Ardán and Galway City of Film are delighted to announce that applications are now open for the Short Documentary Bursary 2024, the documentary funding and mentorship 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 €3,000 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 local, national and international film festivals. Read about previous participant – Dina Sragalj’s experience participating last year and her entry into Docs Ireland. 

The selected filmmakers will be mentored by Galway-based documentary filmmaker Donal Haughey of Hawkeye Films. Donal has produced and/or directed 30+ 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 20 years Donal was the documentary tutor on GMIT’s (ATU’s) Film & Documentary course – honours, Level 8. Donal is presently working on a documentary about the legendary traditional Irish singer and poet, Paddy Tunney. 

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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 27th at 2:00pm in the CREW Building at CCAM, ATU, Wellpark Road. H91 8K85. You can register for a free place via Eventbrite here. 

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 €3,000 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 2024.  
• 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 2024/2025 may NOT apply. 

How to apply:  

• Filmmakers submit their application via email to eoin@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 2024’.  
• Please also tell us how you heard about the bursary (eg. Ardán or Galway City of Film social media, newsletter, word of mouth, etc.) 
• Please provide your email if you would like to be added to the Ardán monthly newsletter. 
• If you have any queries on Ardán’s privacy policy you can read it here.  

DEADLINE for applications is: 12 noon, Friday 5th July 2024 

Shortlisted applicants will be called for interview. The proposed date for interviews is Wednesday 17th July, so please keep this date in mind. (NOTE: This date is subject to change.) 

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

The Short Documentary Bursary is part of the annual Galway City of Film programme for 2024 and is made possible by support from Galway City Council Arts Office, Galway County Council Arts Office, Screen Ireland and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.