Belfast Film Festival has announced Doc Fest Ireland, a brand new annual festival showcasing only documentary films, presenting new Irish and international feature length and short documentaries.

The festival will take place in Belfast from June 12 – 16 2019 and provide a platform to showcase the Irish documentary filmmaking industry with a dynamic programme of events that are both entertaining and provocative.

The festival will present awards for:

Best International Documentary

Best Irish Feature Documentary (The Pull Focus Award)

Best Irish Short Documentary

Best Observational Documentary (Maysles Brothers Award)

Outstanding Contribution to Documentary Film Award

The last five years have seen a surge in highly acclaimed feature-length documentaries from across the island of Ireland, with many securing theatrical releases.

Hard-hitting post-conflict legacy films such as Sinead O’Shea’s A Mother Brings Her Son To Be Shot, and Belfast-based Sean Murray’s Unquiet Graves are making waves in the industry.

Belfast based Fine Point Films filmography includes Emmy-nominated Elián, Alex Gibney’s No Stone Unturned and Bobby Sands: 66 Days, which is currently streaming on Netflix.

Chair of Doc Fest Ireland and internationally renowned documentary filmmaker Mark Cousins said: “Belfast is one of the most interesting cities in the world. It’s a city in transition and undergoing rapid social change.

"Add in the fact that the team behind Doc Fest Ireland is passionate and experienced, and that Ireland has a great tradition of documentary film, and it’s hard to think of a better place to launch a dynamic new documentary festival”.

Belfast Telegraph