Ardán, and Galway City of Film, are delighted to announce that applications are now open for the Short Documentary Bursary 2023, the documentary funding scheme for filmmakers in Galway City and County. 

We are looking for up-and-coming filmmakers to apply to this bursary to help them make one of their first steps in their filmmaking career. Successful applicants will be given a bursary of €3000 to help them make a short documentary of between five and fifteen minutes in duration.   

Previous recipients of this bursary have gone on to have their films screened at the Galway Film Fleadh, as well as other national and international film festivals.  

Mentorship with Donal Haughey

The selected filmmakers will be mentored by Galway-based documentary filmmaker Donal Haughey of Hawkeye Films. Donal has produced and/or directed over thirty documentaries both for his own company, Hawkeye Films and as a freelancer. His projects have been involved in both national and international stories, consisting of feature-length, one-hour, half-hour and short form docs. For twenty years Donal was the documentary tutor on GMIT’s Film & Documentary course – honours, Level 8. Presently Donal has two projects in research, one that looks at the relationship between memory and place and another project on street games.  

#CeantarScannán #GalwayCityofFilm 

Bursary Information Day

Ardán will be hosting an Information Day for applicants to guide them through the application process. This will take place on Thursday June 7th at 2.00pm in the Yellow Room, 344 at CCAM, ATU, Wellpark Road. H91 WP9K.

You can register for a place on Eventbrite.

Bursary Guidelines:      

• Proposed short films will be between 5 and 15 minutes in duration.
• Participating filmmakers must be from or based in Galway, or the film must be about some aspect of Galway City or County.
• A bursary of up to €3000 is available per film.
• The participating filmmakers will be mentored by established documentary filmmaker Donal Haughey.
• Ardán encourages both English and Irish language project applications.
• Film teams must be prepared to go into production within 2-3 weeks of signing the agreement and aim to submit their first cut by October 2023.
• Selected projects will need to ensure a healthy gender balance across the filmmaking team.
• Priority will be given to diverse applicants. If you feel this applies to you, please include a short statement in your application.
• Any applicant who will be a full-time or part-time student during academic year 2023/2024 may NOT apply.

How to apply:  

• Filmmakers submit their application via email to admin@ardan.ie
• Each application asks for the following information:
• 1-page outline of documentary idea, including logline, synopsis and treatment. (PDF)
• 1-page current CV of each applicant filmmaker. (PDF)
• Any relevant links to previous work, if applicable or available. (VIMEO/YouTube/Website)
• Email/letters of commitment from key contributors. (PDF)
• Complete submission to be sent in 1 email with subject line reading ‘Short Documentary Bursary Application’.

DEADLINE for applications is: 12pm, Friday 16th June 2023 

Shortlisted applicants will be called for interview. The proposed date for interviews is Wednesday 28th June, so please keep this date in mind. (NOTE: This date is subject to change.) 

For any further information please email: admin@ardan.ie 

This bursary is made possible by support from Galway City Council, Galway County Council, and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.