Friday March 20th
1.30-3.30pm: Programme A: Irish Live Action Shorts (1)
3.30–4.00pm: Networking/Coffee
4.00–5.00 pm: Panel 1 – Creating an equal and diverse industry
Media professionals share their experiences of an industry that has only recently acknowledged the need to focus on gender equality, diversity and inclusion.
5.00-6.00 pm: Drinks reception sponsored by Women in Film and Television Ireland (WFT)
*Welcome from festival directors Susan Liddy and Vanessa Gildea.
8.00-10.00 pm: Seahorse – Feature Documentary.
Director Jeanie Finlay charts a transgender man’s path to parenthood after he decides to carry his child himself.
Special guest to be announced.
*Seahorse will be preceded by Irish Language short film Rubaí
Dir: Louise Ni Fhiannachta
10.00pm: Festival Club
Saturday March 21st
10.00–11.30am: Programme B: International Shorts
11.30-12pm: Networking/ Coffee
12–1.30pm: Programme C: Irish and International Documentaries
1.30-2.30pm: Lunch
2.30–3.30pm: Panel 2: Locating and Supporting New Voices.
Speakers include representatives from Screen Ireland, Screen Skills Ireland and Creative Europe Media Ireland.
3.30–4.00pm: Networking/ Coffee
4.00–6.15 pm: Programme D: Irish Live Action Shorts (2)
7.30-8.00pm: Awards ceremony
8.00-10.30pm: Feature Drama and Q&A, A Girl From Mogadishu.
Born into a refugee camp in war-torn Somalia, Ifrah Ahmed was trafficked to Ireland as a teenager and turned the testimony of her traumatic childhood experiences of FGM/C into a force for good emerging as one of the world’s most foremost award-winning international activists against GBV.
* Writer and director Mary McGuckian will be in attendance.
10.30pm: Festival Club
CATALYST FILM FESTIVAL is a new kind of film festival. We will prioritize films that address underrepresentation on screen and behind the camera; gender equality, diversity and inclusion are core to our programming.
Festival Directors/Programmers are Dr. Susan Liddy and Vanessa Gildea.
Susan Liddy is Chair of Women in Film and Television, lectures in MIC and is author of Women in Irish Film: Stories and Storytellers (2020).
Vanessa Gildea is an award-winning producer / director / writer, vice-chair of Women in Film & TV Ireland and a lecturer at the National Film School IADT.
Advisory Board: Dr Zelie Asava, Mark O Halloran, Liz Gill, Maeve McGrath. Jury: Marissa Aroy, Barry Dignam, Timara Lawless
Special thanks to Michelle Brassil, Orla Clancy, Marketa Dowling, Siobhan Farrell, Amelia Franklin, Gill Fenton, Barry Gildea, Chloe Liddy Judge, Eamonn Judge, Jacinta Khan, Gareth Lee, Teresa McGrane, Maeve McGrath, Eleanor McSherry, Patricia Roberts, Paul C. Ryan, John Mowlds, Rónán Ó Muirthile,
Marian Quinn, Joe (Oisin) Liddy.