Highlights include 25 premieres, including three world-first screenings, 40th anniversary screening of Anne Devlin, In Conversation with renowned director Radu Jude and a host of new international cinema

Belfast Film Festival returns for its 24th edition on 31st of October for 10 days showcasing the best films from across the globe alongside some of the best from home-grown talent. The bumper programme has been unveiled and is outlined below.

Opening and Closing Films

Kicking off the festival perfectly on Halloween Night with the Irish premiere of Aislinn Clarke’s Irish language horror Fréwaka, produced by Dermot Lavery (DoubleBand) and Patrick O’Neill (Wildcard). Closing night (9 November) sees the UK premiere of The Wise Guy directed by Sam O’Mahony, produced by Leon Coole and executive produced by Belfast-based Out of Orbit Films (Ordinary Love, The Dig).

Ireland Focus 

This year’s festival is proud to celebrate talent from across the island of Ireland, and the mid-week gala screenings are jam-packed with Irish talent; Dead Man’s Money directed by Paul Kennedy brings together Northern Irish stars Ciarán McMenamin and Kathy Kiera Clarke; Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) and Christopher Abbott (Poor Things) are utterly heartbreaking in Christopher Andrews rural drama Bring Them Down and Ciaran Cassidy’s award-winning documentary Housewife of the Year gets its Northern Irish premiere. One of Ireland’s most prolific actors will be celebrated as BFF presents Lalor Roddy with its Réalta award for Outstanding Contribution to Irish Film in recognition of his many years of excellence on the big screen. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Pat Murphy’s astonishing film Anne Devlin, and the festival will have a special screening with a Q&A with Pat Murphy, Bríd Brennan who plays the title role and cinematographer, Thaddeus O’Sullivan. To celebrate 100 years of BBC Northern Ireland, the team will host a one-off, archive event in BBC Blackstaff Studios, Ulster Mirror. Additionally, Belfast Film Festival presents three world premieres of Northern Ireland Independent Films The UnHolylands, Beautiful and Loud and Clear and The Spin.

The Hearth: Industry Panel

Featuring in the programme is an all-star panel which will offer valuable insights on how to enter a career in film, with writer Stacey Gregg (Ballywalter, Here Before), actors Valene Kane (Gangs Of London, The Fall), Martin McCann (Blue Lights, The Survivalist), Jonathan Harden (Blue Lights, Time) and director Ryan Tohill (The Castaways, Dalgliesh), and chaired by Journalist and Broadcaster William Crawley.

This is one of a number of activities leading up to the December premiere of The Hearth, a co-created film project commissioned by Belfast 2024, a cultural celebration of Belfast.

Radu Jude and International Competition

This year’s guest of honour is none other than Golden Bear winning king of audacious satire Radu Jude (Do Not Expect Too Much From The End of The World) who will be In Conversation with BFF programmer Jessica Kiang on Saturday 2nd November. Jude will join Dorota Lech, curator and programmer of the Toronto Film Festival and award-winning Irish filmmaker Dean Kavanagh on the International Competition jury.

The International competition which enters its third year includes films from first and second time filmmakers from across the world. This year’s line-up includes Familiar Touch directed by Sarah Friedland winner of the Future Lion award at Venice Biennale, Universal Language directed by Matthew Rankin (Canada’s Oscars pick), Paul and Paulette Take a Bath directed by Jethro Massey which was nominated for the Queer Lion at Venice Biennale, the UK premieres of Second Chance directed by Subhadra Mahajan, and Windless directed by Pavel G. Vesnakov, To Kill a Mongolian Horse directed by Xiaoxuan Jiang which won an award for best writing and directing in Venice and Cannes Golden Camera nominee Eephus directed by Carson Lund.  The International competition also brings the Irish premiere of the The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire directed by Madeline Hunt Ehrlich.

