As May blooms about us, we have an abundance of freshly cut film treats for you on our Eventive powered Irish Film From Home platform. From groundbreaking feature documentaries to the latest shorts talent, you will have much to keep you occupied, touched, intrigued and entertained.

Johnny Gogan’s feature documentary, Groundswell (2021), could not be more timely. As concern for the environment grows, this film documents the fight to ban fracking in Ireland, focusing on the local battle against Tamboran Resources in Counties Leitrim and Fermanagh. Mark Ruffalo, producer and star of Dark Waters, a 2019 film that exposed the effects of corporate chemical contamination on a small community in West Virginia, lends his heft with an appearance in the film. Groundswell pulls focus on the beauty of rural Ireland and the deep connection and love of the people for their place, contrasting with the heartless self-seeking of those in power and industry.

The Irish Times called Gillian Marsh’s The Funeral Director (2020, RTÉ ) “An exquisite, profound portrait of a profession,” as it follows a master craftsman going about his daily work with dignity, tenderness, skill, humour, and mountains of respect.

There is much to learn and enjoy here about the man, David McGowan, the practicalities and rituals surrounding death, and the place it has in all our lives. We are delighted to be presenting the Director’s Cut of the film.

Our May shorts programme also has plenty for you to enjoy: from an award-winning drama about the unknowns of PTSD (Flicker); an unusual journey towards overcoming the loss of a child (My Other Suit is Human); to touching stories about the meaning of home (Coyote), and an affecting documentary, reflecting on Irish migration in the 1980s (Tumbling Towards Home). There’s also a suitably seasonal dark-tinged comedy (Barry), cautioning about noisy dogs disturbing a gardener’s peaceful hedge-trimming…