FLORA KERRIGAN WORKSHOP

Friday 11.09 at 14:00 • Nano Nagle Conference Room •
€10 / €8 Concession

Book Ticket

A workshop by Orla Egan:

This workshop will present some of the work and films of Flora Kerrigan, a Cork woman who made award-winning films, including animations, in Cork in the 1950s and 1960s. In addition to film-making, she was a published poet and photographer.

Despite her prolific output and central involvement in Cork Cine Club, her work has, until recently, been largely forgotten and ignored.

My interest in Flora Kerrigan was first piqued by a mention of her in an article by Clodagh Finn in the Irish Examiner in December 2025: “I never fail to be amazed...by the innovative foresight of Cork filmmaker Flora Kerrigan whose surreal and playful shorts were internationally recognised in the 1950s and 60s.”The workshop will provide an overview of Flora’s life, films and poetry, followed by the screening of four of her films. Participants will be invited to reflect on and discuss any possible queer reading of these films.

As I delved into Flora’s films and poems my queer antennae was quivering. Had I just stumbled upon a fabulous, but unacknowledged, Cork lesbian?

Flora Kerrigan - A programme presented in association with the Irish Film Institute, courtesy of the Kerrigan Family.

Flora Kerrigan was an active member of the Cork Cine Club during the late 1950s and 1960s, producing numerous Super 8 short films both live action and animation. Her films were recognised internationally and she won awards at prestigious amateur film competitions such as UK’s annual 'Ten Best' competition. The work, which employs innovative animation techniques and deft editing, tackles themes of death, destruction and desire in a haunting, often darkly comedic mode.

Flora Kerrigan's films were recently rediscovered through the Women in Focus Film Archives project, and a collaboration between the IFI Irish Film Archive and Maynooth University.

This programme will include:

  • Animation
    Directed by:Flora Kerrigan
    Produced by:Florafilm Productions
    Year:1960s
    Duration: 4 mins 17 sec

    ‘A footprint cartoon, in three parts, about a girl who got cold feet!!!’ (Flora Kerrigan) The highs and lows of navigating romantic ventures are joyfully explored through a three- part play of stop-motion cut-outs.  

    This film is presented with a new music accompaniment by renowned avant-garde free- improvisational pianist Paul G. Smyth and double bass virtuoso John Edwards. 

  • Category: Experimental
    Directed by: Cormac Langford
    Produced by: Flora Kerrigan
    Year: 1960s
    Duration: 5 mins 53 sec

    A gothic-infused escapade where slapstick visual gags are playfully tested. A man disappears into a bathtub and out hops a woman; a fisherman casts his rod over a hill into a glass container which tries to swallow him; a gravedigger makes a futile attempt to lift a headstone. Two men enter a tunnel seconds before a train, only to exit a few moments later, visibly injured. Kerrigan flexes her filmmaking skills, masterfully playing with narratives and storytelling techniques. As she explains, it’s a ‘discordant epic, culminating in an execution.” This film is presented with a new music accompaniment by renowned avant-garde free-improvisational pianist Paul G. Smyth and double bass virtuoso John Edwards. 

  • Category: Animation
    Directed by: Flora Kerrigan
    Produced by: Florafilm Productions
    Year: 1960s
    Duration: 3 mins 21 secs
    Language: Silent with musical accompaniment

    ‘This is the story of a character who had delusions of frustration. If you can follow this film, you must be a psychotic!!’ – Flora Kerrigan 

    A stop-motion animation featuring meticulously crafted paper cutouts, which became a trademark of Kerrigan’s approach. Loose representations of male and female figures dance around the frame in a dramatic play of gender studies and relationship highs and lows. This film is presented with a new music accompaniment by renowned avant-garde free-improvisational pianist Paul G. Smyth and double bass virtuoso John Edwards. 

  • Category: Drama
    Directed by: Flora Kerrigan
    Produced by: Florafilm Productions
    Year: 1960s
    Duration: 4 mins 29 secs

    Dream Maker explores the relationship between two young women in a tender play of furtive glances, sensual interactions and hesitations. It’s a striking piece, and one of the few known Irish amateur films by a woman that offers such an intimate and dream-like portrayal of female characters.

    This film is presented with a new music accompaniment by renowned avant-garde free-improvisational pianist Paul G. Smyth and double bass virtuoso John Edwards.

Facilitator: Orla Egan

Orla Egan is a queer author, activist, historian, documentary filmmaker and founder of the Cork LGBT Archive. Her books include Diary of An Activist (2022) and Queer Republic of Cork (2016). She is Director of two Cork LGBT documentaries, LOAFERS (2023) and I’m Here, I’m Home, I’m Happy (2021), and curator of numerous exhibitions. Orla is the Curator of the Permanent LGBTQ Exhibition in Cork Public Museum which opened in mid-August 2026.