Screenwriting workshop with Ciarán Creagh
Ciarán Creagh, director of Ann (2021) and Samantha Nobody (which shot last November in Sligo) has developed a speciality as a screenwriter and director with an eye for the low budget production. His credits as screenwriter include The Lightkeeper (with Aidan Quinn and Sarah Bolger) and Parked (with Colm Meaney). He will present a screenwriting workshop at Adaptation. This will be attractive to screenwriters, directors and producers.
Fee: €30.00
Places are limited to 12
The End of the Affair
The End of the Affair
(Neil Jordan, 102mins, 1999)
Adapted from Graham Greene’s 1951 novel, writer Maurice (Ralph Fiennes) and Sarah (Julianne Moore) embark on an affair, her civil servant husband Henry (Stephen Rea) the cuckold. Told in flashback and largely set in Blitz London, Maurice’s frustration at her refusal to leave her husband overshadows their relationship but is superseded when his home is hit by a rocket attack. In keeping with Greene’s interest in Catholicism, Sarah veers towards the supernatural, Maurice not, and this difference becomes pivotal to their relationship, with Jordan expertly dramatising their distinct points of view in a highly effective flash-back structure.
Elisa in Wonderland
Elisa in Wonderland
(Cléa van der Grijn, 107mins, 2025)
The acclaimed Sligo visual artist and filmmaker screens her second feature film, recipient of the Arts Council of Ireland Authored Works Award. After much time in a mental hospital, Elisa returns to her ancestral home, Stradbally, where she is haunted by anxiety, addiction, and a fractured mind. Under the watchful care of Mary, the loyal housekeeper, Elisa struggles to ground herself as her Doppelgänger emerges, pulling her into a surreal descent. This poetic, unsettling film blurs fantasy, delusion, beauty, and dread. (notes courtesy of Galway Film Fleadh).
Post-show discussion with Cléa van der Grijn will follow.
Behind the Lines
Behind the Lines
(Johnny Gogan, doc, 51mins, 2025)
preceded by KITE (1min30'), a film adaptation by Steve Wickham of the poem "If I Must Die" by Refaat Alareer.
Sligo nurse Ruth Ormsby’s journey through civil war Spain, culminating in her tragic death in May 1938, is most extensively recounted in the memoir of Catalan surgeon Moises Broggi, head of the groundbreaking medical unit in which she served. Interweaved with the stories of other Irish medics serving in Spain and those of her international brigade colleagues, Behind the Lines tells a very modern story of a warfare in which civilians and aid workers find themselves in the firing line.
A Secret Cinema screening
Adaptation this year screens five feature films realised in the region in the past year. This is a Secret Cinema screening of one of those films with a particular connection to contemporary Sligo Town. This is an opportunity for the cast, crew and all the people who made it happen to see their work come to fruition
Age 15+
BOOKED OUT
Neil Jordan introduces The Crying Game
Neil Jordan introduces The Crying Game
(112mins, 1992)
A British soldier (Forest Whitaker) kidnapped by the IRA soon befriends one of his captors (Stephen Rea), who then becomes drawn into the soldier's London world through his erstwhile captive’s partner (Jaye Davidson). Many years before the wider debate around “Trans Rights” the film anticipates the now familiar blurred lines around gender identification. Neil Jordan has identified the inspiration of Frank O’Connor’s short story Guests of the Nation in the film which secured him an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Neil Jordan will introduce the film.
Six short films produced in the SLR region
A programme of six short films produced in the SLR region in the past year, including the three winners of the 2025 Creative Heartlands Adaptation Bursary and two films realised through the Glens Centre/Leitrim Development Company Film Production Course.
An Buachall Nua
Diarmuid Timmons 1970s set story about two boys whose dreaming sees them fall foul of their headmaster, only to encounter an unlikely saviour.
The Blow In
Monica McCarthy directs Róisín Mulligan’s script about an American tourist who gets taken for a ride. Produced by Mariia Levko as part of the Glens Arts Centre’s/Leitrim Development Company project.
For grace, Go I
Thomas Conway directs his debut short inspired by a painting Ah It’s Myself by Fran Conway. (CH Bursary 2025)
Over the Hedge
Emma Brennan adapts Rose Byrne’s short story. Two fifty-something neighbours Emily (Andrea Kelly) and Mickey Joe (Gerry Herbert) have a thorny relationship, its true nature initially unclear. (CH Bursary 2025)
A Big Whoosh of Wind
Gerry Boland’s poem Bonfire is adapted by writer-actor Alan Devine and director-actor Hilary Bowen Walsh, a story of a self-obsessed writer and his increasingly infuriated wife. (CH Bursary 2025)
The Curse
Johnny Gogan directs Dermot Healy’s adapted short story set in 1970s midlands Ireland. Fourteen-year-old Charlie aspires to be a jockey, an ambition that makes him prey for manipulative local trainer Ted Webster Smith. Filmed as part of the Glens Arts Centre/Leitrim Development Company project.
Networking event for the SLR Region’s filmmaking community
A networking event for the SLR Region’s filmmaking community which will include a reception and updates on Creative Europe and the forthcoming Creative Skillnet/Glens Centre backed Production Skills Course.
The Butcher Boy
Pat McCabe presents The Butcher Boy
(Neil Jordan, 110mins, 1997)
In a small border town in the early 1960s, a young boy Francie Brady’s (Eamonn Owens) unpredictable behaviour spreads beyond the bounds of his disturbed home to the neurotic town. A growing grudge against Mrs. Nugent (Fiona Shaw), the mother of his friend Philip, results in macabre tragedy. Years later, the older Francie (Stephen Rea) reflects.
Pat McCabe, twice nominated for the Booker price with this novel and Breakfast on Pluto - also adapted for film by Neil Jordan – introduces this screening.
