Half Moon Film Festival 2025

23th - 25th May 2025

Cathy Jordan &
The Crankie Island Song Project

Friday 23th May, 8pm

Housewife of the Year

Sunday 25th May, 12:30pm

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

Saturday 24th May, 1:30pm

The Conversation

Sunday 25th May, 4:15pm

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

Sunday 25th May, 2:15pm

The Brutalist

Sunday 25th May, 6:45pm

Welcome

We are over the moon to bring you our annual lunar film festival over the weekend of 23-25 May 2025. Named Half Moon Film Festival - it’s slightly shorter than the usual Full Moon - it features Cathy Jordan’s Crankie Island Song Project and two days of back-to-back movies and special extras. 

Mixing music, illustration and story-telling, Cathy Jordan and her ensemble of musicians will perform their highly original take on Ireland’s rich musical tradition as they accompany films of hand-crafted crankie-boxes - a scrolling device that reveals an illustrated song. 

Then Saturday and Sunday are packed with movies carefully curated to inspire, delight and thrill you. Top picks include documentaries about life on the island of Ireland (Birdsong, Housewife of the Year and An Irish Wedding), a Gene Hackman tribute (The Conversation) and recent gong-winners (On Becoming A Guinea Fowl and The Brutalist) to name but a few.

Half Moon Film Festival has been made possible through generous support for which we are eternally grateful to:

Radius, Ark, Clanmil and Arbour Housing Associations which are supported by the Department for Communities and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive’s ‘Housing for All’ Shared Housing Programme;

Newry Mourne and Down District Council;

our friends, supporters, local businesses and magnificent volunteers.

This small but carefully curated festival of film, music and sound has something for everyone, so come on down and support your local community cinema. 

Crankie Island Song Project
May
23

Crankie Island Song Project

An artistic archive of stories and songs from Ireland’s rich musical tradition. Celebrated singer Cathy Jordan, of traditional powerhouse Dervish, brings these tales to life with music, sound, and visuals, preserving them for future generations. Using a ‘crankie box’—a unique storytelling device with scrolling illustrations—this project beautifully marries song and art.

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The Wild Robot
May
24

The Wild Robot

This dazzling Dreamworks animation for all ages follows robot Rozzum Unit 7134 - Roz - as she is shipwrecked on a remote Pacific island. Her attempts to ‘execute task - return to manufacturer’ are thwarted by nature’s chaos and it is her own nature of AI programming that helps her to understand where she is and her new forest friends.

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Birdsong
May
24

Birdsong

Meet Seán Ronayne. He’s a man on a mission. He’s set himself the task to record the song of every bird species in Ireland - nearly 200 of them. At once inspiring and cautionary, Seán’s journey illustrates the beauty and importance of sound, and what listening can tell us about the state of our natural world.

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Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
May
24

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

This thrilling roller coaster film essay pulls together American jazz and the geopolitical machinations of the 1950s and 60s to deliver an insightful interpretation of the 1961 CIA-led assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the first PM of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The film is propelled by the rhythms of jazz musicians of the day - Nina Simone, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie

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Bird
May
24

Bird

Fuelled by tracks from Sleaford Mods, Fontaines DC and Coldplay, we follow 12-year-old Bailey growing up in a freewheeling, graffiti-daubed North Kent squat with a teenage half-brother who dabbles in violent vigilantism and her feckless, magnificently tattooed, drug-dealing dad, Bug (Barry Keoghan).

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The Irish Wedding
May
24

The Irish Wedding

Who doesn’t love a wedding? Hankies at the ready for this warm celebration of the joys of the Irish wedding in all its predictability - the nerves, the dress, the speeches, beef or salmon, losing the rings, the first kiss. Following a number of couples, Director Alex Fegan’s faith in humanity shines in this display of all that is familiar and celebrates the huge diversity of Irish citizenry.

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Birdsong & Woodland Walk
May
25

Birdsong & Woodland Walk

Join us on a walk through the old trees of Donard Park, meandering through the forest of the demesne that once surrounded the Donard Lodge and on to the quarry where the ravens live. Led by keen birder Andy Carden and other friends of our local flora and fauna, we will pause to listen to birds, spot rare trees and bathe in nature.

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Housewife of the Year
May
25

Housewife of the Year

We travel back to a very different time when Gay Byrne quizzed female TV Show contestants about motherhood, marriage and housework as they competed for the accolade ‘Housewife of the Year.’ Funny, sweet and shocking, this winner of Galway Film Festival 2024 Best Irish Documentary, will have you counting your lucky stars.

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On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
May
25

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

Sparkling with the surreal and humour, this is a story of buried secrets coming to life after Shula stumbles across the body of her Uncle Fred on an empty road in the middle of the night. Fascinating, fresh and funny, this complex movie elegantly mixes catharsis and levity to achieve a formidable work.

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Classic with Cake presents… The Conversation
May
25

Classic with Cake presents… The Conversation

Gene Hackman is Harry Caul, a San Francisco-based surveillance expert hired by a shadowy company director (Robert Duvall) to eavesdrop on a couple walking through Union Square. After much knob-twiddling and wire-tuning, he deciphers a clue that triggers his fear that he is being surveilled himself.

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The Brutalist
May
25

The Brutalist

This three Oscar megalith stars Adrien Brody (winner of Best Actor) in the role of a lifetime as a Holocaust survivor who immigrates to USA where he struggles to realise the American Dream until a patron gives him the chance to prove his designer skills.

