The relatively new film festival, the Dublin International Comedy Film Festival, organised by WFT Member Mo O’Connell is going into into its 3rd year and its 4th festival! DICFF promises some much needed winter levity with a programme of films, industry Q&A’s, a live script comedy competition, networking events, live stand-up acts and awards!
The Dublin International Comedy Film Festival hits the Lighthouse Cinema for the first time! It shares its programme between the Lighthouse Cinema and its home: the Generator Hostel in Smithfield, Dublin 7. Activities take place from the 29th November to the 2nd December with a jam packed programme of comedy films, shorts & sketches from Ireland & around the globe. There’s also a terrific line up of comedy acts, singers, filmmaker Q&As, a new comedy script reading competition and a glitzy Awards Ceremony to wrap up the 4 evenings of side-splitting fun. Deadpan Pictures is joining DICFF this year in judging and awarding the Best Irish Short Film of 2023!
A festival pass which includes entry to all films and events is at a fantastic price at only €30. The other tickets for each event are of great value and information on them can be found here. There is an opening night launch at 9pm on the 29th November after screenings at the Lighthouse Cinema that take place at the Generator Hostel that is free to attend and will have huge comedy acts performing.
Mo spotted a glaring gap in the market when it came to the representation of comedy at film festivals and couldn’t quite get her head around the fact that there wasn’t already a film festival in the Republic of Ireland dedicated to comedy! Mo set up the Dublin International Comedy Film Festival in 2020 in response to the pandemic. It went online and was a rip-roaring success with online comedy acts including Killian Sundermann and Michael Fry and over 60 comedy films to choose from, and it was all for only €5! Mo wanted to keep the price cheap as she wanted the festival to be a breath of fresh air and to provide a light relief for everyone struggling through lockdown. With over 60 films from home and abroad, DICFF has a fun-filled, laughter-packed 4 days of festive
comedy craic!
As part of the festival, DICFF have decided to highlight comedy writers this year by holding a script competition! But it is no ordinary script competition: each shortlisted script must prepare a live, performed, reading of their script with actors at the Generator venue during the dates of the festival; Friday 1st and Saturday 2nd December; in front of a live audience who then get to vote and have a say (along with the judges), on the winning script! They also have a new award to give away: Count Basie Spirit of the Festival Award, which allows for 2 Irish filmmakers to fly to New Jersey, USA in March 2024 to see their film being screened along with other films at the famous Count Basie Theatre!
You can get your tickets here and watch the trailer for the festival here!
About Mo O’Connell
Mo O’Connell
The festival is the brainchild of filmmaker and actor Maureen, or ‘Mo’ O’Connell, an award-winning actor, writer, director, and producer whose short films, wide ranging comedies like “Thespish” to the 1916-themed “Proclaim!” are regular selections for any solid Irish festival programme. The director’s debut comedy feature “Spa Weekend” has been a hit at festivals home and abroad, screening in British, European, US, Canadian and Irish festivals and winning the ‘She Is On Fire’ Award at the Female Filmmakers Festival in Berlin. Mo also recently won the Pitching Award at the Galway Film Fleadh for an idea based on her multi-award-winning short, “Haven” & received many awards for it and other films she’s worked on, including ‘Best Short Film’ in Frankfurt at the B3 Biennale October 2023 & ‘Best Arthouse’ at the Fastnet Film Festival May 2023 for ‘Bruise’ to name but two. Mo founded and is also the head of multi-award-winning company; 3 Hot Whiskeys Prods. Ltd.
