CLOSING FILM

Home – The Story of Zak Moradi

(52mins, Dir. Trevor Whelan, Doc. 2024)     

6.30pm - Glens Centre Main

Zak Moradi: Life Begins in Leitrim is the title of the 2022 autobiography that inspires this new documentary film. The story follows the inspiring journey from Zak’s childhood in a Kurdish refugee camp to his significant role in the Irish community. This film highlights his integration into Irish society, illustrating how Kurdish and Irish cultures merged in his life. It showcases his contributions as a hurling player for Leitrim, and his efforts against racism. It also follows Zak’s emotional return to Kurdistan, capturing the beauty of Kurdish culture. 

Zak Moradi and Producer Ellen James will be present for a post screening discussion. Director Trevor Whelan will join online from Amsterdam.

Twig 

(107mins, Dir. Marian Quinn, 2024)                    

 4.00pm - Glens Centre Main

In the Greek tragedy Antigone, a young woman defies the newly crowned king who has forbidden the burial of her brother who has killed his own brother in a civil war. Writer-director Marian Quinn has taken this story as inspiration for a story set in modern-day Dublin’s Gangland. Twig (Sadie Malone) dreams of escaping with her lover Eamon (Donncha Tynan), but her brothers’ deadly feud over the future of their late father’s crime business draws her back. 

Followed by Q+A with writer-director Marian Quinn.

The Cordelia Dream 

(90mins, Dir. Joe O’Byrne, 2021) 

2.00pm– Glens Centre Main    

Marina Carr’s play comes to life on screen, under Joe O’Byrne’s direction, with the mysterious and tense confrontation of woman and man. When Woman (played by Danielle Ryan), haunted by her dream of Cordelia and King Lear, confronts Man (Stephen Brennan), their disturbed relationship is exposed. As his musical protegé, she has come seeking enlightenment, but he orders silence. Fast forward five years, and she returns for one final visit. Will this result in mutually assured destruction? 

Post-screening discussion with Joe O’Byrne.

Workshop: Acting for Screen 

with Marian Quinn                   

11.00am - Glens Centre Studio

Marian Quinn is an accomplished actress (This is My Father, Evelyn), screenwriter/director with her debut feature film 32A and the recent nationally released Twig which opened this year’s Dublin Film Festival, both films characterised by strong youth ensemble performances. Based in Dromahair where she runs Janey Pictures with producer Tom Weir. Marian has been an important part of the development of the film sector in the North West region in recent decades. Marian’s workshop is suitable for youth, semi-pro and professional actors keen to explore screen acting techniques and to make the transition from stage to screen.

The Song Cycle 

(85mins, Dir. Nick Kelly, Doc. 2024) 

8.00pm - Glens Centre Main

While not exactly inspired by Flann O’Brien, half-man half-bicycle Nick Kelly presents his second feature film hot on the heels of its award-winning premiere at Galway’s Film Fleadh. Former frontman with The Fat Lady Sings and filmmaker (The Drummer and the Keeper) Nick Kelly sets off to cycle from his home in Dublin to the Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, carrying all his gear on his bike and playing shows on route, to prove it’s possible to tour live music without driving. He’s accompanied by his long-suffering friend and musical partner Seán Millar, who tracks Nick’s progress by bus, and joins him onstage each night. 

Nick and collaborator Seán Millar will perform live after the film (in a local hostelry)

Networking Event  

6.00pm - Glens Centre Main

The newly formed SLR Producers network and Adaptation host a panel discussion with Producers Anna Mannion, Vincent Monahan and Edwin Mullane, chaired by Maeve McCormack, followed by an informal networking session and some fortifying hospitality.

New Short films from Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon (SLR) 

5.00pm – Glens Centre Main

Premier screening of the three winners of this year’s SLR/NTA/ Adaptation Bursary Award: 

Bláithín Gallagher -  with Beneath the Quiet a twenty-first century take on The Lake Isle of Inishfree.  

