Northern Ireland

Belfast Holylands documentary to air at Belfast Film Festival

St Patrick's Day last year in the Holylands in south Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell
St Patrick's Day last year in the Holylands in south Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell St Patrick's Day last year in the Holylands in south Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell

A SHORT documentary about St Patrick's Day in south Belfast's notorious Holylands area is to be screened at Belfast Film Festival.

The film, entitled YEOOO!! – 72 Hours in Belfast's Holylands, offers a snapshot of life in the mainly student area over St Patrick's when throngs of drink-fuelled revellers descend on the neighbourhood.

Recorded over the holiday period last year, it focuses on three women who are permanent residents and features perspectives from numerous students as they party in the street.

One of the women tells how she does her housework at 3am because she cannot sleep due to the disruption.

And lending the documentary its name, a woman who has a baby daughter describes the "really bizarre" noises students make at night.

"There's just loads and loads of 'yeooos'. You're not quite sure if it's an animal that's making it or if it's somebody in distress," she says.

Footage shows crowds of young revellers, some who have travelled from as far as Brighton, partying amid a heavy police presence.

Many describe their enjoyment at living in the Holylands, while some defend the rowdiness and others sympathise with the permanent residents' views.

The 22-minute film, directed by Dominic Coyle, was commissioned by the South Belfast Partnership Board after it received peace funding from the Irish government.

The €12,000 received from the foreign affairs department's Reconciliation Fund also went towards funding workshops and an academic study examining ways of improving community relations.

Michael Graham, chair of the South Belfast Partnership Board, welcomed the short documentary.

"The purpose was to capture a 72-hour window of St Patrick's Day in 2017," he said.

"The level of reasonableness and downright tolerance that these three women had for what they're living in amongst and have to put up with, they're almost saintlike, because I'm not sure if my tolerance levels would be capable of living with that on a daily basis."

The Holylands documentary will be shown alongside other short films on Sunday April 15 at 2.15pm at Queen's Film Theatre.

It is among 33 short films being screened at the festival as part of a short film competition.

They will be viewed by a judging panel and the winner will receive £500 and the opportunity to be a judge in the competition the following year.