Turf - Short Film (2021)
Trailer can be viewed by clicking here
“Following a chance meeting, Niall, a weary Derryman, invites Hamed, a wary Syrian asylum seeker, to join him on a trip to a bog west of the border to cut a load of turf. They form a touching and spontaneous friendship and yet their bond is soon complicated by forces beyond their control, as Hamed’s precarious status as a refugee makes this pleasant journey a serious risk. Finely acted by Micheál McDaid and Fayez Bakhsh and directed with subtle attention to detail by Ara Devine, Turf is a simple but powerful tale about the effect of political borders and barriers on human beings.”
- Belfast Film Festival 2021
Turf
A Derryman and a Syrian asylum seeker spend a day working on a bog with a complicated journey across the Irish border.
Writer/Director: Ara Devine
Producer/Editor: Isabella Djalili-Devine
DOP: Thomas McKeown
Sound: Stevie Lennox
1st AC: Michael Boyle
2nd AC: Colm McGlone
Starring: Micheál McDaid & Fayez Bakhsh
Music: Joel Grainger
Poster: Bahiyyih Devine
Funded by Future Screens NI
A Tiny Speck Productions Film
Screenings
October 2021 - Louth International Film Festival (Winner: Best Short Fiction)
October 2021 - Richard Harris International Film Festival
November 2021 - Belfast Film Festival
November 2021 - Foyle Film Festival (Special Recognition: Debut Irish Short Film)
December 2021 - London Lift-Off Film Festival
February 2022 - Mayo International Film Festival
February 2022 - Rathmullan Film Festival
March 2022 - St Patrick’s Day Film Festival, London
March 2022 - Irish Film From Home, Irish Film Festival London
March 2022 - Difficult Conversations, University of Canberra, Australia
April 2022 - Catalyst International Film Festival
June 2022 - Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny
September 2022 - Disappear Here Film Festival, Donegal
March 2023 - Scéal Eile, Irish Film Festival, Belgium
July 2023 - No Borders, Rich Mix Cinema, London
March 2024 - The People’s Picturehouse, Cork (Nominated: People’s Picture of the Year - Drama)
July 2024 - No Borders, The Garden Cinema, London
June 2026 - Crossings, Foyle Film Festival, Derry
Selected for inclusion in Ireland’s Border Culture Digital Archive by Trinity College Dublin and Queen’s University Belfast: https://borderculture.net/map/
Turf in Ireland’s Border Culture Digital Archive, a project by Trinity College Dublin and Queen’s University Belfast: https://borderculture.net/map/
Kevin Smets, Lennart Soberon, Irene Gutiérrez-Torres and Silvia Almenara-Niebla. "Phantom pains: Brexit-era border cinema and the anxiety of the unseen." In Kinotopias: Film, Place and Belonging in a Bordered World, 87–116. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2026.
"Turf employs aesthetic strategies common in Irish cinema where the shared appreciation of the land fosters a connection between different characters. As both men dig out turf from the bogs, they start sharing more intimate facts about themselves. The natural splendour allows the audience to partake in such moments of kinship as the camera lingers on Donegal's magnificent natural scenery." (p. 111)
"Turf offers a perspective of migrant subjects as the 'canary in the coal mine' when it comes to the bordering practices in Europe. The same exclusionary mechanisms that are now put in place against 'undesirable migrants' can easily extend to other political subjects." (p. 112)
