this film. Sandra Huller ( Anatomy of a Fall ), plays the central character, Rose, who decides to live her life as a man. In the 17th Century, after fighting as a soldier in the 30 Years War in central Europe, Rose arrives in a rural village and lays claim to a rambling, disused farmhouse and its surrounding land. As a landowner of standing in the small community, Rose must appease her neighbours by abiding by traditional customs and upholding the usual duties expected of a man with property. The film is a clever and thought-provoking exploration of gender roles and social conventions, and is the third feature from a filmmaker whose previous work has daringly explored challenging subjects from paedophilia (Michael) to race and privilege in an 18th Century Viennese court (Angelo). Screening as part of Belfast Film Festival . Find out more about the festival programme here . Seating for Belfast Film Festival screenings is unallocated. If you have access requirements, please contact us on qftmanager@qub.ac.uk.
20:30
Rose
There’s another incredible performance from one of the greatest actors of our time in this film. Sandra Huller (Anatomy of a Fall, Fatherland, The Zone of Interest, Toni Erdmann), plays the central character, Rose, who decides to live her life as a man. In the 17th Century, after fighting as a soldier in the 30 Years War in central Europe, Rose arrives in a rural village and lays claim to a rambling, disused farmhouse and its surrounding land. As a landowner of standing in the small community, Rose must appease her neighbours by abiding by traditional customs and upholding the usual duties expected of a man with property. The film is a clever and thought-provoking exploration of gender roles and social conventions, and is the third feature from a filmmaker whose previous work has daringly explored challenging subjects from paedophilia (Michael) to race and privilege in an 18th Century Viennese court (Angelo).
21:00