Cara Holmes

Orla Barry is a hard-working, lipstick-wearing sheep farmer in rural Wexford. She is also a visual artist, renowned for her video and sound art. She strides confidently from art seminars to the Tullamore Show, lambing in April and shearing in June, working tirelessly to make a living from eco-farming in the face of global demand for faster, cheaper meats and wools. But while tied to the demands of the ovine calendar she must make time to let her creativity flow.

In a silenced Ireland, a community of lesbians builds an underground network of helplines - offering connection, survival, and defiance through the simple act of answering the phone.

Unlike the case of humans, there is no law dictating to birds where to fly, when they choose to migrate: their freedom is not restricted by artificial (and very often temporary) borders or invented hierarchies. Through the use of miniature cameras mounted on trained eagles (a vantage point by definition), this aery documentary soars over areas of transit and surveillance, intertwining the birds’ migratory routes with the refugees’ desperate journey into the unknown. A vis-à-vis juxtaposition of human rule vs. nature’s law, which –in all its cruel simplicity– offers a sense of equality that cuts across dividing lines.

The Future of Feminism is an introduction to the concepts of feminism, how people perceive feminism today, and why it is essential that feminism continue to exist in our consumerist societies. The film was shot in Dublin, Belfast, Copenhagen, and Berlin. The director says that the intention was to keep the film short and to simply portray feminism in a positive light.

Oona Doherty is a Belfast-based dancer and choreographer. She is bold, complex, arresting and ambitious. This innovative, poetic and visually arresting documentary is a portrait of Oona and the creative process of her award-winning show Hope Hunt.

The pen is mightier than the ruler.