CIFF 2026: Shorts Program 3

NO MEAN CITY
Two workmen and an apprentice drive through Belfast at night, replacing old sodium streetlights with LED. Beneath the streetlights’ glow, the city grapples with change as progress marches on. DIR Ross McClean; PROD Conal Clapper, Heidi Fleisher, Mike Paterson. Northern Ireland, 2025, color, 14 min. NOT RATED

METEORIC
When an artist is hit by a meteor, the result is a “painting” that captivates the world — but the people want more. DIR/SCR Paul Ó Muiris; PROD Anne-Flore Aussant. Ireland, 2025, color, 7 min. NOT RATED

THE ASSASSINATION OF MICHAEL D. HIGGINS
Frankie, a burnt-out hospital orderly, decides to leave with a bang. On his final shift, he indulges a long-term patient’s fantasy: treating him as if he truly is Michael D. Higgins, the president of Ireland. What begins as a harmless gesture is met with abject horror as fantasy bleeds into reality, the power dynamics shift and the institution’s cold machinery lashes back. The original sincere farewell ends in a reckoning when empathy crosses a line the system cannot tolerate. DIR/SCR Dave Minogue; SCR John Doran; PROD Natalie Britton. Ireland, 2025, color, 13 min. NOT RATED

BOOBS
This bold and deeply intimate short documentary reclaims the narrative around representation of women’s bodies in Ireland. After years of therapy confronting her struggles with body image, Irish artist Geraldine Carton embarks on a bold project to paint 100 nude breast portraits from the female perspective, embracing the spectrum of race, gender identity, disability, age and sexual orientation — a radical step in a country with a long history of conservative attitudes towards women’s bodies. Through the honest stories of the women who step forward to be painted, BOOBS becomes more than a documentary — it is a call for visibility, a platform for resilience and an uprising for radical self-love. DIR Nicola Leddy; PROD Zlata Filipovic, Anna Rodgers. Ireland, 2025, color, 16 min. NOT RATED

PULSE
After a heart transplant, Heather returns to her quiet life in rural Northern Ireland. But something lingers — a melody she cannot place and words from a language and community that have always felt foreign to her. As she follows their quiet pull, she begins to sense the trace of another life and a connection that reaches across a divided past. DIR Sam Nutt; SCR Dan Pringle; PROD Joan Burney-Keatings. UK/Ireland, 2025, color, 16 min. In English and Irish with English subtitles. NOT RATED

NAKED LIGHTS
When a masked stranger threatens to burn down a 24-hour petrol station, disaffected night shift attendant Emma is all that stands in his way. DIR/SCR Jeda de Brí; PROD Gregory Burrowes. Ireland, 2024, color, 14 min. NOT RATED

Approx. runtime: 80 min.

Run Time: 80 Minutes

Opening Date: Sunday, March 01, 2026

Genre: Shorts program

View Series Page