Solas – A Feast of Community Films

From 12 midday to 9pm. ENTRY FREE

Starts 12pm: Introductions to SOLAS: (4mins)

Short Films  Starts 12midday

1: Beg To Differ.  Directed by Ruairi Bradley (13 mins 12A. Doc.)

A Film about  DIFFING – Car Spinning in Ireland. Selected as the opening film for SOLAS. The Film won Best Short Doc at Galway Film Fleadh.

Watch Trailer for BEG TO DIFFER

2: Sinead at The Pelican (5 mins).  Sinead O’Connor sings with The Wise Monkeys at the Pelican Pub in Ladbroke Grove.

3: Westway Under/Over. Directed By Matt Tromans. (14 mins: Cert U)

An experimental film about the Westway.

4: Charlie Phillips: Rootical:  Director Nike Hatzimidou. (25 m. Cert U. Doc)

The story of Charlie Phillips, the much loved Afro Caribbean photographer who documented the social implications of immigration in the 1950’s and 1960’s in Noting Hill. Charlie has experienced much ignorance with regards to the importance of his work. The working class seems to be excluded from the art world. In discussion with Benjamin Zephaniah and the curator of the museum of London, they get to the bottom of that issue.  Watch the Trailer of ROOTICAL

Above Duration 61mins; Followed by 10 min break. Total 71 mins

Short Films Programme continues:   1:11 p.m.

5: Shelter Me: Directed by Zahara Moufid : Co- Producer Jim Sheridan

(65 mins. 2016. Dublin Documentary).

As the homeless problem in Ireland seemed to go unnoticed by those in power, activists and well-known public figures including film director Jim Sheridan, musicians Glen Hansard and Hozier come together and take the law into their own hands. They break into an empty government building, Apollo House, which was lying empty for years in Dublin’s City Centre. The movement highlighted the continued struggle with homelessness in the country. Featuring music by Glen Hansard, this powerful documentary stirs the emotions and delves deep into the disturbing truth around housing issues in Dublin, Ireland and beyond.

Watch the Trailer for SHELTER ME

6: Tower Of Babylon – Read by Rianne Barreto. A poem by Nial McDevitt, written to comemmorate Grenfell Tower. Made for The Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation, Director Matthew Thompson; Producers Tommy Creagh and Rosalind Scanlon. (5 mins:)

7: A Quartet for Lysaght – Read by Peter Doolan. A poem by Niall McDevitt, his tribute to Shane MacGowan. Made for The Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation, Director Matthew Thompson; Producers Tommy Creagh and Rosalind Scanlon. (5 mins:)

Duration 75 Min;  followed by a 10 min break. Total 85 mins

Film Programme continues 2.36pm

8: The Knitting Ring. Directed by Sé Merry Doyle. (65 mins. Cert 12)

The Knitting Ring is a vibrant documentary drama which shows a group of older Irish women going on a drama workshop journey (led By Rosalind Scanlon). We see the women going back in time, to a village in the West of Ireland in the 1960s where they step into the shoes of characters in an Irish knitting ring. The folk group The Clancy Brothers have just appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in America, wearing Aran jumpers and the demand for them is so high that an American suddenly arrives in the village, looking for Irish women to knit Aran sweaters for Macy’s Store in New York. Using their reminiscences and true histories, we watch the women build characters and storylines and witness the power of drama to thrill, move and inspire.

Watch Trailer of The Knitting Ring

9: The Guardian. Directed by Keith Benton. (4mins).

A visual poem about our iconic landmark narrated by Keith Benton.

10: Jama The Dandy. Directed by Olivia Rutherford.  (12 mins: Doc.)

Somalian. Londoner. Support Worker. Dandy. Jama is a rainbow in human form, refracting sadness into joy and community wherever he goes.

Watch the Trailer for Jama The Dandy

11: The Majesty Of The Haunt. Directed by Sean Garland   (15mins Drama)

A stunningly moving visual poem about the horrors of the Irish Anti-Abortion Laws. An object lesson in short film making: excellent.

Duration 96  Mins: followed by 10 mins break. 106 mins;  4:22pm  Julie Goldsmith (Niall’s partner) will say a few words about Niall (TBC) or I can say a few words.

Short Film Programme Continues:  4.25pm

12: Flying Saucer Rock And Roll.  The Hughes Brothers: (12 mins. Comedy U)
Ardal O’Hanlon (Father Dougal from ‘Father Ted’) is confronted by an alien invasion.

