Five features and seven shorts filmed in Leitrim over the past year

The 12th Adaptation Film Festival, held from September 18 to 21 across The Glens Arts Centre in Manorhamilton and The Model Cinema in Sligo, marked a milestone for the region with five feature films and seven shorts made locally in the past year. Festival coordinator Johnny Gogan said the scale of production would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. “If you said that to me five years ago, I’d say no way,” he said. “In addition to that, seven new short films were released here in the last year — and most of them are adaptations. It’s a big step for us, and the more you involve the people who are making the work in it, the more exciting it is.”

This year’s expanded programme also welcomed Oscar-winning director Neil Jordan back to his native Sligo for screenings and a public interview. “Having Neil here was really fitting,” Gogan said. “He has a strong connection with Sligo because he was born here, and his perspective was so strong because he just published his memoir last year. His responses were quick, diverse, illuminating, and truthful.”

For Gogan, the growth of the festival mirrors the growth of filmmaking in Ireland itself. “We make far more films in Ireland now than when I started,” he says. “It’s a proper, world-standard industry — not just Hollywood productions coming here, but Irish filmmakers and TV series makers too. I’ve a couple of films going out on Disney in the autumn, and others on Netflix. The opportunities are huge.”

The festival has always been about more than just screenings — it’s about building connections. “The festival is a good shop window for the work that’s happening here,” says Gogan. “Leitrim is a fantastic backdrop, but above all, it’s the talent that’s here: the writers, the cinematographers, the designers and sound designers. That’s a big part of what we’re about.”

Among the new shorts screened was The Blow-In, co-written and performed by actor-director Monica McCarthy. The comedy, based loosely on her own family’s story, was made on a shoestring budget with a crew of first-time filmmakers. “Everything just came together beautifully,” McCarthy said. “This weekend was the first time anyone saw it, and now we’re hoping it will make its way onto the festival circuit.”

For McCarthy, the inspiration came from her mother’s obsession with genealogy during the pandemic. “It’s largely based on a true story,” she explained. “My mom got buried in her ancestry research, and I came back to Ireland with her. I ended up falling in love with the next-door neighbour myself—so the story is, you could say, true to life.”

The Blow-In tells the story of an American tourist who gets more than she bargained for after arriving in Leitrim. Directed by McCarthy, written by Róisín Mulligan and produced by Mariia Levko, the short was developed as part of a project by The Glens Arts Centre and Leitrim Development Company. It is one of six shorts produced in the SLR region this year, showcasing the strength of local talent and storytelling.

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