11:00
This weekend in Belfast
Belfast times. Last refreshed Fri 23:39.
Showing Film only.
Saturday 31 October 8 listings
11:30
Competition Shorts – Programme #1
Competition Shorts – Programme #1 Dir. Ais Brady, 10mins Alor is young and frustrated, trying to figure out life while awkwardly drifting through parties with a mask covering her face. When she meets the charismatic Timur, the possibility of a life unencumbered by façades and shame changes her perception forever. A sweet and tender drama about embracing the beauty of life in all its forms, even a scarf blowing in the breeze of the night. Dir. Hannah Mamalis, 14 mins Anna’s life is coming to an end. But don’t worry too much, another Anna will replace her. Feeling wistful in her final moments, Anna writes a letter for her successor containing her observations, her advice, her humble pleasures and her guilty pleasures. Director Hannah Mamalis distils the sweet absurdities of modern life into this surreal fable, perhaps you too will learn something along the way. Dir. Will Peppercorn, 11mins A plucky young journalist is looking for a good-news story. Instead he stumbles upon a viciously bitter feud between two neighbouring farmers. Spotting an opportunity, the eternal optimist seeks to bury the hatchet between these rural rivals and return to the newspaper victorious. Michael Smiley and Paddy Jenkins star as the fierce farmers stuck in a hubristic clash of personalities. Dir. Sarah Gordon, 12mins Mary gets accused of being a witch. The rumour spreads like wildfire and she must defend herself against a rabble of restless villagers looking for any excuse to burn something at the stake. This scathing tale of small-town minds meeting the dangerous force of mob mentality is very timely, despite its brilliantly realised period setting.
12:00
Student Archive Showcase: Past Scenes Future Screens
This showcase brings together a selection of short films from students at Ulster University and Queen’s University Belfast, presented in partnership with Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive. Spanning fiction, documentary and experimental work, these shorts bring together our screen heritage of the past with the filmmaking talent of the future.
13:20
Dracula (1958)
Hammer Films in partnership with Warner Bros resurrects Dracula in a landmark new 4K restoration featuring long-lost footage unseen for over 60 years. Opposite Peter Cushing's fearless Van Helsing, Christopher Lee brought a terrifying physicality and seductive menace to the role that would redefine the Count for generations. When Jonathan Harker arrives at a remote Transylvanian castle, he discovers that his mysterious host, Count Dracula, is a centuries-old vampire who feeds upon the blood of the living. As Dracula's reign of terror spreads across Europe, the determined Professor Van Helsing embarks on a desperate battle to destroy the Prince of Darkness before more innocent lives are claimed. Screenings include cinema exclusive short film (10 mins) exploring the film's restoration, featuring an introduction from John Gore.
13:30
BFF: Spider Baby
Spider Baby, otherwise known as The Maddest Story Ever Told, features horror stars Lon Chaney Jr. and Sid Haig in a bizarre cult-classic that twists tales like The Addams Family into depraved directions. In a lonesome dilapidated house, chauffeur Bruno cares for the Merrye children, all affected by a degenerative illness. When money-grubbing relatives visit unannounced to claim the house as their own, the Merrye family take action into their own hands. After the screening, we will be joined by Disability Action Research Kollective member Aaliyah Bates and artist and disability activist Deirdre McKenna for a panel discussion exploring how horror can act as reflection of social fears, or as a site of reclamation. This film features negative caricatures of people with disabilities and ableist behaviour.
13:30
Spider Baby & Post Screening Discussion
Spider Baby, otherwise known as The Maddest Story Ever Told, features horror stars Lon Chaney Jr. and Sid Haig in a bizarre cult-classic that twists tales like The Addams Family into depraved directions. In a lonesome dilapidated house, chauffeur Bruno cares for the Merrye children, all affected by a degenerative illness. When money-grubbing relatives visit unannounced to claim the house as their own, the Merrye family take action into their own hands. After the screening, we will be joined by Disability Action Research Kollective member Aaliyah Bates and artist and disability activist Deirdre McKenna for a panel discussion exploring how horror can act as reflection of social fears, or as a site of reclamation. Please note this film features negative caricatures of people with disabilities and ableist behaviour. This screening is a Relaxed (RS) event with subtitles for d/Deaf and hard of hearing (SDH). There will be BSL signing for the panel discussion.