New Cinema

There are Hollywood stars galore in this year’s New Cinema strand; Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain starring the director himself and Succession breakout Kieran Culkin; Amy Adams stuns in Marielle Heller’s Nightbitch, Rooney Mara stars in tense, wildly inventive kitchen drama La Cocina and Cate Blanchett is deadpan-hilarious in bizarre political satire Rumours. BFF24 will feature the brand new Mike Leigh (Naked, Secrets and Lies) film Hard Truths, the debut feature King Baby from dynamic directorial duo Kit Redstone and Aaran Shearing, Flow directed by Gints Zilbalodis Latvia’s Oscars pick, and perhaps the most exciting and pioneering US indie of the year, RaMell Ross’ deftly adapted Nickel Boys based on the novel by Colson Whitehead (The Underground Railroad). Cannes award winners Armand, Grand Tour and The Other Way Around will all have Irish premieres at BFF24.

Long Short Weekend 

BFF24 brings with it the sophomore year of the Long Short Weekend, where short filmmakers from all over Ireland descend on Belfast for a jam-packed weekend of talks, screenings and networking. This year boasts four in-competition programmes, four new Irish shorts programmes and a Northern Ireland Screen showcase followed by a producers’ mixer. Passes for the Long Short Weekend are £30 and give access to all shorts screenings, talks and receptions as well as a delegate pack. They can be purchased at www.belfastfilmfestival.org 

BFF Collaborations

Belfast Film Festival is delighted to partner with some of Belfast’s most exciting arts organisations and collectives. Belfast and Berlin based film journal and virtual cinematheque Ultra Dogme brings Now Serving, a programme of five experimental works of cinema by trans filmmakers to the Black Box, Shankill Screen will screen four short films at Vault Artist Studios in the Shankill Mission, Ghouls on Film will present a screening of Aislinn Clarke’s debut feature The Devil’s Doorway followed by a Q&A with Aislinn Clarke; and Anaka Women’s Collective and Northern Ireland Now team up to present Anaka in the Archives for a celebration of diversity in film archives. Normal Cinema Club is back at BFF presenting a screening of Conor O’Malley’s hilarious new comedy feature Rapworld alongside short Coreys. Normal Cinema Club will also host the annual BFF quiz alongside Best Boy Magazine in the Black Box on Friday 8th November.

Palestine Cinema Days

In response to the global call to action from their friends at Filmlab Palestine, Belfast Film Festival will once again be hosting a Palestine Cinema Days screening on 2nd November at the Black Box. This screening of Naila and The Uprising directed by Julia Bacha will be one of hundreds of screenings happening throughout the world in solidarity with colleagues in Palestine.

Art of Action

As part of the BFI’s Art of Action, a UK-wide celebration of action on screen, BFF24 will present three William Friedkin films The French Connection (1971), To Live and Die in LA (1985) and The Hunted (2003) all of which exemplify how his use of action and stunt work complements his pessimistic worldview and emboldens his status as Hollywood’s agitator/rebel.

Commenting on the 2024 programme, Michele Devlin, Director of Belfast Film Festival said:

“This year’s programme showcases some of the best of new international film alongside gorgeous new work from Irish filmmakers. We have a special 40th anniversary event for the groundbreaking feature Anne Devlin bringing the creative team Pat Murphy, Thaddeus O’Suillivan and Brid Brennan together for the first time in many years. We are proud to be partnering once again with our friends in FilmLab, Palestine, to present Naila and The Uprising directed by Julia Bacha which is one of hundreds international solidarity screenings taking place across the world on the 2nd November.”

Jessica Kiang, International Programmer for Belfast Film Festival said:

“Irish cinema is having a moment on the world stage, but is world cinema also becoming, well, more Irish? It sure seems so, from the spirit of resistance, rebellion and reckoning with the past that spices up our New Cinema international selection, runs like a current through this year’s International Competition from Mongolia to Martinique to Massachussetts, and is perfectly reflected in the anarchic vibe of Competition juror and Romanian Golden Bear-winner Radu Jude — the closest thing modern cinema has to a renegade mad scientist.”

