BELFAST Film Festival 2023 returns for its fifth year of Docs Ireland which will be showing a wide variety of documentaries – from across Ireland, the UK and the globe.

87 films and events are planned over six days including many documentaries from Belfast filmmakers, exploring issues from the treatment of women and children in mother and baby homes, to Belfast's missing children, as well as entering the fabulous world of Irish language hip-hop.

This year there are a record 12 Irish feature documentaries – many of them premieres. 

Along with a focus on Irish film the other main goal is to showcase documentaries that could not be seen anywhere else in the North from the weird and wonderful, the challenging and the sublime. 

Some key films to keep your eyes on are:

  • Stolen by Margo Harkin - Wednesday 21 June 6.30pm - Queen's Film Theatre. Stolen  tells the story of how women who had the misfortune to fall pregnant whilst unmarried were treated in an Ireland that was heavily influenced by the Catholic Church. 
  • Lost Boys: Belfast's Missing Children by Des Henderson - Thursday 22 June, Odeon, 7.15pm (£7.50). Lost Boys looks at how in 1974 five boys vanished within a five mile radius from each other. An investigation looks at the potential cover-up of abuse and murder by the British state and its intelligence services.
  • Crows Are White by Ahsen Nadeem - Friday 23 June, Queen's Film Theatre, 3pm. A film about “marathon monks” belonging to a secretive Buddhist sect in Japan who reach enlightenment through highly determined feats of strength. 
  • Ó Bhéal by Ciara Nic Chormaic - Friday 23 June 6.15pm (£7.50). Ó Bhéal is a cinematic exploration of the rise of Hip Hop in Ireland who are embracing oral traditions of folklore, ancient poetry and sean nós singing to create a new fusion sound.
  • My Name is Joseph by Belfast director Seán Murray - Saturday 24 June 1.30pm, Queen's Film Theatre. This harrowing documentary exposes the institutional and systemic failures that contributed to the death in custody of 20 year old Joseph Rainey who took his own life in Hydebank Prison in 2013.
  • Frampton Vs Kielty - Sunday 25 June, 7pm, Cineworld (£10pm) - A knockout conversation between boxer Carl Frampton and comedian Patrick Kielty on politics, education and identity in the North of Ireland/.

For a full list of these compelling and beautifully shot documentaries visit the link here.