Rebecca Kemp travels west to sample the shorts and other delicacies at Kerry's unique film festival.

The great thing about shorts is their anarchic sensibility; you don't know if the story will last ten minutes, half an hour, or thirty seconds, whether it will follow a traditional plot pattern or even reach a conclusion. Shorts are therefore an ideal platform for talented filmmakers to experiment and find their voice. Many excellent examples of such inventiveness from Ireland and abroad were on offer at the 2005 Kerry Film Festival. The festival managed to showcase some 105 shorts in competition over nine locations throughout the county. Threatening to upstage these celluloid snacks was a very strong fringe offering that ranged from expert masterclasses and workshops to controversial features and unique cinema locations.

As was the case last year, well over half the shorts in competition were Irish made. Highlights included Changes by Lorcan Finnegan, a charming animation about unrequited love that mixed black and white cut-out drawings of caterpillars with colour photographic stills; Michael Chang's The Listener, which explored an unusual meeting of two strangers – one is deaf and one is blind; Gary McKendry's Everything in this Country Must, based on the story by Colm McCann, is about British soldiers in Northern Ireland who try and befriend a local family who have already suffered at their hands; and Irish language winner Tom Cosgrove's Rógairí, a blood-thirsty gothic costume drama whose richness of detail and location perfectly match its lead character – a vain Victorian Irish nobleman.

An Irish entry won the Best Director prize of a €1,000 package from Ardmore Studios: The Unusual Inventions of Henry Cavendish by Andrew Legge is a huge feat of invention in itself, recreating a Chaplin-like silent film that represents a surprising nod towards a style of filmmaking no longer in use. It is a staggering achievement in setting, photography and special effects.

The full article is printed in Film Ireland 108.