Sam O’Mahony, director of The Wise Guy, which has its UK premiere at BFF, added:

“I am deeply honoured to have my debut feature, The Wise Guy, selected to close this year’s Belfast Film Festival. The film is a coming-of-age comedy/drama and, indeed, it feels the last few years in Belfast have served as my own coming-of-age as a filmmaker.  This city is an incredible place to make films and I’ve been lucky to have been supported on my journey by Northern Ireland Screen, who believed in this project from the start. I hope the film serves as a fittingly joyful and moving conclusion to this brilliant festival.”

Richard Williams, Chief Executive of Northern Ireland Screen commented:

“The 24th Belfast Film Festival programme continues to showcase the wealth of filmmaking talent we have here in Northern Ireland. Two locally made films take prime spots within the programme, Fréwaka and The Wise Guy. We are particularly excited that The Wise Guy, a product of Northern Ireland Screen’s New Talent Focus scheme, written and directed by rising talent Sam O’Mahony and produced by Leon Coole and Out Of Orbit films will be the closing night film on 9th November. This is only the tip of the iceberg for Northern Ireland films within the programme, there are many more including Deadman’s Money written and directed by Paul Kennedy and produced by Village Films as well as a packed programme of short films from the island of Ireland for local audiences to enjoy!” 

Tickets are on sale today, Thursday 3rd October from 10am.  https://belfastfilmfestival.org/

Belfast Film Festival is funded by Northern Ireland Screen, Belfast City Council, the Department for Communities and Film Hub NI. And proudly sponsored by Yellowmoon, Birra Moretti and Hastings Hotels.

BarCamp Belfast has cemented its plans to bring an unconventional open-environment conference for collaborative business development and casual networking to Northern Ireland’s capital in two weeks.

The event on October 4 will move away from traditional conferences to bring an eclectic day-long feat that is uniquely different from what attendees will have experienced before.

Part of Belfast Tech Week, running from September 28 – October 4 this year, the user-generated unconference is open to individuals from all sectors, including founders, designers, developers, creatives, supporters and more.

Not a wholly new concept, unconferences feature a lack of overt structure, with the non hierarchical arrangement enabling attendees to deliver volunteered talks on a subject of their choosing, rather than specific speakers being selected.

Building on Andy McMillan’s 2009 success, organisers Marty Neill (of AirPOS Pay) and Martin Gilchrist (Gilchrist & Co Chartered Accountants) have brought the captivating day to fruition alongside the event’s headline sponsors Options Technologies, AirPOS Pay and media partner Excalibur Press.

Speaking on the need for events such as the one scheduled for October, Marty Neill stressed the importance of nurturing in-person learning and social communication.

Marty said: “With tech and entrepreneurial culture now very much shifting towards working from home we felt it was more important than ever to get the community together and Belfast Tech Week looked like the perfect time to do it.

“BarCamps and Biz Camps thrived back in the day as places to meet, spaces to learn and as environments where the sparks of starting something were lit. 

“We’re hoping that we’ll see some of the older heads from the original events rubbing shoulders with the new generation of makers and builders, transferring knowledge, making contacts and hopefully sharing some collective wisdom over a pint or two.”

“We’ll also be helping the Oh Yeah Music Centre in their campaign to buy their building with all proceeds on the day being donated to Oh Yeah.”

Featuring two stages, there will be a series of talks on everything from automation, menopause, networking, payments and private AI to net zero, social media, neurodiversity and a very exciting Metaverse launch.

Anyone registered for the event is granted the opportunity to freely discuss topics in front of an audience, granting exposure to otherwise unspoken subjects.

Registration is open and free of charge to individuals hoping to attend the October 4th spectacle.

