Screen Ireland Announce Focus Shorts 2025 Projects
Congratulations to the talented writers and creative teams whose projects have been selected for Screen Ireland’s Focus Shorts 2025.
From dark comedies and speculative dramas to heartfelt family encounters and unsettling thrillers, this year’s selection showcases the depth of Ireland’s emerging screen talent. We look forward to seeing these stories brought to life on screen.
The ten successful Focus Shorts projects for 2025 are:
1.Show Pony
Written by Megan Haly and Shannon Haly, directed by Shannon Haly, and produced by Emily Power.
Mid-drag performance at a queer bar in Cork, Claire is shocked to see her traditional Catholic Nana in the crowd. A conversation slowly unfolds between them backstage, where they discover that they have a lot more in common than either of them ever imagined.
2.A Knock at Your Door
Written and directed by Alan Hopkins, and produced by Husni Hafid.
A young couple shelters an injured teen, but as fear and a violent mob close in, they must face their own prejudices & hard truths about their relationship and values.
3.The Kevin Intervention
Written by Fiona Tuohy, directed by Aideen McCarthy, and produced by Margaret Milner Schmueck.
When a group of friends decide to break up with the world’s most annoying man, “bestie” Kevin, they start to have second thoughts when Kevin reveals some startling news.
4.Lucy’s Boyfriend
Written by Jonathan C. Creasy, directed by Zoë Gibney, and produced by Neil Guerin and Lisa Kelly. Adapted from a short story by Anne Enright.
A chance encounter in a Dublin yoga class forces a divorced mother into a darkly comic exploration of her teenage past.
5.Mom Friends
Written by Mairead Kiernan, directed by John Morton, and produced by Aoibhín Murphy.
A struggling new mother is lured into a too-perfect Mum group that offers her encouragement and creativity—until she discovers their bloody secret and has to decide whether to join their ranks or stay with her sabotaging husband.
6.The Colonist
Written by Dee Roycroft, directed by Jason Byrne and Kevin Treacy, and produced by Eoghan McKenna.
In a near-future world, a doctor returns home to find a determined visitor has claimed her kitchen. Their standoff becomes a lesson in coexistence, empathy and the small miracles of hope.
7.Butterfly
Written by Kate Gilmore and Fionnuala Gygax, directed by Natasha Waugh, and produced by Leeona Duff.
When the justice system fails them, two ex-national swimmers take a reckless road trip across Ireland to confront their past.
8.Linger
Written by Bobby Moloney, directed by Jaro Waldeck, and produced by Maria O’Neill and Gerard Mckenzie.
When a medical breakthrough offers Eve the choice to revive her dying husband for seven days, will the borrowed time be worthwhile, even if it kills him in the end?
9.Fried
Written by Mary Kirwan, directed by Zoë Brennan-Whitmore, and produced by Fiona Dwyer.
When a recent college graduate unwittingly buys a cursed air fryer, it triggers a dark, obsessive hunger that threatens her sanity.
10.Listen
Written and directed by Tracy Martin and produced by Jo Halpin.
A mother’s drive home turns into a nightmare when her husband begs her to keep a terrible secret.