Disappear Here Film Festival 2023

The Disappear Here Film Festival now in its seventh year, returns to Ballyliffin village from September 28th -October 1st 2023. This increasingly popular 3 day event celebrates independent film-making from all corners of the country & across the world, and has developed into a thought provoking & diverse showcase of all the industry has to offer.

Festival highlights include screenings, industry workshops and masterclasses, children films and lively post-screening interviews and debates.

The Disappear Here Film Festival will take place in a series of unique locations on the Wild Atlantic Way, in and around the picturesque village of Ballyliffin, Co Donegal. From short animated films for kids, to scary midnight movies for the young at heart - The Disappear Here Film Festival promises you a weekend of entertainment, utterly unmissable and unforgettable. The Festival will have a high concentration of shorts but includes an outstanding mix of features and documentaries, music videos and animations.

Over the weekend films will be screened in specially constructed cinemas in the village of Ballyliffin.

Our versatile programme will include screenings, talks, educational workshops and a host of entertainment events through which we will provide a unique festival experience.

Awards & Prizes

There will be a variety of awards for selected films across the weekend, including Best short, Best Music Video, Best Actor and Best Student Film. In recent years, we added two new award categories, namely our Environmental Awareness Award that rewards films that raise awareness of sustainability & preservation of our planet/environment. The second is our Human Rights & Social Change Award, for films that highlight issues from International human rights abuses, to advancing equality and social acceptance for the LGBT community.
The Disappear Here Film Festival will make the following awards:

• Best Live Action Short Film (Ireland)
• Best Live Action Short Film (International)
• Best Feature Film
• Best Music Video
• Best Student Film
• Best Documentary
• Best Actor
• The Northern Exposure Award (For emerging Filmmakers*)
• Environmental Awareness Award
• Human Rights & Social Change Award
• Best Film Poster Award

*We will offer a EUR 500.00 Bursary to a selected new emerging talent.

Rules & Terms

GENERAL RULES

This is a film festival for feature films, shorts, documentaries, animation, student films and music videos, and work submitted must have been produced since January 2016.

All shorts must have a running time of less than 25 minutes.

Feature and Documentary submissions can be no longer than 120mins in length.

Non-English language films
To qualify for selection, all non-English language films must have an English-subtitled screening copy available.

How to send your film
Please submit your film via the online submission platforms.

Notification
The Festival will only contact those filmmakers with work selected for screening during the Festival. Unfortunately, the Festival cannot offer feedback regarding films that are not selected for the Festival.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS.

The Disappear Here Film Festival is hereby granted the right to use any film or video submitted and accepted for exhibition at the Festival or for promoting the Festival.

The individual or corporation submitting hereby warrants that it is authorised to commit the film or video for screening, and understands and accepts these requirements and regulations.

Entry to the Festival implies that the entrant has the right to do so, has pre-cleared all materials that comprise the film, and is an authorised representative of the team that holds the intellectual property in the film.

The undersigned shall indemnify and hold harmless 'The Disappear Here Film Festival' from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to fees, and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to the screening videos entered.
47 Reviews
Overall Rating
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  • Niall Duffy

    A wonderful, well organised film festival run by Michael McLaughlin and his professional, hard working festival team. It was an honour to have been presented ‘The Northern Exposure Award’ by Aideen Doherty from the Donegal Film Office, for our film The Rock in the Sea. We feel privileged to have premiered the film in our home county. The response and feedback from the audience in Donegal was outstanding. Looking forward to future participation in this stand out festival committed to championing creatives.

    October 2022
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  • Paireac Keane

    Unfortunately, could not make it to the event in person, but seems like a pretty cool festival with a well-currated programme of shorts. Would definitely recommend it and hope to make it up to the Ballyliffin someday for a future event.

    October 2022
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  • Tom O'Flaherty

    A great festival I would recommend to everyone, Michael who runs it is a massive asset to this festival, and what a location!!!

    October 2022
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  • Stanislav Domanský

    I like the festival. I highly recommend it to everyone. One of the best film festivals.

    October 2022
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  • Chris Oledude


    From Christopher R. Owens, President, CESO Enterprises, Inc. crowens@cesony.com:

    On behalf of CESO ENTERPRISES, INC., Alyssa Dann, Chris Oledude, and all of our production participants, I would like to compliment the organizers and operators of Disappear Here Film Festival. When we created our first music video (which was long enough to be a short film), we knew nothing about film festivals. With the help of FilmFreeway, we started researching. The categories were good. Everyone who contacted us on behalf of this festival was helpful. The submissions looked excellent.

    It was indeed exciting to discover this new world and to be so warmly welcomed by the inhabitants! To have GEORGE FLOYD: SAY THEIR NAMES selected for inclusion was an honor in and of itself.

    We were happy to “get the word out” and continue motivating people worldwide to consider the injustices embedded within our nation’s criminal justice system. After all, situations where a powerful segment of the population uses its law enforcement apparatus to abuse and oppress other segments of the population are recognizable in and common too many societies.
    We recommend submitting your work and we certainly intend to participate again in the future.

    Peace and stay safe!

    January 2022
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