Sounds from a Safe Harbour has always operated with a different frequency, tuning in to depth, community and the unexpected. Two months on from dropping this year’s line-up – featuring the likes of Jon Hopkins & S. Carey, Efterklang, Beth Orton, Lisa Hannigan, Villagers, and Rhiannon Giddens – organisers have now revealed its equally impressive film programme. Expanding the festival’s signature emphasis on ritual and resonance,, this year’s strand blends music documentaries, premieres and artist Q&As into a cinematic programme as carefully assembled as the live schedule itself.
Taking over The Arc Cinema, Triskel Christchurch and Cork Opera House, the film strand kicks off with the European premiere of Steve, a powerful new drama starring Cillian Murphy and adapted by Max Porter from his novel Shy. Directed by Tim Mielants, the film follows a reform school headteacher and a troubled student, with a post-screening Q&A featuring Murphy, Porter and Mielants.
There’s also the Irish premiere of Train Dreams, scored by Bryce Dessner and directed by Clint Bentley, with a cast that includes Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, and Kerry Condon. Bentley and Dessner previously collaborated on Jockey and Sing Sing, and this new feature continues their exploration of interior lives shaped by change and loss. Dessner himself will join for a Q&A following the screening.
Music documentary lovers are especially well served. The Irish premiere of It’s Never Over offers an intimate portrait of Jeff Buckley, drawing from unseen footage, voice messages, and raw reflections from those who knew him. It’s All Gonna Break captures two decades of Broken Social Scene, with a screening followed by a conversation with founding member Charlie Spearin, hosted by Brendan Canty. Meanwhile, In Time celebrates Dónal Lunny as a giant of Irish traditional music, with a live performance featuring Andy Irvine following the screening at Triskel.
There’s also a quietly stunning tribute to the late minimalist composer Conor Walsh in Selected Piano Works, a documentary directed by Keith Walsh that captures the interior beauty of Conor’s soundworld. A Q&A with Jill Beardsworth, Keith Walsh and Ray Cuddihy follows the screening.
Elsewhere, Gary Hustwit’s Eno takes a generative approach to documentary form – a different version of the film is shown each time – fitting for one of the most shape-shifting artists of the last century. A long-time producer for Bowie, U2, Talking Heads and a pioneer of ambient music, Eno’s legacy speaks for itself, but this film reveals the strange scaffolding behind his sonic world.
Another standout is Listen to the Land Speak, a deeply personal and spiritual documentary by Manchán Magan that explores the mythologies, healing powers and forgotten meanings in the Irish landscape. The film shifts inward when a health crisis reframes Magan’s journey, becoming something more intimate and reflective.
Speaking about the programme, co-curator Cillian Murphy said:
“There has always been such a natural crossover between cinema and music, and these delightfully diverse films very much speak to the philosophy and heart of what this festival is all about. The music documentaries are studies on some of my favourite artists of all time – Jeff Buckley, Broken Social Scene, Donal Lunny, Brian Eno and Conor Walsh. Each one elegiac, sensitive, and revelatory in different ways.”
Festival Director Mary Hickson added:
“There was a lovely serendipity around the film programme and how it came together. Lots of personal connections and offerings that formed the whole. Huge thanks to Netflix and to my co-curators Cillian Murphy and Max Porter for agreeing to present the European Premiere of Steve with us, and to Bryce Dessner for bringing Train Dreams to the party – this is such a huge compliment and a massive coup for SFSH.”
As ever with SFSH, it’s about more than names – it’s about the alchemy that happens when time, place, and intention align. These films, much like the live performances, aren’t just things to watch. They’re invitations to listen differently.
Tickets for all screenings go on sale at 12 noon, Tuesday 5th August, here.
