Docs Ireland Marketplace 6

Docs Ireland Marketplace Projects Announced

Docs Ireland is pleased to announce the projects for the fifth edition of its festival marketplace. The expanded event will take place over two days for the first time this year, on Friday June 23rd & Saturday June 24th, at 2 Royal Avenue in Belfast city centre.

Thirty-four Irish, UK and international projects will pitch to international decision makers at the marketplace, including Autlook Film Sales, BBC Alba, BBC NI, CAT&Docs, Cinetic Media, Conic Films, Documentary Association of Europe, Dogwoof, Dokufest Kosovo, DR Sales, e u R O P E doconsultancy, Fifth Season, Film Harbour, Finnish Film Foundation, INDOX Films, Java Films, Lightdox, Met Film Sales, Nordisk Panorama, POV, S4C, Sarajevo International Film Festival, SBS, Screen Ireland, Sundance Film Festival, SVT, Swedish Film Institute, SWR, TG4, Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, True/False, and Wildcard Distribution

The Docs Ireland Marketplace is an opportunity for filmmakers to meet with leading international documentary industry decision makers, including international funders, broadcasters, distributors and exhibitors on a one to one basis. It is the only marketplace dedicated to documentary on the island of Ireland, providing an opportunity for filmmakers to pitch their project through carefully matched meetings organised by the Docs Ireland team.

This year the festival will introduce the pilot of the ‘Doc-Shop’ section of the marketplace, which will invite a selection of new films screening at Docs Ireland 2024 that are seeking for sales & distribution to meet with buyers. These projects stand alongside the selection chosen from our open application process and by our festival partners Doc Society and East Doc Platform, as well as our IGNITE-Docs Talent Development programme projects.

The full list of selected projects are:

Abaas

Director/Producer: Alice McDowell

Executive Producer: Peadar King

After arriving in Ireland stowed beneath a truck, a Sudanese refugee competes for the opportunity to represent Ireland in athletics.

Aida

​​Director: Peadar Ó Goill

Producer: Ainle Ó Cairealláin

A story of resilience in the most tear-gassed place on earth.

Participating as part of the IGNITE-Docs Talent Development Programme

All the Lovely Animals

Director: Kathleen Harris

Producer: Ross Whitaker

Three determined women devote their lives to rescuing abused animals from across Ireland – a harrowing, heartwarming and, at times, hilarious task that makes us wonder: what is an animal?

Amanda

Director: José Miguel Jimenez

Amanda intimately explores Irish painter Amanda Cullen’s life, from teenage institutionalisation to her transformative journey through art-making. The film is a visually immersive, non-linear diary, which crafts a portrait of the artist’s resilience

Participating as part of the IGNITE-Docs Talent Development Programme

Anam Na Mara (Soul of the Sea)

Director: Gav Fitzgerald

Producer: Ken Wardrop

The ultra-competitive world of ‘currach-racing’ along with the Irish west coast, a hardened

community are rowing for more than medals.

Big in Gazi Baba

Director: Pauline Blanchet

Producer: Avdi Thachi , Jan Dunn & James Collie 

Log line: As a 14-year-old wrestling champion, Sadije is the only girl in her Skopje club and the lone Albanian on the National Macedonian team. Facing significant cultural and social obstacles, how will she forge her identity in environments that test both her gender and ethnic backgrounds?

Selected by Docs Ireland Festival Partner East Doc Platform

Burkitt

Director: Éanna Mac Cana

Producer: Chris Kelly

A documentary exploring the life of Irish surgeon Denis Burkitt, who discovered Burkitt’s lymphoma, as told by a survivor of this cancer.

Participating as part of the Docs Ireland Doc-shop

Canine

Director: Paul Webster

Producer: Brian Willis

As time runs out for the Black Rhino in South Africa, Rory, an elite dog trainer in Cork trains specialist anti-poaching dogs for delivery to Niall another Irishman, a conservationist working on the frontline.

Participating as part of the IGNITE Documentary Talent Development Programme

Dancing in Corsica

Director: Julie Bonan

Producers: Jean-Pierre Alessandri, Jeremiah Cullinane

While rehearsing Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa in a Corsican village, an amateur theatre

company discovers links with rural Donegal.

Don’t Forget to Remember

Director: Ross Killeen

Producer: Louise Byrne

Don’t Forget to Remember follows the artist, Asbestos as he learns to cope with his mother’s fading memories. While the memories are fragile, the essence of their bond remains steadfast. 

From the Back of the Room

Director: Peter O’Brien

Producer: Louise Byrne, Ross Killeen

Through a treasure trove of personal unreleased live recordings, a sound engineer rediscovers the magic of his time with legendary folk band, The Dubliners, revealing a story of lifelong friendship, memories of the road, a musical legacy and the power of sound to transcend time and space.

Flight from Gaza

Directors: Garry Keane, Stephen Gerard Kelly

Producer: Brendan J. Byrne  

Co- Producer : Alison Toomey

From the makers of Gaza and In the Shadow of Beirut, Flight From Gaza follows the lives of families forced to flee their homeland after Israel’s response to the Oct 7th Hamas attack, causing the loss of over 30,000 innocent lives. 

Hollywood Trailblazer

Director: Jim McMorrow

Director/Producer: Margaret McGoldrick

The movies you know, the woman you don’t.

