Youghal ready for First Cut 2026?
Emerging filmmakers from across Ireland and beyond will descend upon county Cork once more next month for the 17th annual The First Cut Youth Film Festival (FCYFF).
Returning to the beautiful coastal backdrop of Youghal in East Cork from 2-7 March, the festival will screen over 200 short films made by filmmakers aged 12 to 25. The festival offers young filmmakers the chance to showcase their work, participate in workshops, and engage with industry professionals.
Speaking ahead of this year’s festivities, festival artistic director Max Le Cain said: “It is massively heartening to see year upon year the ever-growing creativity of young filmmakers in Ireland and beyond.”
Central to FCYFF is the Open Call Programme which will see over a dozen schools from all over Ireland screen short films of all genres. This year has seen the largest ever increase in submissions to the programme.
In addition to this, 50 Cork-based primary and secondary schools will screen films during the festival as part of the Cork Young Filmmakers Programme and special First Cut animation and Irish language filmmaking initiatives.
Meanwhile, one of the festival’s flagship projects, the YMVC (Youth Music Video Competition) is celebrating its 10th year this year. Run in partnership with Brendan Canty, director of the hit Cork-made feature ‘Christy’, it pairs emerging filmmakers with Irish music acts to make videos while being mentored by Canty and other top directors Bob Gallagher, Kate Dolan, Tara O’Callaghan, and Ellius Grace. Thanks to an Arts Council Project Award, the Best Music Video winner receives a €5,000 bursary.
Max Le Cain said: “First Cut is privileged to help nourish this culture with programmes that platform every level of youth filmmaking from primary school students making their first films to emerging young artists entering the film industry, and to bring young people together in a celebration of their ideas and imagination, and of the magic of the moving image.”
Every year the festival also features a programme of inspiring shorts from the previous Cork International Film Festival (CIFF). The annual event is part of an ongoing partnership with CIFF that brings FCYFF audiences a mix of stories that are both local and international in setting but capture universal feelings.
This year, the festival is welcoming Cork writer and director Arann Blake as the 2026 special festival guest. Coming from the world of music and theatre, Blake’s debut film ‘Welfare’ premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh in 2025.