14:30
Competition Shorts – Programme #3
Competition Shorts – Programme #3 Dir. Alan Hopkins, 16mins An injured teenager arrives at the door of a nurse and her boyfriend. While she tends to his wounds, her boyfriend becomes inundated with messages and tweets and stories and videos of hate and conspiracy and violence. According to his algorithm, this boy is the reason for it all, and mobs begin appearing at their front door. This timely drama has its finger on the pulse of our hate-inflicted age of paranoia, striking right at the pit of the stomach. Dir. Roisin Agnew, 8mins The subversive history of bogs in Ireland becomes a call to action, as the poisonous spread of data centres across the island is considered and resisted. Blending archive footage with 3D visuals, the film brilliantly reveals how the tendrils of colonialism have bled their way into the building blocks of capitalism forecasting a bleak future, one ruled over by parasitic machines hellbent on draining the environment/the culture/the world of energy & ideas. Dir. Liadán Roche, 16mins As Dublin cannibalises itself out to private interests and shady corporations, two trans lovers find an unexpected solution to the Irish housing crisis. It may not be permanent, but it’ll do for the night. Sexy and surreal, the film dives into the phantasmagoric unknown of mystic ‘third spaces’ and the innate horror of trying to live in a city that doesn’t care about you. Dir. Conor Kehelly, 9mins You go for a simple pint, sipping down that sweet nectar, when a peevish punter takes issue with the cut of your jib. From the perspective of a pint glass, a minor argument becomes a cosmic destruction of the self and a reckoning with the towering figure of the ‘old Irish fella’ in Irish culture. Where some people find Jesus at the bottom of a bottle, Kehelly discovers richly comic yet poignant material, rendering his findings through a beautifully anarchic animation style.
15:30
Wicker
Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson’s wonderfully eccentric fable is, at its core, a gentle love story starring Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård and Peter Dinklage. On the outskirts of a village by the sea, lives a Fisherwoman; smelly, single and perpetually ridiculed. One day, fed up with her stuffy, small-minded neighbours, she commissions herself a husband to be made from wicker. In an otherwise conservative town, this unconventional romance sparks outrage, jealousy and chaos.
Sunday 1 November 9 listings
10:30
New Irish Shorts – Programme #1
New Irish Shorts – Programme #1 This selection of shorts reflects on rough & rowdy ways. We all find ourselves stuck between a rock and a hard place sometimes, and the answer is not always where we expect to find it, be it in Irish dancing, a 1980s computer game or eating ice cream with an allegedly cursed black cat. Dir. Christopher McSherry, 6mins Housepainter Fergal finds a spot of mould in his bedroom. Nothing a lick of paint wouldn’t fix. But the mould comes back aggressively, and Fergal soon finds himself fighting for his life and his sanity. His battle against the dark crevices of the mind is told through lovingly handmade stop-motion animation. Dir. Damian McCann, 17mins Down on luck and down on life, taxi driver Seán figures now is the time to end it all. When a woman with a black cat jumps in his cab, he finds his luck changing in unexpected ways. This darkly funny take on mortality and superstition unfolds as a tense yet tender two-hander. Dir. Zoe O’Rourke, 15mins This affecting period piece focuses on the relationship between a lonely young girl and her teenage babysitter. Through a shared love of the computer game ZORK, she learns about the big bad world and the urge to run away from it all. Dir. Alex Gill, 10mins A Filipino nurse is late for her shift after picking up her Irish-born daughter. Now stuck in traffic, they butt heads over their different upbringings and perceptions of each other. A smart and incisive examination of diaspora and family. Dir. Eileen Tracy, 16mins Millennial Gemma is right on the verge of getting married when her fiancé breaks things off out of the blue. Depressed and dispirited, she soon discovers a new lust for life after taking on Irish dancing, and finding kindred spirit amongst Gen Z teenagers.
12:30
New Irish Shorts – Programme #2
New Irish Shorts – Programme #2 Fractures and crossroads run through this programme about history and identity. The past bleeds through and muddies the self in tales of buildings, photographers and pop singers, whereas the Internet infects and alters the societal expectations of tourist traps, outdated messaging boards and same-day deliveries. Dir. Dara Oliver, 11mins A film crew’s arrival in the historic Riddel’s Warehouse awakens the sleeping soul of the building, unlocking the past and releasing the spirits and stories of those who have passed through. A sharply written and thoughtfully composed journey through the echoes of history. Dir. Matthew Hardy, 3mins An essay on fragments/a fragmented tribute to the photographer/rayographer Man Ray. This audacious/ insightful/incisive short captures the spirit of the man/his work with striking beauty and brevity. Dir. Stephen T. Lally, 15mins Sensitive singer/songwriter Bridget is churned through the capitalist machine and becomes CHARITY: a Y2K Pop Princess with a capital P. When she tries to break free from the suffocation of fame and fortune, she is subjected to a surreal odyssey of boy bands, body horror and banging tunes. Dir. Jack Warren, 7mins Trans YouTuber Bailey leaves America for Ireland, but as she documents her new life in Dublin, strange happenings occur in the background. The evil tourist simulacra of Temple Bar on St. Patrick’s Day provides the backdrop for this uncanny odyssey into the dark heart of the Fair City. Dir. Lisa Freeman, 5mins A spoken word meditation on our current culture of convenience and exploitation. Repeated images of racetrack greyhounds and Porky Pig echo and fragment across the screen, distorting our perception of the images and even our understanding of ‘sameday delivery.’ Dir. Heath Virgoe, 11mins Schoolboy Noah finds liberation in the simulation, expressing through an online avatar what he is unable to in real life. This visually inventive and wholesome coming-of-age story harks back to a time when the World Wide Web was still a place for excitement and exploration. Dir. Fergus Boylan, 2mins A lonely civil servant gets a visit from a crooning cowboy in this brief but beautiful animation ruminating on longing and love songs.
