Programme announced for this year's 'Disappear Here' Film Festival in Ballyliffin in Donegal

Returning for a seventh consecutive year which included a stint online during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, Disappear Here is back with another huge line-up of new Irish and worldpremieres to satisfy its increasingly growing audience.

The festival has announced the programme for 2023 with its usual mix of screenings, talks and special events, including industry masterclasses in cinematography and film production,and a college graduate-focused panel discussion involving the two local universities, Magee in Derry and ATU in Letterkenny. A new documentary film Bursary for the county will also beunveiled this year offering financial support to someone with a local story to tell, in partnership with Donegal Changemakers and Concern Worldwide.

The 2023 edition will include 10 world premieres and incorporate 50 short films, seven feature films, 15 documentaries and a selection of animated work and music videos.The opening film on Friday, September 29 is ‘Apocalypse Clown’ (Director George Kane) a hilarious, high-octane romp that follows a group of failed clowns after a mysterioussolar event plunges Ireland and the world into anarchy. The film took Best Feature at the Galway Film Fleadh in July.

‘Lakelands’ (Directors Robert Higgins & Patrick McGivney) is the Saturday night feature with a compelling look at rural Ireland’s obsession with Gaelic football through the eyes ofEoin as he struggles to come to terms with a career-ending injury.‘Ballymanus’ tells the story of one of the worst tragedies in modern Irish history when 19 people, mostly children, were killed by a floating mine in rural Donegal in 1943.The Devil’s Drivers (Irish premiere) makes us passengers in the real-life cat-and-mouse game played daily by Palestinian drivers bringing undocumented workers from the Westbank into Israel.

Festival Director Michael McLaughlin talks us through this year’s event.

“We have another strong line-up of Irish and International features, shorts, and documentaries in 2023. Our reputation as a festival that supports filmmakers, from student to seasoned, is bolstered by the sheer number of works we have programmed, and we are delighted to be getting many of their artistic endeavours up in front of a live audience for the first time. We’re excited to share our team’s hard work curating this wonderful selection of film, and the inclusion of new industry-led workshops will ensure a fantastic mix of audience in September.”“As usual we will offer our Northern Exposure Award and Bursary to an emerging new talent from the region in partnership with The Donegal Film Office and this year we are thankful toCreative Ireland and the National Talent Academy coming on board to host our masterclass and workshop.”“Our team at the festival believe strongly in the value of culture and creativity, and we see our event as an important cultural component locally, and as a continuing platform forfilmmakers. Our festival each September tries hard to make the arts more accessible to an audience craving more engagement and helps us to look at alternative ways to bring visual art to isolated communities, and equally as important - bringing our communities to experience the arts."

For full programme details and ticket info see: www.disappearherefilmfest.com