Northern Ireland Spotlight: THREE KEENINGS in a double bill with NO ORDINARY HEIST
Friday, February 27 • 6:30 PM • T1
Presented in association with the Northern Ireland Bureau and Georgetown University, Global Irish Studies Initiative. This double bill screening will be followed by a Q&A with guest artists moderated by Martin Nutty and John Lee of the 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 writer and director Colin McIvor's NO ORDINARY HEIST.
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 and Colette Breen
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.
NO ORDINARY HEIST
Dramatic Feature | East Coast Premiere
Screening generously sponsored by Patrick McGlone & Kevin Taylor
Inspired by an extraordinary true story, the film follows two bank employees who become pawns in one of the largest cash heists in UK history, stealing £26.5m to save their families’ lives, without the real thieves ever setting foot inside the bank. This tense thrill ride from award-winning filmmaker Colin McIvor (ZOO) features an all-star cast including Eddie Marsan (RAY DONOVAN, VERA DRAKE), Éanna Hardwicke (SAIPAN, LAKELANDS), Michelle Fairley (GAME OF THRONES) and Eva Birthistle (BAD SISTERS, KATHLEEN IS HERE). The film receives its World Premiere at the 2026 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and will make its Irish premiere at the 2026 Dublin International Film Festival before screening at CIFF.
DIR/SCR Colin McIvor; PROD Ruth Carter, Damon Lane, Johanna Hogan; CAST Eddie Marsan, Éanna Hardwicke, Eva Birthistle, Michelle Fairley; DOP Deecy Elliott; SCORE Phil Kieran. Ireland, 2025, color, 99 min. In English. NOT RATED
Funded by Fis Éireann/Screen Ireland, Northern Ireland Screen and U.S.-based Six Leaf Clover.
🎟 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.
Northern Ireland writer and director Colin McIvor's debut feature, 'CUP CAKE', starring Michelle Fairley (Game of Thrones) and Clive Russell (Game of Thrones), earned widespread critical acclaim and secured numerous international accolades, including Best Feature at the Rhode Island International Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Belfast Film Festival. His second feature as writer/director, 'ZOO', starring Toby Jones (The Hunger Games) and Dame Penelope Wilton (Downton Abbey), was released theatrically via Samuel Goldwyn (US) and eOne (UK). The film was a major festival success, winning top honours at the Seattle, Giffoni, Filemon, Castellinaria, and Doha International Film Festivals. As well as his work in film, Colin is an accomplished television director. His credits include the 2023 WWII epic WORLD ON FIRE for primetime BBC One, as well as several award-winning short films.
The Irish Stew Podcast connects the global Irish diaspora with contemporary Ireland. For more than five years and in over 150 episodes the podcast has recorded interviews with some of the most fascinating and visionary storytellers, thinkers, entrepreneurs and creators from Ireland and from people around the world who share a strong affinity for Ireland. These stories of innovation, politics, culture, and heritage have garnered the hosts Martin Nutty and John Lee the 2024 Irish Pod Awards Best Society and Culture Podcast Award. The podcast embraces an expansive vision of Irishness uniting the Irish of Ireland with their hyphenated offshore cousins. These Global Irish Nation conversations capture the diverse voices and experiences that define Irish identity in our interconnected world.
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.
