Darklight

What makes a Gamechanger?

06.03.2026 by Eimear

By Vinny McCale

Amidst this years' workshops, documentaries and roundtable discussions at Darklight there is a reminder of what constitutes a gamechanging endeavour. The kind of feat of which I speak,  is that which appears from nowhere and makes everyone  sit-up and take notice.  It’s an endeavour that’s quick, it’s decisive, it enthrals and more importantly it leaves us all in dust scratching our little heads saying “How come I didn’t think of that?”.

Darklight’s Gamechanger series focuses on five films that are considered to have changed the art of filmmaking for us all. Selected by Niall McCann, Assistant Programmer, each film holds a resonance and poignancy that spans genre and continent.  Kicking off, literally, with Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas, we glimpse through the cinematic minds of Goddard, Ford & Wendt before finishing up by drawing a fine line with Richard Linklater’s A Scanner Darkly.

The Gamechanger series screens Fri 24th & Sat 25th and takes place in the delectable Cinemobile in Smithfield Square.  Tickets €8.  Book here.

FREE Events at Darklight All Weekend

06.03.2026 by Eimear

Did the long weekend drain the resources a bit?  Well fear not.  There's loads of free events happening at Darklight next weekend.  

All weekend, pop into the BlockT Gallery Space and view the 200 GIFS submitted by creatives across the globe.  Our GIF exhibition will be on view for the entire weekend.   

FRI 25

Our Digital Storytelling Roundtable discussion follows Anna's Higg's keynote and features a packed couch of Irish and international guest-speakers including Philo Van Kemenade, Giles Pradeau, Eoin Kennedy, Claire McHugh, Hugh Garry and Sven Anderson.

(11:30am | BlockT | Free)

Screening A Field of England (2013) and other extracts, grab your Film4 Showcase seat, taking place in the Generator Screening Room, Smithfield.  

(4pm | Generator | Free)

DATA @ Darklight are re-instituing the 'Open Mouse' tradition and inviting you guys to bring your works/sounds/gear/games/code finished or not so that everyone gets to share and support each other’s efforts.  A beer, a discussion and some sharing of ideas are what's on offer here in Smithfield's stellar cafe, Third Space.

(7:30pm | Third Space | Free)  

SAT 26

What's Up Doc? Roundtable brings together over 10 speakers and guest-contributers to tease out the topic of the evolving forms of documentary.  Be part of the discussion bringing together international guests Forsyth and Pollard, the directors of Wizards Way plus Irish contibuters Keith Potter, Dara Waldron, Vivienne Dick, Nicky Ryan and Daniel Gray.

(2pm | BlockT | Free)

To much chat? Then maybe you want to Journey In The End of Night.  Tickets are now limited for this chasing game across Dublin City.  I wonder where the chasing ends-up..?  

(8pm | CHQ | Free)

SUN 27

Hear, watch and learn what the Storytelling Hack Jam folk have created and curated over 3 days hack jamming in their final presentation.  Find out what worked, what might work better and new discoveries made.

(5:30pm | BlockT | Free)

Darklight 2014 closes with its annual Space Baby Awards ceremony, including the much coveted award of The Sprit of Darklight.  

(7pm | BlockT | Free)

All these events are FREE but ticketed.  Please visit each event online to reserve your seat!

RTE’s The Works meets Darklight - Festival of Independent Creativity

06.03.2026 by Eimear

The best short films in the world are coming to Darklight

06.03.2026 by Eimear

By Sebastian Stephenson.   

Future Shorts is something you may have heard of if you have visited other countries in the world.  Why? Future Shorts is a pop-up film festival that goes from east to west showcasing some of the best shorts being made right now.  After all, it has the Kevin Spacey’s seal of approval.

"The fusion of film and theatre allows for a much more powerful experience and adds an incredibly unique dimension for the audience. It certainly did for me. I was blown away” - Kevin Spacey.  http://www.secretcinema.org/newsletter/april_2011_web.html 

And just take a look at all these mesmerized people, from Vietnam:

To Prague: 

Can we trust their selection?  Oh yes.  It’s been running since 2003 along with a combined 77 million YouTube views to boot.  It’s doing something right. Take a look for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/user/futureshorts

The films from this spring 2014 collection come from Ireland, UK, Sweden, Australia and Yemen. From Birds Afraid of Flying to the Wonders of Childhood . There will be something you will want to vote for.  Did I mention you vote?  Well you do - by tearing off the film you think is the best of the best from your ballot paper in the Future Shorts audience awards.

Become a part of the short film conversation at this year’s Darklight. BlockB (not T!), April 25th @ 8pm: http://www.darklight.ie/festival/detail/future-shorts

Speaker at Darklight - Maeve Connolly Launches Book: TV Museum

06.03.2026 by Eimear

The Mini Series, Part #1 kicked off yesterday, 17 April, in Project Arts Centre with the screening of TVTV's 1976 piece 'TVTV Looks at the Oscars'.  This will run until 26 April.  