13: The Ballad of Bobby Shine.  Directed. By Gavin Irvine. (15 mins. Comedy. Cert 12) The ghost of Bobby Shine is summoned to help his football team win, but the dyslexic clairvoyant mis-reads his signs and the team are relegated. ? Gavin Irvine is a multi-award winning Northern Irish writer/director based in London.

14: The Postman. Directed by Gavin Irvine.  (2 mins. Comedy U)

When a postman delivers a letter to the wrong address, he surprisingly discovers a quicker mode of transport rather than foot.. A Raleigh Chopper bike!! Question is will any mail ever be delivered again? Gavin Irvine is a multi-award winning Northern Irish writer/director based in London.

15: W.B. Yeats – The Battle Of Blythe Road. Directed by Sé Merry Doyle. (17 mins A Loopline Film Documentary).
Featuring Niall McDevitt, the film reveals how the great Irish poet W.B Yeats  practiced magical rituals alongside friends like Bram Stoker, Constance Wilde, Maud Gonne, and most notoriously Allister Crowley, in a secret Isis Temple in Blythe Road Hammersmith..  Watch Trailer of W.B Yeats The Battle of Blythe Road

16: James Joyce – Reluctant Groom  Directed by Sé Merry Doyle   (34 minutes; A Loopline Film production).
The film unfolds the story of how, after living together for three decades, James Joyce finally married Nora Barnacle in London on the 4th of July 1931.

In the film the poet Niall McDevitt takes us on a walk that includes the homes of literary giants that influenced Joyce, including Ezra Pound, Olivia Shakespeare and T.S Eliot.

 Watch the Trailer of James Joyce – Reluctant Groom

Dur 80mins:  Followed by 10min break.  90 mins

Short Films Programme continues:  Starts 5:52pm

17: Garms. Directed by  Akash Prasad. (13 mins. Comedy / Urban Cert 12A_
Two men, one shop and an area full of tourists; they reckon they’ll pull it off. Sebs and Leo must step up their game when their workplace falls under new management, wearing heels. London

Watch Trailer for GARMS

18: SCRAP   Directed By Jamie O’Rourke (15mins. Drama. Cert 15.)
Ciaran and Michael meet one summer and become quick friends. When school returns and Michael, a member of the Irish Traveller community, attends the same school as Ciaran for the first time, will they stay friends?        Watch the Trailer for SCRAP 

19: Ciúnas.  Directed by Tristan Heanue (13mins  Drama. Ireland Cert 12)
A couple embark on a journey in the midst of a family crisis.                                      Watch the Trailer for Ciúnas

20: Low Tide.  Directed by Ian Hunt Duffy (15mins 12A  Drama).
Jack is excited to head out to sea on a fishing trip with his Dad. But things take a sudden dark turn when his Dad tells him there is a monster lurking beneath their boat and insists that Jack must go down in the water and face it head-on. Drama Ireland. Watch the Trailer for LOW TIDE

21: The Cocaine Famine.   Directed by Sam McMullen (13m Cert 15 Comedy).
characters play out an absurd scene in real time. The result is a short film full of playful humour and hard-hitting historical facts. Dark Comedy, Ireland.                  Watch the Trailer for The Cocaine Famine.

Dur 69 Min Followed by 10min break. 79 mins: Final Film Starts 7.11pm 

Closing Film: Starts 7:11 pm.

22: World Premiere of

Blakeland – William Blake and The River Tyburn.  

Directed by Se Merry Doyle

Starring Niall McDevitt

(70 mins. Documentary)

This will be the third in a series of five films based on William Blake walks, led by the Poet and Psychogeographer, Niall McDevitt. The other four walks are based on Swedenborg, Bedlam, Thomas Paine and the painter Francis Bacon.

In this film Niall McDevitt takes a deep dive into Albion’s greatest visionary William Blake (1757 – 1827), and explores Blake’s personal thoughts on how the River Tyburn became a place of evil, where open air hangings took place, of anyone who disobeyed the realm and the rule of the land. Blake was described by Peter Ackroyd as ‘the most powerful, most significant philosopher or thinker in the course of English history’.

Watch Trailer for BlakeLand – William Blake and The River Tyburn

SOLAS Finishes  8:21pm.