Watch all the entrants for this year's Lumière Challenge, in association with Out of Frame and Deep Red Productions.
On Wednesday 26th of February, the films will be screened with a live pianist and the judges will announce their choices! Get your tickets here.
Below you'll be given the chance to vote for your favourite for the Audience Award. Please watch all of the entries before making your choice!
The Youth of Today! - Sarah Kelly
I (Sarah Kelly) am an artist and administrative assistant living in Cork City. I have an interest in theatrical forms and motifs and am involved in the amateur dramatics scene in Cork. I'm currently developing a film practice and learning how to tell a story on the screen. I'm interested in the larger than life portrayal of simple emotions and surreal perceptions of mundane things.
Taking Out The Trash - The McSweeneys
Graham and David McSweeney are a filmmaking due from Cork and the two heads of McSweeney Films. They have made dozens of independent short films and comedy sketches together over the past five years which are all available to watch on their YouTube channel. Graham is a writer, director and editor & David is a writer, actor and stand up comedian. Much of their work has been featured at the People’s Picturehouse as well as IndieCork. They recently won best cinematography for their Picturehouse Christmas challenge short film in December.
Into The Ether - Laurie Shaw
Laurie Shaw is a Wirral-born, Cork-based film maker. His work deals with the spaces between realities and the bending of time. Laurie Shaw's most notable shorts include "Let Her Go Into The Darkness", "Account No.994" and "Just Visiting". His first feature film will begin shooting later this year.
La prestigieuse représentation cinématographique et la présentation de marionnettes de 1901 - Jess Walsh & Patrick O' Mahony
Patrick and Jess are the brains and creatives behind the production company, Cheese Dog. Patrick is a director and animator specialising in stop-motion and puppetry and Jess is an actor and producer with a background in theatre. Their short film 'In between' won Spirit of The Challenge at last years Picturehouse 48 hour film event and they currently have multiple projects underway working together and independently.
Where Shadows Break - Sebastian Beausang
My name is Sebastian Beausang. I have been passionate about film since I was a small child. I’ve been lucky enough to make this passion my livelihood from working on productions such as Louise Lives Large, the Fall Guy, Mad Max: Furiosa, and more. I have worked as a camera and production assistant over the last few years but my dream is to direct story-driven films that create impact on the audience. Where Shadows Breaks is my most recent production that brings the audience a new perspective on the trauma response domestic violence victims can have post-relationship. This work reflects more of the type of work I hope to produce to the future.
Birdsong 2080 A.D - Adam Barry-Murphy
Adam Barry-Murphy is a filmmaker from Cork, he is currently working on his Masters in film in UCC. This film uses the Lumiere format and the theme of chaos theory to open up multiple avenues of interpretation, exploring the ongoing and potential future impacts of humanity on wildlife.
Introspection - Shane Kelleher
Shane Kelleher is the mind behind Film Nerd Productions, an independent creative space focused on producing films, photography and every creative avenue in between. I love to collaborate with other filmmakers, artists and generally bond with everyone over our passion towards creating projects.
PIPER CRAZY - Shane Vaughan
Shane Vaughan is a Limerick-based artist working in photo, film, and writing. He ran the poetry and arts event “stanzas” from 2014-2020 where he hosted over sixty events and five festivals. In 2023 he co-started Big Shots alongside Conor Hooper. Big Shots is an “open mic night for filmmakers” and accepts anything made with a camera. His written work has been published in journals alls such as Poetry NI and the Pickled Body. His plays performed at the Cork School of Music and the Cork Arts Theatre. His films have screened at Indie Cork, RHIFF, EFF and elsewhere. He has an MA in Fine Art from Crawford and is a member of Spacecraft Studios where he makes fine art photo and video. In 2024 he held a solo exhibition of Analogue Photography in the Courthouse Gallery, Clare.
Childish me - Róisín O'Donnell
My name is Roisin O’Donnell and I am twenty-five years old. I submitted to the Lumière challenge because my brain is brimming with stories and feelings I want to film and share. My creative inspiration is the kind people in my life and the unkind people living in my past.
