Saturday March 11th, 1.30pm, The Regal Cinema

European Shorts Programme
Cork International Film Festival, Ireland’s first and largest film festival, partners with First Cut! every year to curate a programme of shorts for FCYFF. This year, it is a selection of nominees for Best European Short Film at the European Film Academy awards.

As a member of the European Film Academy, Cork International Film Festival is part of a network of 29 film festivals that includes Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Rotterdam. Each festival nominates a European short to be considered for the Best European Short Film award.

The Red Suitcase (Cyrus Neshvad) – Luxembourg, 2022
An Iranian girl decides to remove her Headscarf/Hijab in a life-changing situation.

Le Saboteur (Anssi Kasitonni) – Finland, 2022
An ex-saboteur gets back in the game and every trick will be exposed!

Neighbour Abdi (Douwe Dijkstra) Netherlands, 2022
A candid and investigative journey through a painful history, focusing on the creative process throughout.

Festival Programmers – In Conversation
The screening will be followed by a public conversation that is a must for all aspiring filmmakers: CIFF senior programmer Don O’Mahony and Galway Film Fleadh Director of Programming Maeve McGrath will discuss the process of submitting to festivals. This is a rare and valuable opportunity for filmmakers to gain insight into how to enter their films, how to present them, what to expect from festivals – what works and what doesn’t.

Don’t miss this chance to gain insight into the viewpoint of seasoned programmers from two Oscar Qualifying festivals!

Cork International Film Festival Award 2023
CIFF selects and presents an annual award to a film from the First Cut! open call. This award enables the winner to submit their film and attend the 68th Edition of CIFF in November 2023 and also includes free admission to Cork International Film Festival’s ‘First Take’ Industry Day.

Maeve McGrath
Director of Programming at the Galway Film Fleadh, she has previously worked as Artistic Director of Kerry International Film Festival, producer at Carlow Arts Festival and joint short film programmer at Dublin International Film Festival. Maeve is embedded in community arts practise with The GAFF in Limerick where she recently curated a community audio/visual project, Tiny Little Histories and she produced TravFest, a Traveller Wellness Festival as part of Guth na Mincéirí.

Don O’Mahony
Senior Programmer with Cork International Film Festival, Don O’Mahony became involved with the festival when he became part of the selection committee in 1999. He has been in charge of the festival’s experimental programme, Free Radicals since 2004, which has since broadened into the Parallax section. And he has been in charge of the festival’s short film programming since 2016.