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Mickybo & Me with Q&A
Nov
17

Mickybo & Me with Q&A

This movie tells the story of two boys who become friends at the start of the Troubles in 1970. They share an obsession with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), with the consequence that they run away to Australia.

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Napoleon Dynamite
Nov
17

Napoleon Dynamite

A listless and alienated teenager helps his new friend win the class presidency in their small western high school, while dealing with his bizarre family life back home.

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Mrs Robinson
Nov
17

Mrs Robinson

Unfolding a story about female leadership, human rights activism and climate action, MRS ROBINSON tells the inspirational life story of change-maker Mary Robinson: Ireland’s first female President, a pioneering UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the successor of Nelson Mandela as Chair of The Elders.

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Kensuke’s Kingdom
Nov
17

Kensuke’s Kingdom

Young Michael, shipwrecked on a remote island, must adapt to life alone. Over time, he feels another presence, learning that this world is home to both unimaginable danger and beauty.

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Claymation Workshop
Nov
17

Claymation Workshop

Anyone aged 10 or over including adults are invited to roll up their sleeves and learn the art of breathing life into clay characters using stop-motion techniques.. Booking essential.

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North Circular with Director Q&A
Nov
16

North Circular with Director Q&A

This multi-award winning documentary journeys the length of Dublin’s famous North Circular road, giving the audience a rich, character-filled travelogue, whilst exploring themes such as the threatened working class community, age old tensions, & of course the wonderful, ever mutating musical culture.

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Hundreds of Beavers
Nov
16

Hundreds of Beavers

In this 19th century, supernatural winter epic, a drunken applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become North America's greatest fur trapper by defeating hundreds of beavers.

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Samsara (2023)
Nov
16

Samsara (2023)

In the temples of Laos, teenage monks accompany a soul in transit from one body to another through the bardo. A luminous and sonorous journey leads to reincarnate on the beaches of Zanzibar, where groups of women work in seaweed farms.

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Frida Kahlo
Nov
15

Frida Kahlo

This Frida Kahlo biography brings to light a lesser-known element of her artistic genius, namely the white-hot brilliance of her writing.

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Under The Volcano
Nov
26

Under The Volcano

As is customary, we love to finish a Full Moon with a music movie, and this time we’ve got a real zinger of a doc for you to conclude things - the story of the greatest music studio of the 80s: George Martin’s legendary AIR studios in beautiful Montserrat.

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Apocalypse Clown
Nov
26

Apocalypse Clown

Gloriously gag-filled clowning caper starring NCC favourite David Earl of “Brian & Charles” fame. Set in a post-apocalypse Ireland where a mysterious technological blackout has plunged Ireland into anarchy and chaos, a band of wash-up clowns traverse the country in a wind-up car picking up journalist Jenny (Amy De Bhrún) on a mission to prove her theory of the cause of the blackout. Add in a gang of ravers, some living statues and a big top’s worth of gags, and you get the idea of this mayhem madness of an absurdist farce

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Tarrac (Pull)
Nov
26

Tarrac (Pull)

The landscape of Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry provides the breathtaking backdrop to this Irish-language drama about a grieving woman drawn back to her old rowing team.

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2D Animation Workshop
Nov
26

2D Animation Workshop

In this workshop, children learn how to make a full 2D animated film, using iPads with digital styluses. The workshop also comprises advice on how to draw better, more defined characters, and how to achieve convincing movements - all taught by a professional animator. An ideal session for those who want to experience the wonderful and rewarding world of cartoon animation for the very first time. Booking essential.

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Monty Python & The Holy Grail
Nov
26

Monty Python & The Holy Grail

Bring out your dead! Join us for a rare Big Screen, quote-friendly screening of one of the best comedies ever made. The Python troupe’s silly take on Arthurian legend is held in extremely high esteem amongst the comedy connoisseurs, and it’s easy to see why; script, performances, setpieces - all are Python performing at the very height of their comedic powers. So come along and shout at the screen with us all - no fear of quotophobia here.

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Wolfwalkers - Sói Lang Thang
Nov
26

Wolfwalkers - Sói Lang Thang

Oscar nominated back in 2021, the dazzling & beguiling Wolfwalkers is an animated film from the embarrassingly talented Kilkenny-based Cartoon Saloon that also gave us The Secret Of Kells and Song Of The Sea. The third in their “Irish Folklore Trilogy,” this richly textured and beautifully drawn, at times Ghibli-inspired animation is hauntingly good. 

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Lego Animation Workshop
Nov
26

Lego Animation Workshop

This mini animation master class by Can Do Academy is a great introduction for anyone aged 6 and above to the colourful world of lego animation. Using Lego to animate is a big hit with young participants as it delivers quick results and allows their imagination to run wild as they construct and animate worlds using an iPad. Each participant will receive a copy of their film at the end of the workshop. Also suitable for teens and adults with an interest in filmmaking. Booking essential.

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Joy Ride
Nov
25

Joy Ride

Serious “Bridesmaids” vibes going on here, but in a very fun, and funny way. Adele Lim’s directorial debut sees four Asian-American friends undertake a once-in-a-lifetime trip through China in a quest to find one of their birth mothers. Throw into the mix some super gross-out gags, very raunchy humour, and a wealth of hyper-cringe setpieces, and you have a high-octane comedy full of heart that has won audiences over worldwide.

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