We are deeply saddened by the passing of Béla Tarr, one of the most singular and influential voices in world cinema.

In 2017, Béla Tarr was welcomed to the Silk Road International Film Festival as part of SRIFF Honours, delivering a masterclass at Trinity College Dublin. The masterclass was supported by Trinity College Dublin and Screen Skills Ireland (formally Screen Training Ireland), reflecting a shared commitment to artistic excellence, film education, and international cultural exchange.

Renowned for landmark works including Sátántangó, Werckmeister Harmonies, and The Turin Horse, Tarr reshaped the language of cinema, urging audiences to slow down, to observe, and to engage with the deeper moral and philosophical dimensions of human existence. Beyond his extraordinary body of work, he was a devoted teacher and mentor whose influence continues through generations of filmmakers worldwide.

We remember Béla Tarr with deep gratitude and respect. His legacy endures through his films, his teaching, and the lasting impact he made on those who had the privilege to learn from him.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Founders & Directors of Silk Road International Film Festival

Carla Mooney, Delwyn Mooney & Steinar Oli Jonsson

#BelaTarr #SRIFFHonours #WorldCinema #TrinityCollegeDublin #ScreenSkillsIreland #SilkRoadFilmFestival

This special promotion is our way of thanking the global filmmaking community for its continued support and for bringing exceptional storytelling to SRIFF each year.

Black Friday Discount Details:

• Discount Code: BLACKFRIDAY40SRIFF
  
• Offer Valid: Friday 28 November 2025 – Sunday 30 November 2025
  
• Submit Via: FilmFreeway – Silk Road International Film Festival
  filmfreeway.com/SilkRoadFilmFestival
  

We look forward to discovering bold, original, and boundary-pushing films from around the world as we build our 2026 programme.

This year, the festival proudly brought a vibrant blend of Middle Eastern and international storytelling to two iconic venues: the historic Trinity College Dublin and the renowned United Arts Club, a long-standing gathering place for Ireland’s artistic community.

Over the festival’s intimate run, filmmakers and audiences connected through a shared love of cinema, creating a lively creative hub within the city. Screenings sparked conversations, new friendships took root, and late-night discussions over Middle Eastern food from the beloved Silk Road Café became cherished memories. Much like the films showcased, the festival itself became a testament to the richness of life, culture, and artistic expression.

We are delighted to recognise the extraordinary talent presented this year and to announce the 2025 award recipients:

Awards

13th Silk Road International Film Festival “Lifetime Achievement Award”

Claire Denis

A – FEATURE
Best Feature Rosinante

Best Director –  Emine Yildirim – Apollon By Day Athena By Night

Best Actor – Yerlan Tuleutay – Abel (Kazakhstan)
Best Actress – Nida Chowdhry – Anxiety

B – DOCUMENTARY
Best Documentary – Going Long (Italy)

Best Director –  Wendy Lobel – Anxiety Club

C – ANIMATION
Best Animation – Korean Ancestral Rites (Korea)

Best Director – Taiah Hay – Night of the Living Fish

D – SHORT
Best Short Live Action – Nightfaces                                                                                                     

Best Short Documentary –  Leave Only Footprints 

Jury Special Mention – Salt 

Jury Special Mention – Can Lis – Utzon’s Hidden Masterpiece

Jury Special Mention – The Invitation

Jury Special Mention – The Tale of Pomegranate

Jury Special Mention – Meeting the Buddha 

Best Director – Niall Duffy Galar
Best Actor – Michael Harding – Where the Old Man Lives
Best Actress – Park Hye In – Stand at the Winter Sea

E – STUDENT FILM IRELAND
Best Student Film – The Real Cian Stanley

F – STUDENT FILM INTERNATIONAL
Best Student Film International – I Am (Cyprus)

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA

The Swift Theatre, The Arts Building,Trinity College Dublin (free admission).

tickets here

13th Silk Road International Film Festival 2025

Programme for Saturday 22 November

THE EVENTS WILL TAKE PLACE IN THREE DIFFERENT VENUES WITH MULTIPLE SCREENINGS THROUGHOUT THE DAY.

PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR VENUES, TIMES, BOOKING LINKS, SCREENINGS AND DETAILS OF SPECIAL Q&A WITH DIRECTOR CATHAL BLACK.

VENUES

Venue: Swift Theatre, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin 

Address: College Green, Dublin 2, D02 PN40

Time: 9am-12.45pm 

Venue: United Arts Club (Function Room and Dining Room)

Address: 3 Fitzwilliam Street Upper, Dublin 2, D02 RR50

Time: 9am-10.20pm 

BOOKING LINKS & PRICES

The price given below permits viewing of all films in each screening session; there is an additional charge to attend the screening of Stew to Eat and the Cathal Black event..

United Arts Club Screenings – Full Price €15 (incl. VAT)

Buy Tickets

United Arts Club Screenings – Student Price  €10 (incl. VAT)

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CATHAL BLACK Special Screenings (Korea & Learning Gravity followed by Q&A) 

€25 (incl VAT)

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Stew to Eat (UAC – Short Film) €5

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Trinity College Dublin Screenings – Shorts 1 & Shorts 2 €15

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THE SWIFT THEATRE, ARTS BUILDING, TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN

Programme: Shorts 1 and 2

Saturday 22 November 2025

Time: 9am-12.45pm 

1.Galar

Ireland

Based on true events from an ongoing crisis.In rural Ireland, a determined father fights to save his crumbling home and protect his family amidst a neglected housing crisis.

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2.Where The Old Man Lives

Ireland

In rural Ireland, an old man living in fear and isolation risks everything to protect himself from dangerous intruders.

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3. Sister of the Dogs

Ireland, Spain

Two lovers, Helena and Ingrid, who are involved in a relationship with sadomasochistic aspects and a wide age gap, are trapped in a labyrinthic building with layers of history and memory, where time elapses mysteriously.

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4. Leave Only Footprints

Ireland

Following explorers who document abandoned buildings, the film offers a glimpse into a hidden landscape of decaying heritage. These structures, often left to deteriorate due to land banking, stalled development, or unclear ownership, raise questions about how we value and manage our built environment—and what might be done to safeguard it before it’s lost.

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5. The Real Cian Stanley

Ireland

Spending his life beating the odds, Cian Stanley learns to play the drums not letting his diagnosis of dyspraxia stop him. Cian continues to push on to achieve his dreams of being a content creator not allowing other people’s expectations to define him

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6. SALT

Ireland

Sodium chloride is vital for all life, serving as the primary salt in seawater and an essential compound within our bodies.

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7. The Invitation

Ireland

When neuro-diverse Alex is invited to his first party at the age of 18 by someone he doesn’t know, his over-anxious parents go into overdrive to protect him. They’re convinced there must be an ulterior motive

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8. Moved

Ireland

Nine LGBTQIA+ asylum seekers from around the world gather at a Dublin community centre to share their journeys — from fleeing persecution to building new lives and dreaming of safer futures.

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9.The Last Call

USA

A professional coach awakens in a locked room trying to figure out what happened to him and how he can escape, with only the aid of a dying cell phone and cryptic phone calls from his kidnapper

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10. The Robe of Rainbow Feathers

USA

The main character lives in a house set in an idyllic natural setting that allows her to foster a respect for the many friends and colorful creatures that live near her and gather around her.

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11. Finger

China

When nurse Jinmei arrives at the hospital with a strange burn-like mark on her neck, her curious colleague Tang can’t resist investigating. But as she digs deeper, something dark and poisonous begins to surface from beneath Jinmei’s skin — and reality itself starts to unravel.

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12. Snowbird

USA

A self-taught rocket scientist invites a big city journalist out into the desert to cover a launch that will prove, once and for all, that the Earth is flat.

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13. Korean Ancestral Rites

Republic of Korea

The goblin Toru prepares a Jesa table to meet his late mother.

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THE UNITED ARTS CLUB: THE FUNCTION ROOM

Programme: Film Screenings and Q&A with Cathal Black

Saturday 22 November 2025

Time: 9am-10:20 p.m. 

1. Can Lis – Utzon’s Hidden Masterpiece (53 mins)

9am-9.53am

Ireland

Located on the majestic coast of Mallorca, Can Lis – Utzon’s Hidden Masterpiece unravels the history and significance of the iconic house designed by Jørn Utzon, the architect behind the world-famous Sydney Opera House.

