The annual DU Film Festival (DUFF) has been one of the society’s most exciting events since its establishment in 2017. Submissions for this year’s festival opened in early March and closed at the beginning of April so although they’ve been forced to move online this year, there will still be an exciting range of student films premiering every day this week.
“In some ways it was much easier to organise this year because we didn’t have to book expensive venues”, Connor Howlett, Exhibitions Officer of DU Film tells The University Times. He admits that making virtual events appealing can be challenging “as we’re already so exhausted from spending our college semester online,” but says that the festival has never been more accessible, as attendees don’t have to be in Dublin, or even Ireland, to enjoy what it has to offer.
DUFF hosted an awards ceremony for the featured films on April 18th. Among the awards offered were Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Performance and Best Screenwriting. There were also more specific awards such as Student Voice, which caters for films tackling issues relevant to students today and a Best Film award which was chosen by a panel or “jury” of professionals and awarded in both silver and gold.
The jury featured Debbie Zhou, a film critic from Australia, Aisha Bolaji, a director from IADT and co-founder of The Gal Pal Collective and Susie Hunt, an Assistant to Executive Producer at Lucasfilm who founded DUFF in 2017.
Among the 11 films showing throughout the week, Colour Blind, directed and produced by Luke Murphy, took home the award for Best Editing. The film was also nominated for Best Film as chosen by the jury, Best Performance, Best Director, Best Screenwriting, Best Sound, Best Cinematography and Best Editing. Murphy is an Irish filmmaker based between Dublin and Austin, Texas. He has studied acting and film for many years, and Colour Blind is his second short film.
Colour Blind tells the story of Annarose, a colourblind photographer who desperately wants to impress a gallery director. To guide her in her struggles, she looks into the past and draws upon advice from her mother. The film premiered on Sunday, April 18th at 8pm and remains available to view on DU Film’s Vimeo.
Another nomination for Best Film, as well as Best Documentary, Best Directing and Student Voice was Me; Parted, directed by Clara Cronin. Me; Parted was awarded Best Director, the Student Voice Award and the Silver Award for Best Film. Cronin is a second-year drama and theatre studies student in Trinity who is a members’ representative for Dublin Youth Theatre and has worked on and performed in many theatre productions.
Filmed entirely during lockdown, Me; Parted explores the body and the self, the feelings surrounding them and the issues that a hyper-awareness of oneself can create when forced into introspection. The film has a content warning for body image and nudity which some viewers may wish to make note of. Me; Parted premiered on Monday, April 19th at 7pm and remains available to view DU Film’s Vimeo.
Nominated for Best Performance, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Student Voice, was Light At The End of the Keyhole, written, directed and produced by Adam Clarke. Clarke is a 28-year-old filmmaker from Dublin who is currently studying Film and Broadcasting in TU Dublin. This short film is shot from the perspective of three different students after one of them is sexually assaulted and contains a content warning for sexual assault.
Photon Wrangler, directed by Christopher O’Sullivan was nominated for Best Film as chosen by the jury, Best Documentary and Best Director, winning Best Documentary in the end. The film takes us on a journey through the streets of Dublin, after the pandemic has hit, through the lens of photographer Alex Hamilton, while he discusses his relationship with the artistic medium.
O’Sullivan has completed an undergraduate degree in English and Film Studies in University College Dublin and currently studies Film Production in Pulse College. He published his first photography zine, An Obscure Night, in 2020. Photon Wrangler will premiere on Wednesday the 21st of April at 7pm.
Finally, Re: Stone received nominations for Best Film, Best Performance, Best Screenwriting, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, and Student Voice. The film then swept up on awards night, winning Best Cinematography, Best Performance for Michelle Hlongwane’s portrayal of Nicola, and the Gold Award for Best Film as chosen by the jury.
The film tells the story of Sully who reaches out to her ex, Nicola, months after their relationship has ended. She is desperate to make sense of the fleeting period they spent together which was fraught with tension and indecision. Re: Stone was written and directed by Fiadh Melina, a queer filmmaker from Co Kerry, who is currently studying an MPhil in Creative Writing in Trinity. It premiered on Tuesday, April 20th at 7pm and remains available to view on DU Film’s Vimeo.
Alongside these five student films, the festival is also showcasing Blackmail, by Kyle Ohlendieck, Refuge, by Skyler Calkins, Again, by Megan O’Rourke, The Lane, by Cian Geoghegan, New York you’re perfect and please don’t change a thing, by Cathal Eustace and Follow This Line by Gabriel Coleman. Each of these films will premiere during week-long the festival and remain available to view on DU Film’s Vimeo for a week.
“It says a lot about the quality of this year’s submissions that it was no easy task [to narrow down the nominees] and the final decision involved much lengthy debate”, Howlett affirms. “We miss cinemas very much here at DU Film, but we hope DUFF offers the chance for people to watch some exciting new filmmaking talent from the comfort of their own homes.” With DU Film’s Annual Film Festival being so easily accessible from home, there is still plenty of time to enjoy some exciting and fresh upcoming student films.
DUFF 2021 runs from Friday, April 16th to Friday, April 23rd. Each film featured is free to view and will remain available for a week after its premiere date on DU Film’s Vimeo, accessible through DU Film’s social media.
