Screening Location
Queen’s Film Studio（Enter through Queen’s Film Theatre）
20 University Square, Belfast BT7 1PA
This event is free and open to the public, please click the below button for registration.
Screening Introduction
The Eutopia Arthouse Film Festival (EAFF) is a non-profit international film exhibition focused on fostering artistic exchange and development among young filmmakers. EAFF is organized by the Queen’s University Belfast, and funded by the 2024 Queen’s Annual Fund. EAFF, rooted in Northern Ireland, features a section called ‘Northern Ireland Stars,’ showcasing films by local filmmakers or those filmed in Northern Ireland, offering a glimpse into the region’s rich culture and compelling stories. Working with director Dawn Richardson, artist Jonathan Brennan and the Digital Film Archive, writer Paul Doran has developed a specially-commissioned script for NI Mental Health Arts Festival about the ways in which myths are created and how they live alongside those who experience and remember their stories.
Daytrip (In Memory of Mary Butters) looks at how myths are created and what they can tell us about the way our minds work.
We follow a group of people remembering a trauma from their childhood. They have revisited it many times. At first apart, then together as a story, turning the events forwards and backwards across the years until they have formed a mystic ritual that connects them with deeper, older scars.
The connections between lived mental health challenges, half-remembered stories and the intangibles of intergenerational trauma forms the backbone of the story. Echoing the wider experience of the Northern Irish Troubles and how its many traumas are remembered, retold and processed.
The film is an artistic and poetic treatment of archive material and original footage that brings modern folklore together with locations that have a much older significance. The piece explores ideas such as psychogeography and hauntology, and how these are reflected in Northern Ireland’s more recent history. This has been achieved through collaborations with the recipients of NI Mental Health Arts Festival’s Artist Residency – EG Dunne, Brian Coney and Ben Harris – over four days in the Sperrins, County Tyrone. Also by working with culture bearers the Armagh Rhymers.
The film is narrated by BBC Radio Ulster’s Steven Edward Rainey and features a soundtrack from the archives of Belfast-based record label Touch Sensitive Records.
Memory of Rivers (19min)
Director’s interpretation：
Farewell is an eternal theme; when faced with the pain of loss and the joy of gain, loss often leaves a deeper impression, making parting a significant theme in our lives. When facing the departure of loved ones, I often contemplate how to deal with separation and how to cope with the emotional detachment, which inspired the creation of this story. The protagonist of the film is a poet who can no longer write poetry following the death of his mother. This character’s emotional confusion sets the stage for suspense, and the identity of the little girl who joins him on the road also becomes part of the answer as the suspense gradually unfolds. The film is a road movie, combining light comedy and fantasy. It begins with a realistic perspective, gradually incorporating fantastical elements, using the metaphor of crossing a river to reach the other side to express the protagonist’s relief and growth. It tells a wonderfully warm tale of farewell.
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