12:40
Wicker
Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson’s wonderfully eccentric fable is, at its core, a gentle love story starring Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård and Peter Dinklage. On the outskirts of a village by the sea, lives a Fisherwoman; smelly, single and perpetually ridiculed. One day, fed up with her stuffy, small-minded neighbours, she commissions herself a husband to be made from wicker. In an otherwise conservative town, this unconventional romance sparks outrage, jealousy and chaos.
13:00
NAZA
Shot at night on the rooftops of Tel Aviv, NAZA reveals the systems behind Israel’s bombing of Gaza and its mass killing of Palestinian civilians. The film is directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, two of the four co-directors of the 2024 Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land. NAZA is titled for a military acronym euphemistically used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians that it expects will be killed in an airstrike. The film builds on revelations first published by the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine, Hebrew-language outlet Local Call, and the Guardian between 2023 and 2025. "The film lets us explore something deeper than we could in our investigative journalism alone: not only the words being said but also those that are not said, the silence. It is up to all of us to break that silence." Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor
14:30
New Irish Shorts – Programme #3
New Irish Shorts – Programme #3 It’s not just you. There’s something wrong these days. You can’t go for a drive, you can’t go for a pint, you can’t even have a bowl of cereal without that inexplicable, unescapable feeling of dread following you around. These films aim for the pit of the stomach. Dir. Paul Kennedy, 7mins In this highly strung experiment in tension, a car stops another car. The drivers talk. Or do they argue? The answers are just out of reach in this unnervingly ambient thriller, featuring uncanny visuals alongside a haunting soundscape. Dir. Tracy Martin, 13mins After being picked up from work, a mother is told a devastating truth that she must keep secret. For the sake of the family. Touching on social media frenzy and male violence, a stomach-churning drama unfolds within the claustrophobic confines of a car. Dir. Olivia Normile, 3mins The act of blinking is considered as a form of editing in this expressive piece rich in texture and imagery. We are presented with a series of striking yet mysterious compositions for a few fleeting moments. Let them seep into your subconscious before it’s too late. Dir. Benedict Godard, 13mins In this aural nightmare, Lily struggles to control her tinnitus while composing the score for an unearthed silent film. She soon discovers something lurking within the celluloid itself, something unnerving that she can’t unhear. Dir. Stuart Drennan, 9mins One lad tells another lad a crazy story about a stranger who snuck into his flat after a night out, and wait ‘til you hear what happened next… A bitta craic over a pint becomes an uncomfortable confrontation and a pointed examination of masculinity and coercion. Dir. Kurt Dean-Darby, 15mins In this delightfully delirious horror, a mysteriously mystic box of cereal arrives in the life of a recovering alcoholic. Though harmless at first, those seemingly wholesome wholegrain hoops soon wreak havoc, leaving blood, guts and milk in their wake. Showings Sunday, 1 November 2026 - 2:30pm @ Black Box Get Tickets →
15:00
A Prayer for the Dying
This sparse and spiky western set in 1870s Wisconsin is the story of a sheriff’s struggle between duty and family in the face of a diphtheria outbreak. When a drifter is found dead on the outskirts of town, it becomes apparent a deadly disease is doing the rounds. With the town’s doctor and sheriff divided on what to do, the town’s future is in doubt. The film has emotional resonance in a postpandemic age, and a daring, against-type performance from the irrepressible John C Reilly as the town’s exhausted doctor. This film is subtitled.
15:00
Bagpuss and Beyond – the History of Smallfilms
Of all the programming from the “golden age of children’s television” surely no body of work is so fondly remembered as that of Smallfilms. Narrator/animator Oliver Postgate and his artist friend Peter Firmin created worlds together which have endured for generations. Bagpuss is consistently voted the nation’s favourite children’s character, but there were also the Clangers, Ivor the Engine, Noggin the Nog, Pogles’ Wood and many more. Outside of his work for Smallfilms, Firmin also designed and created Basil Brush. Northern Ireland Screen’s Broadcast Archivist, Evan Marshall, presents the whole history of Smallfilms, from its earliest beginnings to its final works and beyond. Illustrated with Firmin’s magical art and clips from the shows themselves, the talk shines a light on the famous works as well as some of the more forgotten chapters of Smallfilm’s history with clips unseen for decades such as Sam on Boffs’ Island and Oliver’s impassioned anti-nuclear 1980s documentary, Life on Earth, Perhaps.
15:15
Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep
This extraordinary debut from filmmaker Rakan Mayasi follows the story of two sisters whose lives become caught up in the after-effects of a violent dispute between two rival clans. Set on the Syria-Lebanon border, an accidental death sets off a chain of events that reveals the strength and dedication of women disempowered by the traditions that surround them. With subtle and authentic performances from real-life Al Mawla family members, the film was inspired by Mayasi’s own family history in the story of his late grandmother’s forced marriage.
16:30