Limerick Actor Ruth Negga is a Catalyst for international film festival coming to Shannonside

THE CATALYST International Film Festival which takes place in Limerick next year has announced that submissions are now open.

“This is truly a unique festival that celebrates diversity in filmmaking,” said Dr Susan Liddy, founder and co-director of the festival.

“Catalyst aims to present great films, great scripts and has great ambitions to make equality, diversity and inclusion the norm, not the exception.”

Award categories include Irish Short Film, International Short Film, Documentary Short Film, Short Screenplay, Spirit of the Festival, Audience Award and Emerging Filmmaker.

For full details and submission deadlines click here.

The Catalyst International Film Festival takes place in Limerick from March 31 to April 1, 2023.

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Hollywood star and Limerick’s own Ruth Negga continues in her role as ambassador for the festival, calling Catalyst “a buoyant celebration of the multitude of exciting stories brimming in modern Ireland.”

The festival prioritises stories and storytellers who may struggle for visibility in the film industry and in mainstream film festivals.

It is also keen to engage with emerging filmmakers, ‘new’ rather than inevitably ‘young’, in order to broaden the horizons of potential future filmmakers and audience members. 

The Catalyst International Film Festival will feature a programme including, but not limited to, those who are under-represented in gender, race, social and economic exclusion, disability, age and sexual orientation on screen and behind the camera.