The OFFline film festival runs every October in Birr, County Offaly.

The 2022 festival starts this Wednesday 12th – Sunday 16th October. This five-day festival for film lovers and filmmakers alike has been screening Irish and international films in Birr, County Offaly since 2010. OFFline includes an array of workshops on different aspects of filmmaking, screenings, and workshops. It has become a very hands-on festival where filmmakers and audiences alike can mingle over a cuppa in many of the gorgeous eateries in Birr town centre.

Birr is an idyllic setting for a film festival as it is a town rich in history, peppered with elegant buildings and Birr Castle Demesne is on it’s doorstep. It is ‘location heaven’ for any budding filmmaker. Spanning 5 days there is the added bonus of film and animation workshops unique to OFFline. Eoin O’Kane and Joe Loftus the OFFline Animation Residents and the public will get the chance to meet them at the annual ‘Show & Tell’ where they’ll show their progress over the past six months.

This year’s opening film is TARRAC by the Offaly duo of Eugene O’Brien & Declan Recks. Screening at Birr Theatre & Arts Centre on Wed, October 12, (8.30pm). It’s an intimate character study and sports drama set in the Kerry Gaeltacht.
Some of the other highlights include Irish language film ‘An Cailín Ciúin’ which is showing in Birr Theatre at 8pm on Thursday and the international documentary ‘The Territory’ which will be shown on Saturday in association with Access Cinema Ireland

No Offline film festival would be the same without Fright Night! It’s back this year in Kinnitty Castle where you can get the bus from Emmet Square in Birr at 7pm on Friday 14th and onto Giltraps Pub, followed by a special Spooktacular screening in Kinnitty Castle.
Food & Film is also back on the schedule on Friday The Chestnut, Birr. This year, Michael Flately’s much talked about ‘Blackbird’ is screening in the Chestnut Garden.

There will be a short film selection of film from filmmakers in Offaly. ‘Made in the Midlands’ features 4 films by Offaly filmmakers including Garret Daly’s ‘Personal Space’. ‘Spiral Nebula’ which was made on location in Birr Castle demesne and a world premiere of Whale by Lorna Fitzsimons, a gripping drama about the complexity of domestic violence, produced by Wildfire Films and funded by FilmOffaly. The screenings will take place on 13th October.
With filmmaking workshops, outdoor screenings in quirky locations and plenty of surprises, Birr is set to become a mini ‘Cannes’ this week. Not to be missed.

Check their website https://offlinefilmfestival.com