CIFF2026 - Shorts Program 2
Saturday, February 28 • 10:00 AM • T1 • Approx. runtime: 96 min.
NIGHT DRIVER
A taxi driver struggling to support her children in Dublin city begins extorting one of her passengers when she witnesses them being unfaithful in her taxi.
DIR/SCR Michael Carolan; PROD Emer Durcan. Ireland, 2025, color, 20 min. In English. NOT RATED
WHINS
On Daire’s final morning at home, everything seems as it has always been. He has breakfast with his sister Saorlaith, before she drives him to the airport. A lifelong inclination to never discuss what is actually at hand leads to meaningless conversations and arguments. The push and pull of a sibling relationship leads them along winding roads to the airport, where they refuse to say goodbye.
DIR/SCR Eimear Fearon; PROD Benjamin Jacob Smith; DOP Thomas McKeown; SCORE Katie Richardson. Northern Ireland, 2025, color, 13 min. In English. NOT RATED
I FOUND A PLACE
Seán (Brian Gleeson) has just recently moved up to Dublin from a small rural town. Not wanting to inherit the collapsing family farm and all its debt, he aims to show his parents he can really make something of himself. Naturally entrepreneurial, he has a plan for a great start up–he just needs to catch a break. But things are not going to plan for Seán–rent in the city is spiraling out of control, his family can’t afford to support him as he finds his way, and so Seán has to make things work for himself. In the meantime he’ll have to fake it until he makes it… How far will he go?
DIR/SCR Zoë Gibney; PROD Jo Halpin. Ireland, 2025, color, 8 min. In English. NOT RATED
SEAHORSE
George (Brían F. O'Byrne) has just one weekend to close the painful distance between him and his son, Adam (Lewis Brophy). He brings him to a familiar seaside town in the hope of unlocking a precious memory they can both revel in. But when Adam rejects the memory and reveals a hidden trauma, we begin to understand the nature of their estrangement. George’s unspoken longing reaches further depths as their reunion comes to an end… Until Adam suddenly reaches out in the most curious way.
DIR/SCR Rory Keenan; PROD Robert Walpole, Arianna Owens, Rebecca O'Flanagan. Ireland, 2025, color, 17 min. In English. NOT RATED
RETIREMENT PLAN
At apathy with his life, Ray (Domhnall Gleeson) dreams of the beauty and joy he will find in retirement. John Kelly's multi-award winning short has been nominated for Best Animated Short at the 98th Academy Awards (2026).
DIR/SCR John Kelly; SCR Tara Lawall; PROD Andrew Freedman, Julie Murnaghan. Ireland, 2025, color, 7 min. In English. NOT RATED
PUREBRED
During a heatwave, a transgender man returns to the flat of his on-again, off-again lover after taking a pregnancy test.
DIR/SCR Caleb J. Roberts; PROD Jon Beer, Callum Harrison; DOP Eoin McLoughlin. Northern Ireland, 2025, color, 15 min. In English. NOT RATED
TRASNA NA LÍNE
This mockumentary comedy follows student teacher Emma, who through a white lie finds herself working at a Dublin Gaelscoil without a word of Irish. Terrified of being caught, she teams up with Múinteoir Eoin and Múinteoir Aisling, who vow to get her Irish into shape by the end of the day for the highly anticipated Back to School Assembly. Under the guidance of her new friends, Emma nervously takes to the stage to present. All seems well, until, go tobann…
DIR/SCR Niamh Bryson; SCR Heather O'Sullivan; PROD Lisa Turnbull-Daly, Rosie Sorrell. Ireland, 2025, color, 17 min. In English, Irish, and Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