I have always written. I write fiction (sometimes sci-fi) and plays. I was a part of the Young Playwrights Programme and had my work staged in the Everyman as part of the Cork Midsummer Festival. I also love to act. I'm currently in rehearsals for Rebel City Drama Club's Lady Windemere's Fan playing the role of Lady Agatha and I have a small part in Lorca Theatre’s upcoming show.
The Chaotic Universes Of Simon's Love Life - Nora Twomey
Nora Twomey is a 19 year old film student at the National Film School in IADT and is from Macroom, county Cork. Her short documentary "Devil May Care" about her great-grandmother's involvement in the Irish Civil War screened at the Picturehouse during the July showcase and as one of four Irish films at the All-American Film Festival at the AMC Empire Theater in Times Square, NYC. The film has won "Best Documentary" at the First Cut! Film Festival and the Radharc Trust Award at the Fresh Film Festival's Irelands Young Filmmaker Of The Year Awards.
Don't Move the Frame - Dylan Ryan
I am a second year film student in saint johns and I am 21 years old.
I Will Clean Up Soon - Namejs Balodis
My name is Namejs Balodis. I am a massive movie lover (I watched 435 movies last year and as of 23/02/25 I’ve watched 55 movies this year) I adore the cinema and just the escape that movies provide for me. I also occasionally work in the tv & film industry having worked with Tommy Tiernan, Opry Le Daniel, two feature films and numerous short films.
The score for my submission was composed by me and the whole making of my film took about 10 continuous hours and it was just a one man show. It was a learning process of readjusting every beat and prop to fit into the sixty seconds but it was so fun learning more about myself as a filmmaker.
Thank you for taking the time for watching my film and I hope you enjoy it!
The History of the Universe - Conor Flynn
I'm a filmmaker from West Cork, and studied film at UCD and St. Johns. After a few years working in crew roles such as continuity and as a PA, for the past two years I have been working on creating my own short films and videos, usually comedies, which have played at festivals in Ireland and abroad. I have a Youtube channel under my own name where I post most of my work, and I am currently in the middle of shooting my next short film.
The Arrival of a Train at Charlemont Station, 2025 - Bárbara Soares
Bárbara Soares is a Brazilian-Irish award-winning filmmaker, actress, and journalist based in Dublin. She holds a Master’s in Journalism and Media from Griffith College Dublin, specialising in documentary filmmaking, and a postgraduate degree in Innovation and Enterprise from Trinity College Dublin.
As an investigative journalist, she has worked with RTÉ on several projects, including an IFTA-winning documentary. She also presented and reported for RTÉ Investigates: Sex for Rent (RTÉ ONE, RTÉ Player), nominated for a 2024 Royal Television Society Award and winner of Best Current Affairs at the Celtic Media Festival.
In filmmaking, Bárbara wrote and directed Lockdown Upside Down, One-Minute Winner at the 2021 Chicago Irish Film Festival. She also co-directed, co-wrote, and starred in All About Me (2018), her first short film, which screened at the Galway Film Fleadh. Her latest short, Almost Always (2024), won Best Editing at The People’s Picturehouse Cork in December.
As an actress, she has starred in numerous short and independent films, winning two Best Actress awards for Strangers in the Night (2022/23).
Beyond film and journalism, Bárbara is a graphic and industrial designer and a multidisciplinary artist working across painting, sculpture, and upcycling art.
222 - Fan Yang
My name is Fanyang, a student majoring in photography, and I've always been eager to explore the field of film production. Previously, I created several advertising short films and won awards in the Chinese College Advertising Competition. For this Lumière Challenge, the film I shot combines the themes of zombies and the apocalypse to illustrate the chaos theory. During the production, I constantly pondered how to make the concept of chaos more abstract and dramatic. Thus, in constructing the plot, I set up various unexpected and disorderly conflict scenes, making the characters struggle to survive in an environment overrun by zombies at the end of the world. As for the ending, I made an interesting twist. Unconventionally, I used insecticide to turn the situation around and created an unexpected "happy ending". I'm really looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts on this work at the event and hope to learn a great deal from all of you. Looking forward to the event and further communication in the future.
