Film Festival Selection 2026

We are very happy to announce our Short and Short Documentary selection for this year's festival. Please read below to find out more about our choice collection!

📅 When: Sunday , May 10th / Sunday, May 17th 

📍 Where: The Devlin Cinema, The Devlin Hotel, Ranelagh

Ticket availabe on the door.

Shorts Selection

Taylor Fay

Directed by

Cian Conachy

After a failed Hollywood ending, Taylor Fay struggles to get over her ex-boyfriend and embarks on an introspective odyssey, re-evaluating their relationship, her attempts to move on and her understanding of true love as a whole.

Poulastore 

Directed by

Ann-Marie Kelly, Cabrini Cahill

Poulastore, an Irish drama short film, centres on geologist John O Hanlon as he navigates death, with a loving nurse at his side. The film follows his journey to subsequent deterioration, exploring themes of caregiving, love and regret.

Hot House 

Directed by

Paul Maguire

Alex and her father move from Paris to pre-famine Ireland to start a new life. When Alex decides to explore a relationship with a local boy, her father's modern ideas are tested, and Alex must forge her own path.

Journeys Through Temperature

Directed by

Sarah Lincoln, Andy Walsh

A short film (8 minutes duration) which seems to time travel.

Action is triggered by connecting two differently scaled energy-hungry

pieces of infrastructure in the landscape.

Duck 

Directed by

Michel DUPREZ

After a long relationship, Christine leaves Tom for their best friend, Jerry. The new couple flourishes while Tom, unable to accept the breakup, withdraws from the world. Driven by pain and fixated on a small fairground duck, he spirals. Told in impressionistic fragments, the film tracks his descent and suggests a path toward awareness through Christine, who embodies the Love beyond the self.

Be There 

Directed by

Alex Eydt

Playing out in the style of contemporary theatre, our protagonist, a man in his 20s, suffers from the wrath of his mental health and contemplates suicide. He almost succeeds, only for a chain of people to intervene. His family, friends and the broader community band together to pull him back from the brink, allowing him to help save another’s life further down the line.

Pay Day    

                                      

Directed by

Raphael Aherne

Overworked. Underpaid. Tyrone’s secret side hustle of selling discounted products from his boss’s thrift shop may help him get back on his feet after an injury, but it’s all about to come crashing down (literally)

Short Documentary Selection

Tommy, My Neighbour 

Directed by

Zeljka Zupanic

Tommy is about an elderly Dubliner who overcame forty years of alcoholism. Now sober, he lives in a cluttered home with three quirky birds, including Tyson, a parrot that mimics his voice. Tommy shares his memories, his path to sobriety, with warmth and honesty.

Macau Fists 

Directed by

Shuning Zhao

This ethnographic film centers on Cheong Lap Cheong, Macau's sole professional boxer, and his coach Cheong Wai. It documents their training routines within an industrial building and their pursuit of a championship title. Boxing, a marginalized sport in Macau, has long been linked to violence; their endeavors are reshaping local perceptions of the sport. Yet, as the city's only professional pugilist amidst hundreds of thousands, the future trajectory of boxing in Macau remains uncertain.

Super Musical Bros 

Directed by

Fiachra Galvin, Michael O'Neill

This documentary follows a group of musicians who have decided to take matters into their own hands. Rather than waiting for the opportunity to be handed to them, they have decided to create the opportunity themselves. Blending music with videogames, this group creates an experience like no other and their innovative gigging format promises great success! But, with the show being such a complex event to run, can they stick the landing or will it all be a bit too much?

The Forest Midwife 

Directed by

Beta Bajgart

When former food critic Catherine Cleary leaves behind city life to plant a native forest in rural Ireland, she faces family scepticism, local resistance, and her own rising doubts—until an ancient speaking tree reveals a deeper story of belonging, grief, and transformation. The Forest Midwife is a lyrical journey into nature, purpose, and the quiet power of one woman who chooses to listen.

Euro-Children 

Directed by

Áindréas Fallon Verbruggen

During 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland, a charity helped children escape the sectarian violence during the Summer via holidays to Germany and Belgium.

40 years later, the children revisit their host families and the impact the holidays had on their childhood.

The Good Neighbour

Directed by

Kate Stapleton

A cowboy doctor has spent a lifetime paying house calls to the Old Order Amish community in Southwestern Wisconsin- but what will they do when he dies? His solution to the problem is an inventive use of R.N. nurses to serve a unique rural population with a need for medical care.

Come, Join the Fun

It was an absolute joy to go through the submissions with our team of judges and gather a collection of worthy film pieces to share with you this year. We will make sure the event provides an entertaining and insightful experience for both audience and attending film-maker. We hope to see you there!

Ranelagh Arts - Film Festival Team