For more information about #BelfastBarCamp2024 and to register interest for the October 4 event go to barcampbelfast.com

Ards Arts Centre in Newtownards welcomes two new art exhibitions for the month of October: Earth-Made, a collaborative exhibition between ceramicist, Patricia Millar, and textile artist, Ruth Osborne and Humans of Covid-19, a solo exhibition by BJ Olsen (Quarembroidery).

In Earth-Made, Patricia Millar and Ruth Osborne explore commonalities through the use of natural materials in textile, ceramic, print, colour and texture. The exhibition brings together new collections of work through sharing practice, materials and research. Underpinning all work in the exhibition is the use of earth-made materials and methods such as wild clays, earth pigments, natural dyes and inks, which offer dialogues across disciplines and explores themes related to, place, sustainability, traditions, folklore and heritage.

This process of researching and experimenting with earth-made materials is showcased as a “Process Lab” – within the main exhibition, which shares the artists’ techniques, processes and experiments. Earth-Made will show in the Georgian Gallery.

Humans of Covid-19 explores the artist’s experience of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 as an artist, but also as a nurse. During the pandemic, BJ Olsen was not able to work, and thus turned to fibre art to work through the feelings of helplessness and fear. BJ began to share the artwork online which provided a small comfort to people across the world, creating textile art of the human condition, where digital culture and analogue humanity intersect.

BJ Olsen, Quarembroidery, is a textile artist based in Northern Ireland. Their work is inspired by cyber culture, expressed in a traditional format. This juxtaposition expands the work and creates a beautiful, palpable dimension to what most people have seen at least once on their mobiles in a social media app. Humans of Covid-19 will be on display in the Sunburst Gallery.

Both exhibitions open on Thursday 3 October and continue until Wednesday 23 October. Admission is free.

All are welcome to attend a preview event in Ards Arts Centre on Thursday 3 October at 7pm.

For more information visit; www.andculture.org.uk

By Nicola Morgan 

In today’s world, we are fortunate to have access to remarkable medical advancements. From the discovery of penicillin to the development of X-rays and MRIs, these innovations have transformed healthcare, saving countless lives. 

Hospitals and doctors are invaluable when medical emergencies arise, but should childbirth be treated as a medical event?

Is Birth a Medical Event?

Childbirth is a natural, physiological process that occurs in women during their fertile years. (Birth is as natural as breathing or emptying your bowels, although it only happens a few times in a woman’s life.) While medical intervention is sometimes necessary, it is increasingly common for pregnancy care to be heavily risk-based, with numerous tests and scans that can instil fear and doubt in expectant mothers. When problems are sought out, they are often found, leading to even more interventions. Inductions in Northern Ireland are close to 60% in some areas with caesarean sections around 50%. The WHO recommends no more than 10-15% of births should be c-sections, so something is wrong! 

A recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) report identified that an overwhelmingly large majority (65%) of NHS maternity units are unsafe for women to give birth in. The inspections also uncovered that hospitals do not always consider women’s suffering after receiving poor care and, most shockingly, that some hospitals refrain from reporting incidents resulting in serious harm, whether that be to the mother or child.

Many pregnant women, trusting in the expertise of their doctors, may unknowingly hand over their autonomy. This compliance can result in experiences where mothers feel unheard and disempowered, leading to trauma and a lasting impact on their memory of birth and the way they transition into motherhood. The language used by healthcare providers, such as warnings about the risks of a large baby or the need for early induction or else the baby may die, can be coercive and is certainly unethical. 

Patient or Client?

The dictionary defines a patient as someone undergoing medical treatment, while a client engages the services of another. Pregnancy is not an illness; it does not automatically require medical management unless complications arise. Expectant mothers should view themselves as clients, making informed decisions about their care after considering all the options.

In a recent training session in Belfast, midwives and doulas discussed what hinders the natural birth process. A common observation was how women often adopt a ‘patient mentality’ upon entering the hospital, becoming passive and compliant. This mindset can strip them of their strength and agency, reducing them to mere recipients of medical care.

