BFF26: 'Lost City' world premiere opens the festival

The Belfast Film Festival is back for its 26th edition, and this time it opens with something genuinely local. The festival runs from Thursday 29 October to Saturday 7 November across a spread of venues including Queen's Film Theatre, Cineworld, ODEON Belfast, The Avenue, Black Box and the Beanbag Cinema, and it kicks off at Cineworld with the world premiere of 'Lost City', the first feature drama from Belfast filmmaker Seán Murray, best known for his documentary 'Unquiet Graves'. It is a Belfast-set crime drama with Martin McCann, of 'Blue Lights', playing a boxer dragged into the city's criminal underworld.

The closing night on Saturday 7 November is the Irish premiere of 'I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning', directed by Clio Barnard and written by Enda Walsh, with Belfast actors Lola Petticrew and Anthony Boyle alongside Joe Cole, Jay Lycurgo and Daryl McCormack. In between, the festival hands its Réalta Award to Stephen Rea, one of Ireland's most celebrated actors and a Belfast native born in 1946. The award recognises those who use their craft for the greater good, confront the establishment and champion underrepresented voices. Rea takes part in a special In Conversation event at the QFT on opening night before the award is presented, and he appears on screen in both 'Lost City' and Dallan Shovlin's dark comedy 'You'll Never Believe Who's Dead'.

There is a lot of international work to get through as well. The New Cinema strand brings Sandra Huller's 'Rose', Andrew Haigh's 'A Long Winter' with Fred Hechinger, Kit Connor and Caitriona Balfe, and Martin McDonagh's 'Wild Horse Nine' starring John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Busemi and Parker Posey. For something more homegrown, there is Kieron J Walsh's 'Skintown', Terry Loane's 'Faraway Home', Peter Young's 'Our House' and 'Star of the Sea'. The NI Independents strand gives space to Cathal Fitzpatrick's 'A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing', Dominic Curran's 'Hollow Trees', Will McConnell's '20 Cigarettes' and Thomas Pollock's 'Rozkvet', while the Long Short Weekend puts short filmmaking front and centre with four Competition Shorts and four New Irish Shorts programmes. Damian McCarthy, the Irish horror director behind 'Caveat', 'Oddity' and 'Hokum', is in town for a directing masterclass moderated by Clare Monnelly, followed by a live commentary screening of 'Hokum' with editor Brian Philip Davis.

On price, most of the festival is Pay What You Will, ranging from £6.00 to £14.00, with the opening and closing gala screenings at £14.00 and concessions at £12.00. Concessions cover students with a valid ID, Over 60s, Benefit Recipients and Disabled Patrons, and under-16s get the concession price for films with a suitable age certification. The festival pays half the ticketing fee on every ticket, and none are refundable or transferable unless a film is cancelled. There is no allocated seating, and the in-person box office at each venue opens 30 minutes before each event. You book online or by email at boxoffice@belfastfilmfestival.org, and instead of a physical ticket you get a confirmation email with a link to an e-ticket. Accessibility is well covered: d/Deaf, Disabled and neurodivergent patrons get a free Personal Assistant or Companion ticket if they let the box office know, every venue keeps a limited number of wheelchair spaces on a first-come, first-served basis, BSL is available by request for closed-captioned screenings, talks and Q&As, and there are Braille, large print and easy read formats plus a plain text version of the full programme. For accessibility questions, Isabella and Katie are at sparks@bffdocsireland.co.uk.