Maeve's first lecture in the series entitled 'Critics, Collectives and Cable TV' take place next Wednesday 5-6pm, 23 April in Project Arts Centre followed by the launch of Maeve's new book 'TV Museum: Contemporary Art and The Age of Television' at 6pm.  Maeve will be in conversation with Sarah Glennie at the book launch.  

All are welcome to the book launch but booking is essential for the 5pm lecture.  For further information and booking details at the Project Arts Centre, click here.

Maeve Connolly's discussion at Darklight 'The Broadcast Imagination' takes place Sunday 27 April at 12pm in BlockT, Smithfield, Dublin 7.  Details here.

Darklight Space Cadets!

06.03.2026 by Eimear

We've been delivering posters, printed programmes and invitations to all you lovelies who supported our FundIt Campaign in March.  One of the reward options included being listed on our website as a Darklight Space Cadet.  We're delighted to introduce you to our very special Space Cadets - just a small proportion of people who helped our campaign along its way.  Introducing:

Dieter Auner  * Joseph Panama  * Teemu * Matthew Robinson * Andrew Sheridan * Jane Ruffino *Fergus Duffy * Conor McGinnity * Paddy Scahill * Mary Ireland * AJ Lonergan * Jessie Ward * C. Rush * Mary Nally * Rose Keane * Sorca McGrath * Vicky Lee * Abel Kavanagh * Nicky Hooper * Margaret Brown * David Hayes * Sophie Merry * Hugh O'Conor * Fionn O Loingsigh * Rachel Flynn * Maedhbh McCullagh *

Thank you Space Cadets!

Team Darklight

Darklight Invites Uni & Third-Level Students!

06.03.2026 by Eimear

OPEN DAY AT EGG

Exams?  What exams!  Egg have teamed up with Darklight Festival and are inviting a number of students into their production house on Fitzwilliam Street. There are 2 places left to get a behind-the-scenes tour of Egg’s HQ, whose recent credits includes BBC's 'Ripper Street' and Sky TVs 'Moone Boy.'   Meet the heads of departments, check out the equipment used and the processes involved on the day-to-day.

Tweet us (@darklightfest) with your highlight in Darklight’s programme using the hashtag #EGG 

Celebrating 10 years of business, Egg has established itself as one of Ireland's leading post-production and VFX houses and is a founding member of the VFXAI (VFX Association of Ireland).

Darklight Is Back

06.03.2026 by Eimear

After a hiatus, Darklight Festival reboots for its 15th year with extraordinary documentaries, new animation, gamechanging cult favorites and a spotight on shorts. Rounding out the premieres and screenings are discussions, workshops and hack jams with industry experts and innovators. Parties liven things up, putting the "fest" in Darklight Festival.

Celebrate independent creativity with the Darklight Festival, April 24-27 at Smithfield. Get your tickets now.

Come Volunteer with Us!

06.03.2026 by Eimear

Darklight is now enrolling volunteers for this year's festival. Meet like-minded people, learn new skills and get to experience Darklight from behind the scenes. Let us know your skills, be it in technical support, customer service or being a very fast runner!

Email us: info@darklight.ie

Storytelling Hack Jam

06.03.2026 by Eimear

Collaborate for a weekend with top-notch digital storytellers, web developers and designers on projects that use the web to push the boundaries of interactive storytelling.

Participants in the Storytelling Hack Jam are invited to attend for free; the Anna Higgs Keynote Address, the Digital Storytelling Roundtable, and Hugh Garry's Anatomy of a Film seminar.

Location: BlockT.  Date: Friday 25th.

Following this Hack Jam participants will meet the facilitators and each other at the BlockT Hot Desk Studio for an introduction to the workshop and to build the teams.

Visual storytelling has been with us since the beginning of times. With the capability of the web to provide interactive, dynamic and participatory functionality, stories are starting to take new shapes and forms, allowing for engaging experiences around them. This hackathon event brings together digital storytellers, web developers and designers to collaborate on storytelling projects that can only exist on the web. You will team up to brainstorm ideas, create open-source code and demo prototypes of your own web-native stories.

Collaborate, Make, Share

Teams compete against the clock, not against each other. This weekend is a great opportunity to take an idea from inception to implementation and exchange skills in the process. The development of a minimal viable project is central to the event and at the end of the weekend, every team will demo a prototype ready to share with the world. In fact, all the code developed over the weekend will be openly available for others to build on. We’re calling out to Ireland's finest filmmakers, designers and developers to come together and enjoy support of an international team of world-class mentors, including Dan Schultz of Hyperaud.io and Berto Yañez of A navalla suíza.

Apply Now!

Apply here to join the Storytelling Hack Jam. We are accepting four teams (but are open to individual applicants), each of which will receive in-depth technical mentorship and specialist advice on the development of their project. You will wholly own the content and product, but you will openly license the source code that powers the experience for others to study, build on, and adapt.

Throughout the weekend nourishing lunch, delicious snacks and super fast WiFi will all be provided.

You can read about the previous event in NYC and check out the prototypes that were created.

Questions?
Please email us with any questions about the event at darklighthackjam@gmail.com