Editing with Tony Cranstoun
Editor of Marian Quinn’s Twig, Horseshoe, and the Niall Flynn/Ciarán Creagh production Samantha Nobody as well as tv work such as The Royle Family. Tony will illustrate how he cut key scenes from these films, talk about the relationship of editor and director, and discuss how the film can be fully realised in the editing process.
Fee: €30.00
Places are limited to 10.
Behind the Lines
Behind the Lines
(Johnny Gogan, doc, 51mins, 2025)
preceded by KITE (1min30'), a film adaptation by Steve Wickham of the poem "If I Must Die" by Refaat Alareer.
Sligo nurse Ruth Ormsby’s journey through civil war Spain, culminating in her tragic death in May 1938, is most extensively recounted in the memoir of Catalan surgeon Moises Broggi, head of the groundbreaking medical unit in which Ruth served. Interweaved with the stories of other Irish medics serving in Spain and those of her international colleagues, Behind the Lines tells a very contemporary story of modern warfare where civilians and humanitarians find themselves in the firing line.
The Company of Wolves
The Company of Wolves
(Neil Jordan, 95mins, 1984)
After the success of Neil Jordan’s debut feature film Angel, the director teamed up with that film’s distributor Stephen Woolley and embarked on an adaptation with author Angela Carter of her novel The Company of Wolves. The story brings together the timeless Little Red Riding Hood and werewolf fables with a haunting, compellingly eerie and erotic difference.
Neil Jordan In Conversation
Neil Jordan In Conversation
The author and filmmaker Neil Jordan engages in a public interview with Dr. Keith Hopper of ATU Sligo’s Writing and Literature programme. The interview will explore the Sligo-born artist’s dual passion for literature and cinema and how he has negotiated the differing requirements of each over a career spanning more than twenty feature films – many of them adaptations – and ten published books: novels, a novella and award-winning short story collection.
Horseshoe
Horseshoe
(Edwin Mullane, Adam O’Keefe, 88mins, 2025)
Followed by Q+A with Adam O’Keefe and Edwin Mullane
Filmed in North Sligo and making the most of its stunning landscape this is the first Sligo screening of the film which secured the Best First Feature Film award at the recent Galway Film Fleadh. All families are mad, not least the Canavans. This is a drama comedy with a twist, set in the wilds of Sligo’s Horseshoe. When Colm (Lalor Roddy), the head of the family, dies, there are few who mourn his passing, not even his four estranged adult children. But, the legalities of his will must be observed, and more than one Canavan sibling is harbouring secrets. As the Canavans return to the family home, the fate of the family unit, their sanity, and the Canavan estate all hang in the balance.
Followed by Q+A with Adam O’Keefe and Edwin Mullane
The Miracle
The Miracle
(Neil Jordan, 93mins, 1991)
Neil Jordan draws from his Guardian Fiction Prize winning debut short story collection Night in Tunisia (1976) to tell this seaside-town set story of a teenage saxophone player (Niall Byrne) who develops an attachment to an older American actress (Beverly D’Angelo). She initially appears to reciprocate but then suddenly withdraws. In his confusion, the young man has his friend Rose (Lorraine Pilkington) to lean on and an increasingly empathetic relationship with his musician father (Donal McCann).
The Safety Catch
The Safety Catch
(Dir: Joe O’Byrne, Writer: Nick Snow, 90mins, 2025)
This is a fictionalised story– based on real life tragic events - by Nick Snow of motor cycle racer Michael Dunlop now faced with a dilemma after the sport he loves has taken the life of his uncle, father and now his brother.
In May 2023, the Glens Arts Centre produced writer Nick Snow’s play. The Safety Catch subsequently toured in Ireland, north and south. Director Joe O’Byrne follows up his successful filmed theatre pieces Aran and The Cordelia Dream for New York’s Irish Repertory Theatre with a filmed version of the play, filmed at the Glens Centre, featuring Andrew McCracken (Dunlop) and Fra Gunn (Mentor, Liam Beckett).
Costume Design workshop with Amy O’Hara
Amy O’Hara worked extensively in theatre, notably with the early imaginative productions of Blue Raincoat Theatre Company. Her film work includes Black Ice, Halal Daddy, Winter’s Lake, Elisa in Wonderland, Ann and Samantha Nobody. Her work demonstrates an inventiveness and a strong instinct to get the job done, whatever the resources.
NOTE: New Dromahair Library located on Main Street, Dromahair
Fee: €30.00
Places are limited to 12
Blue Road - The Edna O'Brien Story
Blue Road - The Edna O'Brien Story
and Q+A with Carlo Gebler and Brian Leyden
Sinéad O’Shea’s film includes extensive interviews with celebrated author Edna O’Brien conducted shortly before her death in 2024.
In 1960, a young Irish woman named Edna O’Brien wrote The Country Girls, the first of a sexually-frank trilogy of novels. Though the books were banned in Ireland, O’Brien became an international literary sensation, gaining fame and notoriety through her marriage and acrimonious divorce from Ernest Gebler; publications in the New Yorker and the creation of screenplays for British and US cinema. She lived in London with her two sons where she hosted star-studded parties and conducted numerous love affairs. Her later work was inspired, at times controversially, by real life events.
This documentary portrait, completed shortly before her death last year, features extracts from her journals (read with verve by Jessie Buckley), contributions from Gabriel Byrne, Anne Enright and other luminaries, and a remarkable final interview with Edna, now aged 93 as she reflects with dignity and candour on her extraordinary life.
Notes: Sunniva O’Flynn, Irish Film Institute
Author Carlo Gébler (Edna's son) joins Brian Leyden in a post screening discussion of Edna’s work