THE NEGOTIATOR & THREE KEENINGS (Norman Houston Short Film Award)
Presented in association with the Northern Ireland Bureau, North America; Georgetown University Global Irish Studies Initiative; and Queen's University Belfast.
Friday, February 27 • 6:30 PM • T1
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with producer Stephen Douds; Joan Parsons, Head of Culture and Arts, Queen’s University Belfast; and visiting filmmakers from Northern Ireland, moderated by Martin Nutty and John Lee of Irish Stew Podcast.
To celebrate the extraordinary legacy of Norman Houston, former director of the Northern Ireland Bureau in the United States, the festival will host a special screening of THREE KEENINGS by writer and director Oliver McGoldrick, the 2026 Norman Houston Short Film Award winner. The NHA winning short will be presented in a double bill with THE NEGOTIATOR, the award-winning documentary feature film by BAFTA and Emmy-nominated producer, Trevor Birney.
Guests to the event will be welcomed by Richard Cushnie, Director of the Northern Ireland Bureau, North America, and following the screenings there will be a reception at AFI, sponsored by the Northern Ireland Bureau, North America. The live panel discussion following the screening will be recorded for a future episode of the award-winning Irish Stew Podcast.
THREE KEENINGS
Screening generously sponsored by Kate Meenan-Waugh
This year’s winning film follows a struggling and down-on-his-luck actor, Ian, (BAFTA-winner Seamus O’Hara, AN IRISH GOODBYE, HOUSE OF GUINNESS) who finds work in the unconventional role of a professional mourner while caring for his ailing father. As he tours the rural Northern Irish countryside, his practiced mask of apathy begins to slip amongst the humour and heartache of the local funeral circuit.
DIR/SCR/PROD Oliver McGoldrick; PROD Natalie Remplakowski, Cade Featherstone, Chloe Langdon. Northern Ireland, 2025, color, 10 min. In English. NOT RATED
AWARDS: Tiernan McBride Award for Best Short Drama (Oscar-qualifying) - Galway Film Fleadh 2025; Special Jury Prize - Ningbo Short Film Festival 2025; Best Short Film Award - Irish Film Festival London 2025; Best Drama Award - New York City Short Film Festival 2025
THE NORMAN HOUSTON SHORT FILM AWARD
The Norman Houston Short Film Award is part of The Norman Houston Project, a program initiated by Solas Nua in 2022 and dedicated to the memory of Norman Houston. The Norman Houston Short Film Award is an annual honor for the best new short film created by a filmmaker based in or from Northern Ireland, made within the previous two years. The inaugural winner of the Norman Houston Short Film Award, AN IRISH GOODBYE, won Best Live Action Short Film at the 95th Academy Awards® 2023, Best British Short Film at the 76th EE BAFTA Awards 2023, and Best Live Action Short Film at the 20th Irish Film and Television Awards 2023. The 2023 NHA winner, HOMEBIRD, also won the Best Debut Short Fiction Award at the 2022 Galway Film Fleadh. The 2024 NHA winner, THE SILENT PEOPLE, also won Best Short Film at the 2024 Spotlight Short Film Awards and Best Screenplay at the 2023 Underground Cinema Awards. Last year's winner, TRAVEL SOCKS, also won Best International Drama at the 2025 Dam Short Film Festival, Best Northern Irish Film at the British Short Film Awards, and the Jury Award for Best Film at 2024 Oxford Shorts.
Screening generously sponsored by Patrick McGlone & Kevin Taylor
In this new feature documentary from Fine Point Films, director Trevor Birney (Producer of KNEECAP) explores Senator George Mitchell’s work as a negotiator in the lead-up to the Good Friday Agreement, documenting the efforts required to find peace where it seemed an impossible task. First sent across the Atlantic in 1995 by President Clinton, Mitchell brought patience and persistence to the dialogue in Northern Ireland, which finally culminated in April 1998 to establish one of the few examples of a long-lasting negotiated peace settlement.
DIR Trevor Birney; SCR Will Cohen; PROD Andrew Tully, Stephen Douds, Trevor Birney; CAST Senator George Mitchell; DOP Carl Best, Allie Humenuk; SCORE James Everett. Ireland, 2025, color, 92 min. In English and Irish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
AWARDS: Best Documentary Feature Award - Kerry International Film Festival
Funded by Fine Point Films in association with Queen’s University Belfast.
🎟 For further information regarding bookings:
Please call 301-495-6720 between M-F, 9 AM - 5:30 PM or email silverinfo@AFI.com
NHA winning writer and director Oliver McGoldrick grew up in the countryside outside Belfast and graduated from the University of Edinburgh Medical School, working as a doctor before pursuing an MFA in Film at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He divides his time between Northern Ireland, where he continues to work in Medicine, and New York City, where he has graduated from New York University’s Graduate Film programme. He is a BAFTA North America Scholar and was selected as part of the Film at Lincoln Center Artists Academy cohort for the 2024 New York Film Festival. His next short film, MELTER, will be Executive Produced by Spike Lee. He is currently in development for his debut feature, BARNYARD.
Trevor Birney is a BAFTA and Emmy-nominated producer, award-winning director, and the founder of Fine Point Films. He produced KNEECAP, directed by Rich Peppiatt, which won the NEXT audience award at Sundance. In 2023, he produced the Cyndi Lauper documentary, LET THE CANARY SING which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival. Previously, he produced the Critics' Choice Award-winning and Sundance hit film THE GO-GO'S directed by Alison Ellwood. He directed the RTÉ television documentary series, QUINN COUNTRY which aired in 2022. His slate also includes Emmy-nominated film NO STONE UNTURNED, directed by Oscar-winner Alex Gibney; Sundance World Competition film GAZA; Emmy-nominated ELIÁN for CNN Films; Netflix Originals Documentary MERCURY 13; and GEORGE BEST: ALL BY HIMSELF for ESPN. He is also the founder of the TV production company Below The Radar, and multi-award-winning website The Detail.
Joan Parsons is an experienced cinema professional with over 20 years of work across all operational roles in the cinema sector. In recent years, she has taken on senior leadership positions, reflecting her depth of expertise. Currently, Joan is Head of Culture and Arts at Queen’s University Belfast, where she oversees the Queen’s Film Theatre, Naughton Gallery, and Film Hub NI teams. She is also responsible for developing and implementing wider cultural projects and engagement plans. Throughout her career, Joan has successfully delivered financial success and cultural impact and has played a key role in organizing and delivering significant partnership projects.
Stephen Douds works as a producer and documentary-maker for a variety of companies in Ireland having begun his career with the BBC. He produced The Negotiator for Fine Point Films working closely with director Trevor Birney who is best known as the producer of the mutli-award winning Kneecap. Stephen also works as an assessor for Screen Ireland and is currently making a landmark documentary for RTÉ on 1776 and the American Revolution.
DINNER AND A MOVIE DEAL
Our festival partner, McGinty's Public House, has generously offered an ongoing discount from February 27 through March 2 for all CIFF ticket holders! When you dine at the restaurant, show your CIFF ticket or pass for a 10% off discount on your bill. Located just around the corner from AFI Silver Theatre, McGinty's (911 Ellsworth Dr, Silver Spring, MD 20910) is the perfect place to grab a bite to eat between screenings.
The Capital Irish Film Festival is supported by the Government of Ireland Emigrant Support Programme, Culture Ireland, Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, Embassy of Ireland, Northern Ireland Bureau, Northern Ireland Screen, and the Irish Film Institute’s IFI International Programme supported by Culture Ireland. Solas Nua is supported by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities.