Loie's Light (La Lumière de Loie) - Tereza Feixová
I always loved taking photos and videos but my filmmaking journey only really began when I moved from the Czech countryside where I grew up to Cork to start my film studies at UCC, which I'm now two years into. Last year I wrote a script for my first ever short film called Sunset, which I also directed after it got chosen to go into production as one of the few first-year projects. Currently I'm working on a nature documentary about the UCC Campus for my 2nd year project while also managing the social media of UCC Film and Photography Society and UCC Slavic Society. I find the film and media landscape of Cork is really diverse and has a lot to offer and I'm really grateful to be a part of that!
EXHIBITION 1 - Liam Fahy
Liam is an Animator from Clare who enjoys the challenge of trying to do the most with the least in his designs and aspires to one day have an exhibition of his work.
In the meantime, his film 'Exhibition 1' will have to do. Featuring a selection of pieces from his DOodLESS series and inspired by the depressing statistic that on average viewers spend less than 5 seconds looking at a single image, this film is essentially a 'gallery speed run'.
Video - Thomas Twomey and James Mannix
Myself (Thomas) (19) and James (21) are two students doing a level 5 in film and tv at Douglas street campus who aspire to make it into the industry and have found that we work together quite well so have started to do so on some projects of our own. We loved the idea of this challenge so we said we would give it a go.
An Offensive Mime - Emma O' Mahony
My name is Emma O Mahony. I studied Film and Video Production at St Johns over a decade ago and have been playing around in the sand box that is film and tv on and off since then.
I've worked as a PA and a Trainee AD on projects like 'Bodkin' 'Go Gasta' and 'Raised by the Village' I really got back into making projects last year with some friends when we entered the Picturehouses 48 Film Challenge and Christmas Film Challenge.
I wanted to challenge myself to do this project on my own to build up confidence both behind and in front of the camera. It's inspired by the A listers of old who had to use their bodies and faces to speak to the audience in a time of no sound.
I hope you enjoy it.
9.14 9.4 - Kyle English and Michael Moone
Kyle English is a performer, writer, director, and designer based in Cork. His work looks at what makes people tick and societal presumption. His writing employs surrealist humour as medicine for a difficult world. Previous writing and directing work includes, ‘The Show We Put On’, a 4-person musical tragi-comedy about people-pleasing, and ‘The Call Of’, a collaboration with Dutch composer, Wike Schippers, and a string quintet to make an immersive storytelling show about the act of choosing the unknown for better or worse.
Recent performance credits include, Satan in ‘Phil and Satan’ (Dir. Ryan Lacey, 2024), Hamlet in ‘Hamlet’ (Dir. Peadar Odonohoe, 2024), Deckie in The Local (dir. Donal Gallagher, 2023),
He is currently being supported by The Everyman Cork, The Cork Midsummer, Bristol Old Vic and Bristol MAYFEST, to develop his artistic practice and in the creation of a new non-verbal one-man show.
Michael Moone is an actor, composer and producer based out of Cork. He recently completed his BA in Theatre and Drama Studies at the MTU Cork School of Music. A co-creator and producer of "SadPanto" with the CATALYST programme, Michael's recent acting credits include 'Jim' -Chatroom (Four Face Theatre 2023), Various Roles in 'Grimm's Fairytales' (CSM 2022)
Coming Around - Cătălin ”Zenby” Luntrașu
My name is Cătălin ”Zenby” Luntrașu, I am a 2nd year Film and Screen Media student at UCC and I thought I would send a quick little film I did for this wonderful Lumiere challenge. As the theme was Chaos Theory I wanted to present a system, a never ending cycle in which someone decides to make a change, being the only way something could be affected which is presented in the theory. Hope you enjoy it! Thanks for this opportunity!