As we open up the 2025 Ceantar Scannán Short Documentary Bursary, we take a look back at the experience our 2024 participant Kimberly Gray Ennis had in making her short doc; Caoineadh or Vessels of Grief.
Alongside the bursary, Kimberly was mentored by filmmaker Donal Haughey. Her stark and moving documentary looks at the funeral lamenting practice of keening and the women who lead these practices within their community in Connemara.
Kimberly’s experience in her own words:
“I am grateful to have received Ardán’s Short Documentary Bursary for my film Vessels of Grief / Caoineadh. The documentary, set in South Connemara is a lyrical exploration of grief, a reclamation of our ancestral practice of keening.
I believe this story wants to be told. There were many nudges along the way that told me so; the rare old sample of keening that blasted into my car via Blue of the Night, the Leitir Mealláin link by way of a rogue letter near the foot of the French Pyrenees.
Grief bookended my summer. I witnessed the devastating isolation of silencing, and the beautifully stubborn strength of community, of expression.
The experience of making the short documentary was a wild ride, woven in and around life’s unfoldings. They were not separate.
The mentorship with Donal Haughey has been invaluable in helping me to develop my skills as a filmmaker.
My key takeaways:
- Trusting my instinct means getting quiet enough to listen to what wants to come through. Ruminating led me to indecision, in that place I sought answers elsewhere. When I listened patiently the next step was presented loud and clear.
- Making a documentary is a series of letting go. Yes, you plan meticulously, you focus on the vision and the steps it takes to bring that to life. And, at each hurdle something is lost, in that space something else enters.
- Listening and flexibility are your allies. Everything else is subject to change.
I am deeply honoured to tell this story. I’m grateful to the crew who believed in the vision and contributed their unique skills to help bring Vessels of Grief to life, and the village of supporters who shared their knowledge, connections and spaces.
The heart of the film lies in the courage and openness of those who contributed; their voices and spirits made this project what it is, and I am deeply grateful for their trust in sharing their stories.”
About Kimberly Gray Ennis:
Kimberly is an emerging director and producer originally from Dublin. She has spent much of the last decade living in New York, Toronto and her spiritual home, West Cork. Her work is concerned with ceremony and ritual; the everyday expressions and the ethereal – spaces that welcome our vulnerabilities and celebrate our shared humanity. She is fascinated by the masks we wear and what they reveal about us.
In a past life, she created award-winning advertising campaigns then gave it all up to pursue dreams of underground disco in Brooklyn. As a community director and curator, she brought strangers together in living rooms and rooftops and laundromats after-hours; for Appalachian folk and Armenian grooves and lots in between.
She holds a BA in Contemporary Culture and Society, an MSc in Advertising, a Certificate in Filmmaking from AOTR Berlin and recently completed Hypnosis training with New York’s Divine Feminine School of Hypnosis.
Kimberly is currently facilitating an online program Meet the Muse supporting creatives in stepping into their potential. Her upcoming Culture Moves Europe-funded project, in collaboration with Katharina Gruber and Jack Wake Walker, explores traditional Romanian mourning rituals as a tool for sex workers to express their grief.
2025 Info Day & Application Deadline:
The 2025 Ceantar Scannán Short Doc Bursary Info Session with mentor Donal Haughey will be held on Thursday, May 15th at the CREW building on Wellpark Road at 2pm – registration in free but required! Register here.
The application deadline is Thursday, May 29th at 12 noon.
The Short Documentary Bursary is part of the annual Galway City of Film programme for 2024 which is managed by Ardán, and is made possible by support from Galway City Council / Galway City Arts Office, Galway County Council Galway County Arts Office, Screen Ireland and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
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