Horse/Woman

Director/Producer: Lizzie MacKenzie

Producer: Emily Copley

Lucy, a rebellious 80-year-old horse-scientist flees to the Siberian Steppes to make peace with her struggles in the human world.

Horsemeat

Director: Ross Whitaker

Producer: Jean Devlin

This is the story of the biggest food fraud of the century – the horsemeat scandal of 2013.

Jackie & Coco

Director: Gerard Walsh

Producer: Alex Fegan

A grieving mother changes the law across Europe in respect of online bullying following the tragic death of beloved daughter.

Jamie Griffin: Merlin Twist

Director: Nathan Griffin

An isolated yet ingenious teen skater in rural Ireland uses social media to propel himself from tricks in his cramped country shed to winning one of skateboarding’s biggest tournaments.

Participating as part of the IGNITE-Docs Talent Development Programme

Life of Tipu

Director: Bob Gallagher

Producers: David Clarke, Jeanie Igoe

When acclaimed Irish painter Salvatore of Lucan discovers his absent father and mixed Bangladeshi heritage, a mysterious odyssey ensues, blending fact, fiction, and paint.

Love Letters

Director : Daniel Cook

Producers: James Heath, Marcy Paterson

Love Letters is an intimate documentary that captures the daily ongoings in the historical fishing village of Gardenstown. At the heart lies Juliet and Bubbles and their eclectic extended family and friends. This film will document their resilience, joy, and profound connection to community in a lyrical exploration of human experiences.

Selected by Docs Ireland Festival Partner Doc Society

My Friend Lanre

Director: Leo Regan

Producer: Mary Carson

Drawing upon candid archive footage and no-holds-barred interviews with the controversial artist himself, My Friend Lanre paints an illuminatingly honest portrait of the life and death of maverick photographer Lanre Fehintola.

Participating as part of the Docs Ireland Doc-Shop

One Inch Eastward

Director: Irina Maldea

Producers: Brendan Culleton, Ralitsa Golemanova

How the post-Cold War dream of peace was shattered in the decade after 1989.

Last Night at Juniors Place

Directors: Patrick Bodenham, Pablo Correa

Producer: Chris Kelly

Who has the right to tell your story?

Our Lady Rebecca

Director: Nicky Larkin

From celebrity stylist at the Eurovision to heroin-addicted sex-worker in Soho, Rebecca Tallon DeHavilland was Ireland’s first trans person. Ireland never forgave her for it.

Participating as part of the IGNITE-Docs Talent Development Programme

Seamus Ennis: The Last Notes of an Era

Director: Feilimí O’Connor

Producer: Aisling Ni Fhlaithearta

“Embark on a captivating journey into the heart of Irish music in ‘Seamus Ennis: The Last Notes of an Era.’ This biographical documentary explores the extraordinary life of Seamus Ennis, the ‘Godfather of Irish Music,’ whose quest to preserve tradition during the Second World War era shaped global musical landscapes.

Participating as part of the IGNITE-Docs Talent Development Programme

Silence of the Lams

Director: Ciaran Deeney

Producer: David Clarke

‘A curry-war breaks out in a tight-knit community when a son opens up a Chinese takeaway right next door to his dad’s own establishment’.

Slane

Director: Garret Daly

Producer: Martina McGlynn

An up-close portrait exploring 40 years of rock n’ roll at the iconic venue Slane Castle, a natural amphitheatre by the banks of the River Boyne and home to the best loved concert series Ireland has ever seen.

Participating as part of the IGNITE-Docs Talent Development Programme

Teta Ida

Director/Producer: Beta Bajgart

Producer: Jaro Waldeck

Despite their community’s scepticism, children from Roma slums join Ida’s famous choir, hoping to perform with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Amber Isle

Director/Producer: Adam Park

Producer: Daniel Hegarty

The Amber Isle is an alternative travelogue around Ireland, discovering a country and its culture through its spirits and drinking rituals.

The Commemoration

Director: Chris Nikkel

Producer: Frankie Fenton, Kathryn Kennedy

A town plans a 200th commemoration of its founding by Irish settlers. Displaced First Nation will too. As a tragedy.

The Day of Trees

Director: Alan Gilsenan

Producer: Tomas Hardiman

In this award-winning, highly orig­i­nal fea­ture doc­u­men­tary, a middle-​aged film pro­ducer, embarks on a jour­ney of dis­cov­ery into his childhood….

Participating as part of the Docs Ireland Doc-Shop

The Human Touch

Directors: Jonny Madderson, Jono Stevens

Producer: Gráinne Dwyer

The untold story of John and Pat Hume is shared by those who knew them best, offering real-world inspiration for the next generation of peacemakers.

The Light Pours Out of Me

Director: Paul Sng

Producers: Nicola Black, Clare Stronge

The Light Pours Out of Me celebrates Scottish guitar legend John McGeoch (Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Public Image Ltd) a unique musical visionary who defined the post-punk sound but whose story is untold – until now.

The Sperm King

Directors: Daire Collins, Mark Napier

Producer: Michael Mallie

One man dreams to save the world’s wildlife from mass extinction by creating a modern day

Noah’s ark.

Witness to the Witness

Director/Producer: Paul McGuigan

The story of a derelict farm in Northern Ireland which became a sanctuary for Jewish children fleeing Nazi atrocities in Europe.