Throughout this year’s festival, the staff and students at the Seamus Heaney Centre attended screenings and events as members of the press. This week they present a “Week of Critique”
Follow along at the Seamus Heaney Centre Website and see below an exclusive preview of reviews to come this week
MONDAY 11TH
Fréwaka, reviewed by Maoilíosa Scott
A highlight of Gaelscoil education was when they would pull all twenty-five of you into the biggest mobile classroom, lights dimmed, Murmers come in, with their creepy basket masks, to perform stories. If there was an ideal audience for Fréwaka, it was me. Folk horror as Gaeilge, featuring a queer protagonist, and an unsettling amount of Catholic iconography: it’s hard to be objective about a film that’s everything you want a horror film to be.
TUESDAY 12 TH
Long Shorts Weekend/ Awards, reviewed by Nicole Lee
The Belfast Film Festival 2024’s Shorts Competition presented itself with an exciting array of short films coming from different perspectives, cultures and backgrounds. There were thirteen shorts in total, all of them being incredibly well written, directed and shot. After a whirlwind weekend, on Sunday, 3rd November, the winners and special mentions were announced.
Clodagh, Reviewed by Nicole Lee
What is the line between right and wrong? Can what society perceives to be wrong, be right? These were the questions I found myself asking after watching the heartfelt short, Clodagh, written and directed by Portia A. Buckley.
Yara, Reviewed by Nicole Lee
Blurry faces, haunting memories and a never-ending paranoia which consumes you. Written and directed by James Doherty, Yara is a poignant and painfully authentic short about Syrian refugees. The story revolves around a father struggling to adapt to his new life in rural Ireland while raising his daughter.
WEDNESDAY 13 TH
La Cocina, Reviewed by John Gribbin
La Cocina was something of an onslaught on the senses. The sound settings were loud, there was constant activity and noise, the colour palette consisted of shades of black, white and grey, and the story was an unrelenting spiral into chaos and despair.
THURSDAY 14 TH
Rumours, Reviewed by Siobhán Murphy
I don’t watch a lot of surrealism, but when I saw the blurb of Rumours, not to mention the cast, I had to see it. World leaders meet at the G7, hosted by Germany, with the goal of drafting a preliminary statement on an unexplained “crisis”. However, their unimpressive efforts are constantly disrupted by “bog zombies”, eerie fog, a giant brain, and most of all, by themselves.
FRIDAY 15 TH
To Kill a Mongolian Horse, Reviewed by Darcey Youngman
Jiang XiaoXuan’s To Kill a Mongolian Horse is sentimental, and beautiful, yet takes us through feelings of pain and loss, as we watch a culture slowly strip away.
Our protagonist, Saina, the actor's name also being Saina, and one of Jiang’s off-screen friends, is constantly battling with adhering to the tourism of his culture, fighting to keep afloat in a capitalist world, all while caring for his young son, and alcoholic father.
SATURDAY 16TH
The Wise Guy, Reviewed By Cyrus Larcoombe-Moore
The cliché rings true; on the final night, there’s always a buzz. And like a swarm of excitement, we fill the cinema. Every faux-leather red chair holds another person murmuring about The Wise Guy, Belfast, and each other’s outfits. I even catch a whisper from the seat in front: “I’m working with them on my next project.”
