Dream comes true for Cork artist
A Cork artist has been selected to represent Ireland in a major international film programme cultivating cross-cultural dialogue.
This week, the Crawford art Gallery announced artist Elinor O’Donovan as its chosen artist to take part in Artists’ Film International 2025 (AFI’25).
The gallery selected O’Donovan’s tongue-in-cheek film ‘Wild Geese 2: Wilder Geese’, a playful response to the poem ‘Wild Geese’ by Mary Oliver, contemplating the extent to which the universe is concerned with people’s individual problems.
O’Donovan said: “This is the first time that my work has been shown on such an international platform, and I’m excited that a film I made in just 24 hours on a residency in Iceland almost three years ago could now stand amongst works by brilliant artists from around the globe.
“I’m so grateful for the chance to see my work in conversation with such diverse voices.”
Now in its eighteenth edition, AFI’25 unites 16 cultural institutions across four continents, each contributing a film by a contemporary artist that speaks to the shared theme, ‘Dream States’.
Curated by London-based organisation, Forma, the programme explores dreaming as a transformative state and a radical act, championing works that dismantle reality, probe fractured memories, and open pathways to alternative futures.
To mark AFI’25, this October, Crawford Art Gallery will present the 16 moving image works over three nights at The Arc Cinema in Cork city.
Curator of Crawford Art Gallery, Dawn Williams, said: “Elinor’s film exquisitely captures the playful gap between fact and fiction inherent within Dream States.
“Amongst other propositions, the film transforms our reasoning of the natural world, to imagine an actively all-seeing, eye-popping, intuitive and compassionate earth in contrast to the dispassionate humanity who reside.
“O'Donovan offers a tantalising dream-state existence where empathy might live,” she added.
AFI’25 screenings take place on 6, 13, and 20 October, with O’Donovan in attendance at the 6 October screening for a Q&A hosted by Dawn Williams.
All films are free to view and will be screened in the Arc Cinema, North Main Street, Cork city.
Tickets are available to book via crawfordartgallery.ie/artists-film-international-2025.