Take Control of Your Birth Experience

It is crucial for pregnant women to take control of their birth experience. By becoming informed and asking questions, they can make decisions that are right for them and their families. Maternity services are a service, not an authority. Women should feel empowered to accept or refuse treatment based on comprehensive information, without feeling pressured to conform to hospital policies. Having people who know her, her preferences and are willing to stand up and speak up for her when she is at her most vulnerable will only  benefit the woman and her birth experience, no matter how her birth unfolds. Research shows having a positive birth is about being heard and listened to more than the birth itself.

Midwives, too, are facing challenges. With overwhelming caseloads and limited resources, many are leaving the profession, unable to practise the true art of midwifery. This situation further emphasises the importance of women taking an active role in their care.

Becoming a Student of Your Birth

To change your birth outcome, it’s essential to educate yourself about the birthing process:

• Explore Your Options: Learn about different places to give birth and choose what suits your needs. If you have a low-risk pregnancy, consider midwifery-led care or a home birth.
• Ask Questions: Understanding the benefits, risks, and alternatives to any medical recommendation will help you make informed decisions.
• Hire a Doula: A doula provides guidance, emotional support, and advocacy throughout your pregnancy and birth. Research shows that having a doula improves birth outcomes and increases breastfeeding success rates.
• Childbirth Education: Enrol in an independent childbirth education class to understand the stages of labour, pain relief options, and how to start your breastfeeding journey.

Advocating for Yourself

Empowerment in childbirth comes from standing up for what you want. While it’s important to have support from a birth partner or doula, learning to advocate for yourself is crucial and empowering! It’s important to trust your body to grow and birth your baby alongside planning for different birth scenarios, including a caesarean, as this will help you feel prepared and in control.even if you are birthing outside of guidelines.

Knowledge is Power

The more you know about birth, the better prepared you will be. Seek out reliable resources from books, podcasts, positive birth stories, and knowledge from those who have had empowering experiences. By taking charge of your pregnancy and birth, you can create a positive and memorable experience for yourself and your baby.

For more information on how to take control of your birth experience and explore the support available to you go to doulaofbelfast.co.uk 

Some of the biggest names in Marketing are set to appear at ICC Belfast on November 14th for a remarkable day of learning and networking.

The Big Marketing Meet Up will return this Autumn to bring professionals together in one place and the 10-hour programme is filled with plenty of presentations from industry experts including best selling author and entrepreneur Seth Godin.

Following his surprise appearance at last year’s event, Seth  has announced his return to the event this year to speak on his upcoming book, This Is Strategy, which all attendees will receive a free digital copy of.

Appearing via video link from his NYC studio, Seth’s inspirational talk will delve into the importance of strategy and how a seemingly small action today can result in a monumental change tomorrow.

Emmy award winning former CNN White House correspondent, Gina London will also be presenting at the event. With the conference taking place 9 days after the much-anticipated 2024 US election, Gina’s topical speech “Trump vs Harris, who stands out as the master of persuasion will examine their real life communications styles with real life application beyond political podiums.

Rounding off the initial three speakers announced for the event is Joe Glover, founder of the Marketing MeetUp.

Joe has managed to create a community of over 10,000  members, and will be urging marketers not to sweat the small stuff and why the craft of marketing is just as important as the tactics you use.

Organiser Treena Clarke has specifically curated an awe-inspiring list of speakers to make sure that guests will get the most out of the event, embracing networking opportunities as well as facilitating learning.

She said: “The success of our last meet-up showed the demand for a programme that provides key insights and discussions in a fun environment. 

“Our speakers and attendees ensure that this will be an event created by marketing professionals, for marketing professionals. It’s time for marketers to take time out, learn, and energise.”

The Big Marketing Meet-Up is designed to stimulate marketers, leaving them passionate about upcoming projects or with a reignited fire for the industry to ensure they excel at their careers moving forward.

To find out more about the programme and to secure earlybird tickets, go to bmmubelfast.com