Dingle Film Festival

Dingle Film Festival takes place 13-15 November 2026
Tá Féile Scannáin an Daingin ar siúl 13-15 Samhain 2026

** DFF is now an IFTA-qualifying festival**

About Us / Our Ethos - Fúinn / Ár Éiteas
The current experienced team at Dingle Film Festival took over from previous long-running film festival which ran since from 2007 until 2019, with a hiatus for Covid between festivals and kicking off again in 2022 with our new team and festival; all in, there has been a film festival in Dingle running across the last 19 years.

Our mission is to offer a unique, ground-breaking, inclusive & inspiring festival to a wide and diverse audience, set against the stunning backdrop of the Atlantic and the rugged landscapes of the Dingle Peninsula. Our festival is a brilliant opportunity for our local community, established and emerging filmmakers, internationally renowned guests and national and international film fans to connect, be inspired and enjoy film.

We curate a diverse programme of Irish, Irish-language and international films which push boundaries and give new insights and perspectives, through invitation and our open call for submission, which showcases up-and-coming and established talent.

We offer a platform, educational space and networking opportunity for up-and-coming and established filmmakers. We have a strong focus on nurturing and develop emerging talent and we host a strong programme high-calibre masters' talks, interviews and workshops with internationally renowned guests, who share their insights and knowledge and attend our industry networking events

Our vision is to show films on the edge, at the edge of Europe. We will continue to establish Dingle Film Festival as the place to see new Irish and international films that push boundaries and give new perspectives on imagination and a vision of the world.

Irish / An Ghaeilge
We have a strong focus on Irish, in our unique position as the only film festival in a Gaeltacht region, here in Corca Dhuibhne Gaeltacht and we intend to showcase and give a platform to the Irish language, from which spring so much of our heritage, culture and art.
Our programme, this year, will include an even bigger focus on Irish language films and events, to be screened in our venues in Dingle town and at OPW Ionad an Bhlascaoid / Blasket Centre in Dún Chaoin overlooking the iconic Blasket islands. There also will be formidable local collaboration and contribution to the content of the programme, which will include Irish language features.

Overall Objective / Príomhaidhm
The objective for the festival is to offer a unique, accessible festival to a wide and diverse audience with films that captivate, films that open minds and hearts, films that inspire, films, that are trailblazing and ask hard questions. Not only is there a programme of captivating films across Documentaries, Features and Shorts zones, but also a hugely important educational element in our Masters' Zone.

Our film programme will be made up of films curated by our experienced programmer and selected from submissions to offer a wide programme with something for everyone.

Structure / Struchtúr
*Features' Zone:
Curated by an experienced programmer and selected from submissions, our feature film programme of more than 18 Irish, Irish language and international films, will be screened at venues in Dingle town and in the Blasket Centre in Dún Chaoin.

*Documentary Zone:
Our dedicated documentary venue at Sacred Heart University, located in the centre of Dingle, will feature powerful documentaries that bring light to significant and challenging stories that need to be voiced. We will be showing 9 or more documentaries over the weekend.

*Shorts' Zone:
Multiple venues in the town and at the Blasket Centre will host a revolving programme of innovative and challenging short films throughout the day. From the submission round we will select approximately 50 short films (depending on length) to screen over the festival weekend. In 2025 we had 4 programmes of shorts.

*Masters' Zone:
We will host several Masters' Talks/Masterclasses led by renowned international experts in the film industry, each for up to 300 attendees and located at the Dingle Skellig Hotel. A broad range of topics will be covered including Direction, Production, Camera, Sound, Lighting, Set Design, Script Writing, Casting, etc. We will also host three hands-on, in-depth Master's Workshops 1/2 day and day long for up to 25 people. These talks and workshops are a really great opportunity for new and up-and-coming /established filmmakers to meet with and learn from our high profile film industry experts.

Previous guests include acclaimed actors Academy winner Chris Cooper (Adaptation,The Bourne Identity, The Amazing Spiderman II, Little Women) and Aidan Gillen (Love/Hate, Game of Thrones, The Dark Knight Rises, The Wire), Producer Winston Azzopardi (Gladiator II, Troy, Murder on the Orient Express), celebrated Casting Director Ros Hubbard (The Commitments, Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit, Evita, The Mummy, The Bourne Trilogy, The Da Vinci Code), renowned Casting Director Maureen Hughes (Small Things Like These, Love/Hate, Once), Hollywood Producer Ned Dowd (Last of the Mohicans, Wonder Boys, GI Jane), Cinematographer Owen McPolin (Game of Thrones, Foundation, Vikings), multi award-winning Director Ruán Magan (Báite, Our Blue World, Steps of Freedom), celebrated Director Alan Gilsenan (The Irish Question, We only want the Earth), US Director/Writer John Sayles (Lone Star, Matewan, Sunshine State), Writer/Director Todd Komarnicki (Elf, Sully), among many others and we will emulate a similar line-up of guests for 2026.

Follow us on socials for updates and info on upcoming 2026 festival