The Kerry International Film Festival 2022 programme is now live!

This year’s festival will take place from Oct 20 – 23, in Killarney & Dingle.
Please click below to see the full schedule and buy tickets.

Welcome to Kiff - Revealing tomorrow's talent today

The 24th edition of Kerry International Film Festival takes place from Oct 19th – 22, 2023. 

Submissions are open from Sunday the 19th of February and, as ever, we can’t wait to see what flows in. One of KIFF’s biggest passions is to discover and nurture new talent. One of the ways we do this is by focusing on the short film, it is an art form to be celebrated, and not seen simply as a stepping stone to bigger and better things. They give emerging talent an invaluable opportunity to express their creative voice and connect with an audience.

As the legendary Jane Campion once said, ‘short films are not inferior, just different. I think the short gives a freedom to filmmakers. What’s appealing is that you don’t have as much responsibility for storytelling and plot. They can be more like a portrait, or a poem.’

Similarly, Taika Waititi notes, ‘you can be poetic and you don’t have to answer anything. You can make whatever you want. You have creative freedom with short film.’

John Lasseter agrees, ‘A gem of a short film has a sense of pure joy … that is different from anything you see in a feature film.’

So please keep in touch. We have a new programmer this year which is exciting. We’d like to take this space to say how much we’ll miss our outgoing programmer, Eibh Collins who is working her magic up the West coast. She loves film with a rare purity and always understood the need to support emerging talent wherever possible.

We look forward to seeing you all in Kerry! Keep in touch.

Winners 2022

KIFF 2022 Maureen O’ Hara Award – Amy Huberman

BEST OF KERRYNot My Sister. Director, Jessica Courtney Leen

BEST INTERNATIONAL NARRATIVE SHORTWanderLand, Director, Nicole Pott

BEST ANIMATIONBefore Her Body Left, Director Yuxin Yang

BEST STUDENT SHORTSucking Diesel, Director Sam McGrath

BEST ORIGINAL SCOREDon’t Go Where I Can’t Find You, Score by, Benedict Schlepper-Connolly and Garett Sholdice, known as Ergodos

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATUREAnd Still I Sing, Director Fazila Amiri

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORTMy Name Is Joseph, Director Sean AMurray

BEST IRISH NARRATIVE SHORTBurn It All, Director, Jack Hickey

BEST NARRATIVE FEATURELakelands. Directors, Robert Higgins and Patrick McGiveny

SCREENWRITING AWARDAt the Foot of a Mountain, At the Edge of the World – Eoin Joseph Duncum. Special Recommendation, Sleeper by Gavin McClenaghan

TRUA AWARD – Film Producer and Programmer, Mira Oyetoro

TAKING FLIGHT, RISING TALENT AWARD, supported by Kerry Airport. – Laura O’Shea

KIFF IS DELIGHTED THAT THE 2022 RECIPIENT OF THE PRESTIGIOUS MAUREEN O’HARA AWARD IS AMY HUBERMAN.

Amy Huberman is known for starring in TV series’ such as Striking out, Cold feet, and Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope, as well as writing and appearing as series lead Joy in two seasons of Finding Joy. Amy most recently appeared in season 3 of Derry Girls and in Harry Wild.

Other TV appearances include Moone Boy, Houdini & Doyle, Silent Witness and Threesome for which she was nominated for a Glamour Award (2012) for Best Comedy Actress. Other television credits include comedy sketch show Your Bad Self, Heading Out and as Daisy in all seven seasons of The Clinic, for which she was nominated as Best Supporting Actress at the Irish Television Awards in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Amy’s feature film appearances include The Stag, Kill Ratio, Handsome Devil, ZOO, Three Wise Women and Chasing Leprechauns. Notable roles include Rewind for which she won the IFTA for Best Lead Actress (Film) in 2011 and Stella Days for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress (Film) in the 2012 IFTA’s.

Amy is also a very talented author and has written three number one bestselling novels, Hello Heartbreak, I Wished for You and her first book for younger people called The Day I Got Trapped in My Brain which is currently number one in the Irish Children’s publishing charts.

Amy also hosts the award-winning parenting podcast Mamia and Me.

We are delighted to welcome Amy to Killarney on Saturday Oct 22nd, for an ‘In Conversation with Amy Huberman’, where she will be presented with the 2022 Maureen O’Hara Award.

This event is kindly sponsored by Tower Records Ireland.

Amy Huberman

Best International Narrative Short

Title: Leopard

Director: James Arden

Synopsis: Rocky, a London teenager, begins to question the strict routine set by her father – as well as deeper feelings about her own identity – after meeting a free-spirited girl in a local launderette.

Producers: James Arden & Poppy Ashton

Best Irish Narrative Short

Title: Rough
Directors: Declan Lawn & Adam Patterson.

Synopsis: “Rough” is a film about a dog sentenced to death by gangsters, but it’s also a film about those who have been forgotten by Northern Ireland’s peace process. For some, the conflict in Northern Ireland never really ended.
Producer: Louise Gallagher.

Best Animation

Title: GON, The Little Fox
Director: Takeshi Yashiro
Synopsis: Gon, a playful fox, finds Hyoju has lost his mother for his own earlier mischiefs and starts making amends by secretly bringing gifts to Hyojyu. Hyojyu doesn’t realize who brings the anonymous gifts, and the two are headed for a heartbreaking climax.
Producer: Masaaki Oikawa

Best Student Short

Title: My Other Suit Is Human
Director: Andrew Paul Montague
Synopsis: Zoe, grieving for her deceased son, has become distant from her emotionally unavailable husband who buries himself in work. Dealing with her grief alone, she seeks refuge in the form of a homemade robot suit. Slowly, she starts to rediscover herself and her marriage.  
Producer: Kira Fitzpatrick

Best Narrative Feature

Title: Follow the Dead
Director: Adam William Cahill
Synopsis: The remote town of Ferbane struggles to react when no one seems able to communicate with Dublin City anymore, and videos that have surfaced online suggest that the capital has succumb to an undead threat, and danger may be on its way!
Producer: Adam William Cahill

Best of Kerry

Title:
Director: Mieke Vanmecheleny
Synopsis: The Kerry cow is the oldest cow in existence in Europe. Ireland’s special association with these animals goes back thousands of years. Currently endangered, a small number of individuals are doing their utmost to preserve the breed. Bó is an intimate account of the bonds that exist between the farmers and their animals.
Producer: Mieke Vanmechelen

Best of Kerry

Title: The West Kerry Cowboy
Director: Cian O’Connor
Synopsis: Big Mac and his dad Frank live a lonely life in the heart of West Kerry. After his mother’s death, Big Mac falls into a secretive world. On the day of her anniversary, Big Mac has a confession to make. This film is a comedy drama about masculinity and grief.
Producers: Peter Kilmartin

Best Documentary

Title: VIOLET GIBSON, The Irish Woman Who Shot Mussolini
Directors: Barrie Dowdall
& Kevin de la Isla O’Neill
Synopsis: The true and forgotten story of Violet Gibson, daughter of the Lord Chancellor to Ireland, who shot fascist dictator Benito Mussolini at point-blank range as she faced a Fascist mob in Rome in 1926.
Producers: Siobhán Lynam & Barrie Dowdall

Many thanks to our Current KIFF sponsors

Headline Sponsor

Premium Funders & Sponsors

Sponsors

KIFF Festival Friends

Festival Supporters