The main goal is producing a programme that appeals to every section of our festival audience with a line-up covering local, national and international interest, as well as advance screenings of titles that will dominate the awards conversation in 2025. In addition to our film screenings, we also have a number of special events, industry and community outreach elements to our festival activity, so a principal challenge is to produce a fully-rounded festival which provides access and value to each section of our local community and further afield in the north west. It’s so important and we are lucky to be a city brimming with incredibly talented individuals across the film and arts industry.
People in Derry/Londonderry are massive supporters of local talent and so it constitutes a vital section of our festival programme, both in the films that make the final programme and those which remain unfulfilled in any particular year. Local content each year is delivered through Archive screenings which we have been supported with by Northern Ireland Screen Digital Film Archive, allowing attendees to see Northern Ireland and Derry through an alternative lens and from a different time. This year, with the support of BBC Rewind, will also be screening showcasing an alternative picture of 1980s Derry presented by one of the city’s favourite sons.
This year, a point of local history which will be showcased is , which has rarely been screened since its first broadcast in 1980. The f.
