An Irish language film which features a young girl who declares her atheism in the run up to her First Holy Communion has won the Belfast Film Festival Short Film Competition
Sponsored by the Belfast Media Group the 14th Belfast Film Festival Short Film Competition featured entries from across the country of films up to 20 minutes long.
At just 11 minutes long, the winner, Rúbaí tells the story of a young girl who, in the run-up to her First Holy Communion, declares she’s an atheist and flatly refuses to be a part of it. Rúbaí wants to stay true to who she is but faces emotional blackmail, religious and philosophical debate and out and out intolerance along the way.
Belfast Film Festival judges Maria McCourt, (editor, Belfast Media Group) Jennifer Johnston (film maker and multimedia expert) and Sarah Edge (filmmaker & lecturer at UU) said of the winning entry, “The film was a humorous and engaging examination of a young girls inquisitive questioning of life, culture and religion. Visually inspiring with a tight and controlled narrative, it gave the audience a poignant insight into findings ‘ones place’. “
Rúbaí was written by Antoin Beag Ó Colla, and directed by Galway film-maker Louise Ní Fhiannachta. It was produced by Gemma O’Shaughnessy for Magamedia Teo.
As well as winning at Belfast Film Festival, Rúbaí won the prize for Best First Short Drama at the Galway Film Fleadh, received an IFTA nomination for Best Short Film and was selected to screen at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. The film also picked up two awards at the Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival in Schull, County Cork at the end of May when it took home Best Drama and Best of Festival awards for 2014.
You can watch a small clip of Rúbaí on a showreel on the the director’s website https://vimeo.com/louisedirector