Kathy Raftery - adapts an essay by Michael Harding One by One, The Lights Go Out.

Edwin Mullane and Adam O’Keefe - adapt Steve Wickham’s Rainbow over Sligo.

In addition, the programme features a new short documentary adaptation Forty-Five Seconds from Niamh Moriarty and Ruth Clinton; and from teen outfit Gavin Gilligan and Sarah Walsh a short film inspired by the computer game What Remains of Edith Finch. 

The SLR Adaptation Bursary Award films are supported by the Arts Offices of Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon (SLR), Creative Ireland and the the National Talent Academy for Film & TV Drama.  

Facilitated by writer and publisher Brian Leyden

Event followed immediately by SLR Panel and Networking event.

That They May Face the Rising Sun 

(111mins, Dir. Pat Collins) 

2.30pm - Glens Centre Main

A Leitrim story through and through, Joe and Kate Ruttledge have returned from London to live and work among a small, rural, lakeside community where Joe grew up. Now deeply embedded in the life around the lake, the drama of a year in their lives and those of the memorable characters that move about them unfolds through the rituals of work, play and the passing seasons as this enclosed Leitrim world becomes an everywhere.

Camera Familiarisation Workshop 

11.00am - Glens Centre Studio

Responding to demand from the region’s practitioners, Niall Flynn presents a camera and lighting workshop for emerging professionals in the region.

Flann O’Brien on Screen

11.00am - Glens Centre Main

Dr. Keith Hopper  introduces a series of films and excerpts inspired by the writings of Flann O’Brien, including Astray by Johnny Gogan (with Cillian Rogers, Ciarán McCauley and Kellie Hughes) John Duffy’s Brother by Mikel Murfi (with Mark O’Halloran), The Lives of Brian doc by Maurice Sweeney – narrated by Brendan Gleeson  and with excellent comic recreations by  the much-missed Tom Hickey - and excerpts from Kurt Palm’s 1997 German-language adaptation of At Swim Two Birds. Programme and talk runs for two hours.

Adapting the Novel workshop with Éamon Little    

11.00am - Manorhamilton Library

Éamon Little, screenwriter of That They May Face the Rising Sun, presents a workshop on writing a screenplay from a novel or novella, with particular reference to his experience on the film of the same title, adapted from John McGahern’s celebrated final novel.

Kneecap 

(105mins, Dir. Rich Peppiat)

8.00pm - Free Culture Night Open Air Screening – 

Glens Centre outdoor (Back of Goldens)

When fate brings a Belfast teacher into the orbit of self-confessed ‘low life scum’, the needle drops on a hip-hop act like no other. Rapping in their native Irish, they lead a movement to save their mother tongue. Kneecap are joined on screen by standout actors of their generation Michael Fassbender and Simone Kirby.

Winner of the Sundance Film Festival’s Audience Award this fiction film loosely adapted from the real-life experience of the Belfast Gaeilgoir Rap sensation of the same name, Kneecap – the film - further widens the offering of Irish language cinema which has seen such a rapid growth in some short years.

Secondary students from the region’s schools gather to enjoy recent cinema and to give their reactions. Film to be confirmed.

Group Booking. 

Programme Launch

Adaptation Film Weekend teams up with Sligo Film Society for a joint programme launch and screening of That They May Face the Rising Sun at Sligo’s Model Arts Centre with post screening Q+A with screenwriter Éamon Little. 

Tickets for this event alone available from www.sligofilmsociety.org

Video Games into Films with Stuart Lawn

Many young people play computer games – from Mortal Kombat to Tetras. Many of these games have been adapted into feature films and drama series.  Using extracts from the widely available game plays and from the feature films, Stuart Lawn of Fab Lab discusses with gamers and film watchers from the region’s secondary schools the merits and de-merits of the Games versus the Films. The session will include a screening of a new piece commissioned by Adaptation from secondary school students Gavin Gilligan and Sarah Walsh, inspired by the video game What Remains of Edith Finch.

Group booking.