Jake Doyle

With his father MIA at war and his mother critical in hospital, a young boy consoles himself with dreams of playing in the youth soccer league. To do so, he must overcome the adult deception, the bullying and his solitude.

In a remote safe house on the borderlands of Northern Ireland, ex-IRA volunteer Erin Morrigan is dying from cancer. Living alone, she self-medicates using homemade opiates mixed with alcohol. The potent concoction causes hallucinatory flashbacks to her life as one of the ‘Unknowns’ an elite IRA unit that interrogated and killed suspected informers, burying them in the surrounding countryside. Haunted by the daily visitations, her private torment is further disturbed by the arrival of a teenaged boy, who bears a striking resemblance to one of her victims: an infiltrator whom she had once loved. A fervent young recruit, on the run after accidentally shooting a girl in a Derry riot, needing a place to hide. Erin allows him to stay and, as she deteriorates, the boy becomes her carer and confessor, an unready witness to her fight with her relentless demons.

Dating apps are supposed to make things easier. Swipe right, meet up, move on. But what if you're searching for something more? 'You Free Tonight?' is an emotional and thought-provoking LGBTQ+ short film that explores the over-sexualisation of gay dating culture, the emotional toll of casual encounters, and the longing for real connection.