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The Hearth
- By: Belfast Film Festival & Mark Cousins
- Location: City-wide with premiere in Cineworld
- When: December
- Creative Me Profile: Mover & Maker
Earlier this year we asked you, the people of Belfast, to get involved by telling us your stories about your life in Belfast and/or filming on your phone something that reflects Belfast in 2024. Thanks to you we have now gathered over 20 hours of footage from over 300 participants.
The Hearth - World Premiere
Thursday 12 December
Cineworld, Belfast - 7.30pm
For more information and to book tickets, visit The Hearth website - (Link opens in new window)
Faces of Belfast Exhibition - we want to recognise and celebrate everyone who participated in The Hearth. Spot anyone you know? Look out for us over the coming weeks. We will popping up throughout the city at different locations and will be showcasing your films.
Belfast Docs
Under the mentorship of 4 experienced documentary filmmakers, we will be working with 4 community groups with an interest in documentary filmmaking and the film industry to be a part of our ‘Belfast Docs’ project.
Each of the groups will be assigned a documentary filmmaker who will facilitate the creation of a 5–minute documentary based on their groups interests and what they would like to share about themselves.
These short docs will be featured during the Docs Ireland Festival in June 2025.
Our Guiding Principles:
- The Hearth will be a self-portrait of Belfast on film.
- To include every age, creed, race, class, sexuality, neurodiversity and physical ability diversity.
- To show moments that move us, make us laugh or cry.
- We will encourage you to film things that are magical to you, or unexpected, raw or transformative.
- Tell us about moments that changed you.
- You can use your own phones or the simplest of cameras and send us your story.
- Alternatively, you can write stories, observations, poems which could be used as voice overs.
- Don’t worry about how perfect everything is, unfiltered rawness, and authenticity is what is important.
- We want to see and hear things that professional filmmakers would miss.
- When all submissions are in – an editor and our Creative Lead, Mark Cousins, will look at them all and select the magic moments.
- These won’t necessarily be big things, it might be just a joke, a look, a laugh…
- The completed film will world premiere at the 2024 Belfast Film Festival, with the contributors and their families there.
- It will play at locations around the city and at international film festivals.
If you want to hear more about the project email us at [email protected]
This project is supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players and is part of Our Future Heritage portfolio of projects which help us all enjoy and understand Belfast's heritage.
