Belfast Film Festival unveils stellar programme for 26th year

(L-R) Michele Devlin, Belfast Film Festival, Rose Baker, Belfast Film Festival, Jade O'Neill, Actress, Seán Muray, Filmmaker, John Connors, Actor.

Belfast Film Festival has unveiled its 26th programme, bringing an ambitious line-up of international, UK and Irish cinema to venues across Belfast from 29 October – 7 November 2026.

The Festival will open in style with the World Premiere of Lost City, the highly anticipated first feature drama from award-winning Belfast filmmaker Seán Murray. Best known for his documentary Unquiet Graves, Murray makes his fiction debut with a gripping Belfast-set crime drama led by Blue Lights star Martin McCann, who plays a boxer dragged into the city’s criminal underworld just as life appears to be getting back on track.

Belfast Filmmaker Seán Murray and supporting cast of Belfast Film Festival opening film Lost City, Jade O'Neill and John Connors.

The Festival will finish with the Irish Premiere of I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, closing proceedings on Saturday 7 November. The latest film from acclaimed director Clio Barnard is written by Enda Walsh and features a standout ensemble cast including Belfast actors Lola Petticrew and Anthony Boyle, alongside Joe Cole, Jay Lycurgo and Daryl McCormack.

Among the headline guests this year will be one of Ireland’s most celebrated actors, Stephen Rea, who will receive the 2026 Réalta Award, which recognises those who use their craft for the greater good, confront the establishment and champion underrepresented voices.  For five extraordinary decades Rea has been adored by audiences worldwide, across film, television and theatre.  This award celebrates an inspirational career that has truly enriched Irish cinema and cultural life.

Rea will take part in a special In Conversation event at the QFT on the opening night, followed by the presentation of the award. Audiences will also see him on screen in both Lost City and Dallan Shovlin’s dark comedy You’ll Never Believe Who’s Dead.

Acclaimed Irish horror director Damian McCarthy, the filmmaker behind Caveat, Oddity and Hokum will be in town to take part in a directing masterclass moderated by actor, writer and director Clare Monnelly, before joining editor Brian Philip Davis for a live commentary screening of Hokum, providing behind-the-scenes insight into the making of the film.

This year’s New Cinema strand offers a bumper selection from some of the most exciting filmmakers working internationally. Highlights include Rose, starring Sandra Huller; Andrew Haigh’s A Long Winter, featuring Fred Hechinger, Kit Connor and Caitriona Balfe; and Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, starring John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi and Parker Posey.

Homegrown and Irish filmmaking will once again be at the heart of the programme. Among the highlights is Kieron J Walsh’s Skintown, starring Jack Rowan and Chris Walley as two best friends navigating rural raves, marching bands and a risky deal in 1994 Enniskillen. Its supporting cast includes Michael Smiley, Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, Hope Ikpoku Jr, Martin McCann, Roisin Gallagher, Gerard Jordan, Tara-Lynne O’Neill and Lalor Roddy.

Terry Loane’s Faraway Home tells the true story of two young Jewish children who escape Nazi-occupied Vienna via Kindertransport and are brought to the Millisle refugee farm in Northern Ireland, while Peter Young’s Our House brings a darkly comic inheritance battle to the screen with Michael Shea, Hannah McClean and Andy Doherty.

The highly anticipated directorial debut by Dallan Shovlin You’ll Never Believe Who’s Dead, will also feature, it stars Michelle Fairley, Ardal O’Hanlon, Jacob McCarthy, Ruth Codd, Peter Claffey and Stephen Rea; alongside Star of the Sea, which tells the story of a North Belfast youth football team steeped in reconciliation, yet torn apart by the Troubles.

The NI Independents strand will continue the Festival’s commitment to emerging filmmaking talent, showcasing bold locally made work including Dominic Curran’s A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing,  Cathal Fitzpatrick’s Hollow Trees, Will McConnell’s 20 Cigarettes and Thomas Pollock’s Rozkvet.

Short filmmaking takes centre stage during the Long Short Weekend, with four Competition Shorts programmes and four New Irish Shorts programmes bringing together emerging filmmakers from across Ireland.

The 26th Belfast Film Festival will take place across venues throughout the city including Queen’s Film Theatre, Cineworld, ODEON Belfast, The Avenue, Black Box, and the Beanbag Cinema. 

Speaking ahead of the Festival, Michele Devlin, Chief Executive of Belfast Film Festival, said:

"Twenty-five years in, Belfast Film Festival isn't slowing down. We're just getting started, and this programme is a thrilling way to open our next chapter.

"Thirty countries are sending films to Belfast, alongside an exceptional showcase of talent from right across the island of Ireland. We open with the World Premiere of Seán Murray's Lost City and honour the incomparable Stephen Rea with our Réalta Award. This programme is a winning mix of major international filmmakers and emerging voices sharing the same screens, and audiences get to discover both.

"This festival has always believed cinema is better together: in a dark room full of strangers, in the conversation that spills out afterwards, in the city that hosts it. For these ten days, Belfast is the place where great stories find their audience. Come and find yours."

Richard Williams, Chief Executive of Northern Ireland Screen said:

"Northern Ireland Screen is proud to support Belfast Film Festival. This year's festival programme showcases the wealth of talent we have in Northern Ireland from emerging voices to established filmmakers.

"This is a bumper year for Northern Irish features and we are especially excited to see Kieron J Walsh’s Skintown which recently won The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence at Edinburgh International Film Festival, You’ll Never Believe Who’s Dead directed by Dallan Shovlin, Terry Loane’s Faraway Home and the first feature Our House directed by Peter Young

"Short films remain a key priority for Northern Ireland Screen, and this year it is bigger than ever featuring an exciting mix of acclaimed directors and fresh new talent."

Belfast Film Festival is supported by Northern Ireland Screen through the Department for Communities, Belfast City Council, BFI/Film Hub NI, BFI (awarding National Lottery funding), Dormant Assets NI delivered by The National Lottery Community Fund, and Yellowmoon Post Production, Hastings and Birra Moretti.