Irish Shorts 2: In Competition
Extraordinary new voices and an accomplished practitioner presenting playful, poetic and idiosyncratic portraits, and haunting and sublime drama.
ONGOING - Jack Hogan
“Ongoing” is an ode to life’s never-ending goal-free processes and rituals—both mundane and ecstatic—until everyone’s ultimate experience, death. A theme of simultaneous disclosure and concealment pervades the film, sharing abundance and loss at the same time.
BODYVERSES - FRANCES MEZZETTI: 2ND LOCK - Juana Robles [D]
Part of the Bodyverses series, this film follows Dublin artist Frances Mezzetti as she uses performance to explore and transform her lifelong bond with her sister Maria, reflecting on memory, care, intimacy, and emotional release.
SCOITHEADH - Aoise Tutty Jackson [D]
As a mother and daughter traverse the delicate rite of weaning, their intimate journey mirrors ties to language, land, and community, capturing the beauty and ache of separation.
SWIMMER - Helen Warner
In the midst of WW2, a young Iris is evacuated to the countryside to join her sister and uncle. As she navigates the challenges of this new life, she uncovers a secret tryst between her sister and a land girl. Traumatised and confused after witnessing the bombing of her street, she misinterprets the situation and perceives the land girl as a monstrous threat. This skewed perspective drives Iris to a devastating act, unwittingly sealing a tragic fate for all involved.
I THOUGHT I HATED U, MOON SNAIL - Jack Hogan [RU] [D]
“I Thought I Hated U, Moon Snail” takes the entanglement of mental health and friendship with housing uncertainty, uprootedness, and extractivism as its point of departure. It is both ridiculous and poignant, an unresolvable state so often produced by precarity.
Films in competition are eligible for the Grand Prix Prix Documentary Short Award [D], Redbreast UNHIDDEN Short Award [RU] and Pure Cork Award [C] where stated. All films 2025, except where indicated.
Awards presentation supported by Murphy’s.
Cork International Film Festival is delighted to return to its Principal Venue, The Arc Cinema on North Main St, Cork, for its 70th Festival edition, Thursday 6th to Sunday 16th November 2025.
The Arc Cinema Cork is home to The GATE Screen — a space dedicated to preserving and celebrating the legacy of the beloved former Gate Cinema — and an ideal spot for meeting fellow festival goers in between screenings. The GATE Screen features luxurious double sofa seats and tables, creating an intimate and sophisticated viewing experience. It is dedicated to showcasing arthouse films, including independent and local productions, foreign and Irish language titles throughout the year.
