– Cara Holmes’ documentary has won the top prize in the Irish Competition, while Ross McElwee’s latest work was crowned as champion in the Maysles Brothers International Competition
Lesbian Lines by Cara Holmes (left) and Remake by Ross McElwee
The eighth edition of Docs Ireland (16-21 June) concluded in Belfast on Sunday, unveiling its award winners. Once again, the festival celebrated an array of distinctive documentary voices, showcasing movies that interrogate memory, identity, political struggle and the power of personal storytelling.
The Pull Focus Competition, dedicated to outstanding Irish documentary filmmaking, awarded its top prize to Lesbian Lines by Irish filmmaker Cara Holmes. The jury, comprising Emmanuel Chicon (Visions du Réel), filmmaker Andrea Slováková and Chiara Liberti (Biografilm), praised the film for “blending reenactments, intimate conversations, fragments of collective memory and a carefully woven historical context; it creates a rich and deeply captivating aesthetic – as communal, intimate and courageous as the stories it preserves. Its audiovisual language is equally thoughtful, using meticulously crafted compositions and the interplay of images to echo the fragmentary yet tenacious nature of memory. It transforms this nature into a tangible, courageous and deeply moving message. Alongside the protagonists involved in the underground network they established, we share not only the hardships, but also the joys of these Irish women who fought to reclaim their right to love differently, trapped by the constraints of a highly conservative and patriarchal society.”
The Maysles Brothers Competition, which honours excellence in international observational documentary cinema, awarded its main prize to Remake by veteran US filmmaker Ross McElwee. The jury, comprising Lucy Wardley (Open City Documentary Festival), Eroll Bilibani (DokuFest) and Eric Hynes (Jacob Burns Film Center), commented that the award was “for a film that reminded us that documentary can be an act of witness, but also an act of self-questioning. It allows the images, the gaps, the silences and the unfinished conversations to carry their own weight. In doing so, it becomes more than a film about private loss, but rather a film about cinema, memory, family and time, and about the fragile, sometimes painful, need to keep looking. It’s a film that moved us through its honesty, its quiet intelligence and the rare courage with which it turns the camera back towards the filmmaker himself.”
A Special Mention was also awarded to A Fox Under a Pink Moon by Iranian director Mehrdad Oskouei, which the jury described as a singular achievement that finds “joy and humour in dire circumstances” while maintaining an intimate sense of collaboration despite the physical distance between its filmmakers.
The Ross McDonnell Award for Best Cinematography in an Irish Documentary, presented in honour of the late Irish cinematographer and filmmaker, went to Journacide: The War on Truth, directed by Sean Murray. The jury singled out the movie’s courageous visual approach: “This compelling feature confronts one of the most devastating realities of our time, bearing witness to the systematic targeting of civilians, among them those who risk their life daily to tell a different story than the narrative propagandas of the perpetrators. Through a camera that is attentive to the smallest human details yet unflinching in the face of violence, this film observes with rare commitment and courage the profound consequences the targeting of journalists has for truth, accountability and our collective understanding of war, creating a powerful visual testimony whose patience, engagement and relentless gaze become an act of resistance in themselves.”
In the Competition Shorts section, the LUMI Award was presented to That Sanity Be Kept by Michael Barwise. The jury also recognised Something in the Air by Niamh Barry with a Special Mention.
Here is the full list of winners at the eighth Docs Ireland:
Pull Focus Award for Best Irish Feature Documentary
Lesbian Lines – Cara Holmes (Ireland)
Maysles Brothers Competition Award
Remake – Ross McElwee (USA)
Special Mention
A Fox Under a Pink Moon – Mehrdad Oskouei (Iran/France/UK/USA/Denmark)
Ross McDonnell Award for Best Cinematography in an Irish Documentary
Journacide: The War on Truth – Sean Murray (Ireland)
LUMI Award
That Sanity Be Kept – Michael Barwise (Ireland, short film)
Special Mention
Something in the Air – Niamh Barry (Ireland, short film)
