Irish artists association the GALPAL Collective continue their collaboration with the Irish Film Institute. Later this month, they’ll be curating this year’s short film documentary programme for the IFI Documentary Festival 2024. Now in its 23rd year, the IFI Documentary Festival is Ireland’s longest-running and most esteemed documentary festival. They’ve curated six shorts from around the world as part of the programme for this year’s Doc Fest.
The GALPAL Collective is an arts and media organisation dedicated to the creation, support and celebration of works by queer people, people of colour, migrants and women. They aim to foster inclusivity, cultivate community, provide support, and create opportunities for emerging talents in the creative realm. Recent years have seen them provide a fresh perspective in programming at the IFI, which is set to continue as they come on board to one of the cinema’s crown jewel calendar events.
The GALPAL Collective’s involvement is set to bring a fresh and distinctive perspective to the event, continuing their commitment to showcasing and amplifying marginalised and underrepresented groups through initiatives such as AJOYO, Writers Club, and their annual film festival Directed By Her. The curated shorts programme, titled Blossoming: Tales of Growing Up, will be screening on Saturday, 28th September at the Irish Film Institute, Dublin 2.
Blossoming: Tales of Growing Up, is a collection of short documentaries exploring the diverse experiences of growing up across various cultural contexts. Curated by Aisha Bolaji, whose recent short film was featured at the Galway Film Fleadh, and Lulit Luis, a fellow member of The GALPAL Collective, Blossoming: Tales of Growing Up, offers a multi-dimensional exploration of coming-of-age stories. The programme includes The Archive: Queer Nigerians by Simisolaoluwa Akande, which addresses the impact of colonialism on queer identity in Nigeria, Nido by Dublin-based Chilean filmmaker Jose Miguel Jimenez, which follows the dreamlike journey of a midwife in an indigenous community in the Peruvian Amazon, and We Beg to Differ by Belfast filmmaker Ruairi Bradley, which delves into the underground world of “diffing” among Irish youth.
Check out the full list of shorts in the programme below:
One Flower at a Time (Plex Goldwin / Australia)
Cumha (Elena Horgan / Ireland)
Nido (Jose Miguel Jimenez / Ireland, Peru)
Dear Ishan (Ashish Prasai / Ireland)
We Beg to Differ (Ruairi Bradley / Ireland)
The Archive: Queer Nigerians (Simisolaoluwa Akande / UK).
Tickets for these shorts are available now HERE. Running from Wednesday, September 25th to Sunday, September 29th, you can see more info on this year’s IFI Documentary Film Festival at ifi.ie/docfest.