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3. ReRooted (6mins 31)

11.40am -11.47am 

Ireland

A bored warehouse worker’s quest for an enduring legacy as an animator takes a darkly comedic turn when she signs up for an eco-friendly burial.

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12-4:15 P.M.: SPECIAL SCREENING OF FILMS BY DIRECTOR CATHAL BLACK FOLLOWED BY Q&A HOSTED BY KATE O TOOLE  

Korea (97mins)

12pm – 1.37pm

Ireland

A powerful story of the relationship between father and son, John and Eamon Doyle. It is set in rural Ireland during the 1950’s, a period of mass emigration and social change. Young Irish emigrants, on arriving in America, have been enlisted and sent to fight in the Korean War.

Learning Gravity (90mins)

2pm – 3.30pm

Through the eyes of poet and undertaker Thomas Lynch, this lyrical portrait explores how a life spent among the dead reveals the deepest truths about the living — a meditation on mortality, memory, and the absurd beauty of it all.

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4.Stew to Eat (24.57mins)

4.20pm – 4.45pm

USA

The Stew is almost ready, but there is one thing missing… a dark adventure of unrequited love, societal decay and insatiable hunger.

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5. The Last Summer (90mins)

5pm-6.30pm  

China (SIFF/BRFFA)

Days before China’s Gaokao, top student Li Zhizhi sees her father with a pregnant woman. In shock, she drops an ashtray that injuries a child. As guilt mounts, she learns her parents divorced years ago but hid it for her exams. Worse, they stay silent about the accident – prioritizing Gaokao over truth.

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6. A Rare Grand Alignment (133mins)

6.35pm- 8.48pm

USA 

In the winter of 1982 three American boys found themselves stranded in a cable car with a dead body, midair in the mountains of Norway, during a rare celestial event.

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7. Chasing the Light (1hr20mins)

9pm-10.20pm

Ireland

Chasing the Light is an inspiring story of hope and redemption, a beautiful feature documentary set amongst a spiritual community of misfits on the wild cliffs of the west of Ireland.

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THE UNITED ARTS CLUB: THE DINING ROOM

Programme: Film Screenings 

Saturday 22 November 2025

1. Anxious (97mins)

9am

USA

About a woman named Ruby who has an anxiety attack and trips down the rabbit hole of her mind, where she meets versions of herself who take over her life.

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2. Abel (120mins)

10.42am

Kazakstan

In the turbulent landscape of post-Soviet Kazakhstan in 1993, collective farms are disbanded, and properties are set to be privatized.

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3. My Friend Miles (77mins)

12.47pm

Belgium

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4. 95B (1hr 41mins 55 sec)

14.24pm

Ireland

Memories populate a woman’s time on board the canal boat 95B as she navigates an environment held captive to an unnatural occurrence. Aimlessly adrift with an abundance of time, characters are encountered, remote areas are uncovered but in the absence of hope nothing is gained, only honey.

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5. Water Lilies (118mins)

16:26

Republic of Korea

The water lilies blooms, even in the filthiest waters. Amid the mire of selfish desires and the indifference to others’ suffering, hope begins to bloom anew in the fleeting moment when we recognize the humanity within one another.

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6. Tale of Pomegranate (2 hrs)

18:29

Iran

Pomegranate, the city flower of Xi’an, was introduced to China from Iran during the Han Dynasty. Based on the pomegranate, this documentary shows a deep reflection on the intrinsic connection between the two cities of Xi’an, China and Isfahan, Iran, through the perspectives of an Iranian professor of history and a Chinese documentary filmmaker. At the intersection of tradition and modernity, it links the historical heritage and spiritual commonalities between China and Iran, and deepens the understanding of the history and modernity of the two cities from a new perspective.

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7. Anxiety Club (97 mins)

20.34

USA

Anxiety Club offers a heartfelt and humorous exploration of anxiety through the lens of some of today’s most brilliant comedians: Tiffany Jenkins, Joe List, Marc Maron, Aparna Nancherla, Mark Normand, Baron Vaughn, and Eva Victor.

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