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Festival coverage

Belfast Film Festival

29 October – 7 November 2026

This year, Northern Ireland's biggest film festival combines international hits with challenging documentary content and a great programme of shorts.

The festival runs from 29 October to 7 November.

Other years (2)

Latest reviews

  • A Little Learning Is A Dangerous Thing
    Review preview for A Little Learning Is A Dangerous Thing

    It’s a daring approach for a first feature.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    After a series of misfortunes, Michael rents a cheap bedroom and comes to terms with the state of the world, via online encyclopedias and edutainment videos. He becomes fixated on an English businessman who is mismanaging a local lough.
  • Hollow Trees
    Review preview for Hollow Trees

    The film is competently shot, with some nicely directed chases and a central action scene in the dark that stands out.

    Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
    Years after a devastating war, a hardened survivor and a young boy are forced from their home by creatures capable of imitating humans. As they journey north in search of refuge, their fragile bond is pushed to its limit.
  • Wild Horse Nine
    Review preview for Wild Horse Nine

    Malkovich and Rockwell are magnetic.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    Shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup, CIA agents Chris and Lee are dispatched from Santiago to Rapa Nui.
  • A Long Winter
    Review preview for A Long Winter

    Worse than incomplete, Haigh's film lacks a fully developed soul. This is in spite of striking aesthetic moments and sharply written scenes complemented by strong performances from the cast.

    Paul Risker · 2.5 out of 5
    Returning to his childhood home deep in the mountains, Mike is drawn back into the quiet rituals of family life as the clan prepares for the winter ahead.
  • A Man Of His Time
    Review preview for A Man Of His Time

    There exists no safe ground when you are part of a regime that uses fear and threats as casual tools.

    Anne-Katrin Titze · 3 out of 5
    Historical drama set against a backdrop of Vichy France as a man strives to help France's renewal.
  • Skintown
    Review preview for Skintown

    The film accurately portrays a generation in the crossfire which hasn’t been seen before.

    Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
    During the 1994 IRA ceasefire, two best friends try to escape their lives in a small Irish town.
  • The Peril At Pincer Point
    Review preview for The Peril At Pincer Point

    Joseph Field Eccles and Nick Smyth’s sound design...is magnificent from start to finish, and full of playful touches.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A lazy sound designer is sent to the remote island where a film was shot to capture a sound powerful enough to elevate its finale. Once there, eerie local fables surface: for years, ambitious and headstrong youth have lost their souls to a ghostly sea captain for his spectral crew.
  • Journacide: The War On Truth
    Review preview for Journacide: The War On Truth

    Having set the stage in the first half, Murray spends the latter part of the film telling personal stories.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    As of early May 2026, over 260 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023. The UN and various organisations have described this as the deadliest conflict for journalists in history. With Israel’s new surge of ethnic cleansing in South Lebanon the total has now reached 28 for the same period.
  • Minotaur
    Review preview for Minotaur

    Zvyagintsev handles this material with his familiar control: psychological realism, cold visual restraint and an aversion to overt flourish.

    Edin Custo · 3 out of 5
    A high-powered executive's meticulously controlled existence begins to unravel.
  • I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning
    Review preview for I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning

    Comes at you like a pint of lager with a Jäger bomb chaser and a packet of crisps – strong, energising, salty and sharp, you feel the headiness and the kick.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
    Childhood friends Patrick, Shiv, Rian, Oli, and Conor played together, skipped school together, and dreamt of the lives they would have one day. Now they’re thirty, and the future they imagined is slipping quietly out of reach.

A–Z of Belfast Film Festival 2026 reviews

Features

  • In deep water
    Dominic Curran on internet overexposure and A Little Learning Is A Dangerous Thing
  • Stories still unspoken
    Interview with Thomas Pollack, Andrew McNeill and Katarina Kokenyova about Rozkvet
  • The great divide
    Andrius Blazevicius on cinematic memories and How To Divorce During The War
  • Coming of age in a conflict zone
    Skintown director on The Troubles, male friendship and winning the Sean Connery Prize
  • The human story
    Seán Murray on Lebanon, the death of Amal Khalil and Journacide: The War On Truth