It’s no secret that we love a film festival at Out Takes so for this program we let you know what’s the craic with the return of the Irish Film Festival. Now in its 11^th year, the 2025 Festival will showcase sixteen films and documentaries from Ireland, including 14 Australian premieres, and will take place in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, and Perth, alongside a nationwide online program from October 9 to November 9.

We had the opportunity to review three films, starting with ‘Never Stop the Action’, which is described as a kaleidoscopic journey through time and space. We begin the film in The Bronx, catching a 5am D-Train with our guides Teshi and Casey, two old friends recently reunited at an all-night dance party. On their long subway ride through the awakening city, the two share stories that take us out of the train on surreal swerves into vivid imaginary universes.

We then looked at ‘Ten Years of Yes’, a wonderful short film that follows Sydney Queer Irish, a social group for Irish expats and their friends of all identities and nationalities in Sydney. For the last 15 years, they have held regular meetups and annual events, participated in the Mardi Gras festival, and created a home away from home for Ireland’s LGBTQ+ diaspora down under. This short documentary follows Sydney Queer Irish in their preparation for the 2025 Mardi Gras parade, where they unveiled a sensational wedding party upon Sydney’s Oxford Street, honouring ten years of marriage equality in Ireland. ‘Ten Years of Yes’ captures a moment of both reflection and celebration amongst a community in their adopted city, thousands of kilometres from where history was made. We spoke with Alan Fitzgerald, the film’s director and member of Sydney Queer Irish, about how he got involved in the group, the importance of capturing this moment on film and also how he became an ‘accidental’ filmmaker.

Our final review was the feature documentary ‘Mrs Robinson’, which tells the impressive life story of change-maker Mary Robinson: Ireland’s first female President, a pioneering UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the successor of Nelson Mandela as Chair of The Elders. This intimate portrait takes viewers from Mary Robinson’s childhood in the rural west of Ireland to the world stage working with Bishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Joe Biden, and Barack Obama. Unfettered access for the first time allows the viewer to hear Mary’s commentary on a changing Ireland, her legal wins decriminalising homosexuality, legalising divorce and contraception and her triumphant Presidential victory.

We finished by speaking with Dr Enda Murray, an award-winning filmmaker who has lived and worked in Ireland, England, USA, and Australia. His academic and filmmaking practice focuses on community, social justice, and popular culture. He is also the founder and creative director of the Irish Film Festival, and we spoke with him to find out more about the history of the festival, the importance of sharing Irish stories on our screens and more.

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