Rough Cut

Rough Cut sessions offer an ongoing opportunity for film artists to present and receive feedback on works-in-progress. These semi-public events take place with a group of peers as well as a selected guest (curator, programmer, academic or critic) within a supportive peer environment.

Each session features two chosen artists, as well as an invited respondent, and artists will present works at various stages of completion from pre-funding to in post-production. These sessions offer a useful way to get feedback and advice on a number of topics including production, funding and exhibition strategies. Rough Cut is available to aemi affiliate artists – if you would be interested in either presenting at or attending an upcoming session please contact us at [email protected].



This image is a still from the work-in-progress film 'May the Hills and the Heights Have You' by Susan Hughes. It features a close-up shot of a wet rocky area with daylight highlighting sections of the rock. The rock is coloured in various tones of grey and black, and the right section of the frame is out of focus.

Still from May the Hills and the Heights Have You by Susan Hughes, presented at Rough Cut on July 27th 2023

A still image from the digital film I Must Away by Dennis Harvey. The camera focuses on the profile of a young man's face, who sits inside a vehicle in darkness. Details of his face cannot be seen in the darkness but the light catches on his short facial hair and his eye gaze is directed downwards.

Still image from Dennis Harvey's I Must Away, copyright Dennis Harvey 2022

Text in retro lilac and orange lettering reads: The Revivalist. The text is laid over the image of the face of a woman wearing red lipstick. The woman holds a theatrical facial expression. She is wearing purple gloves and uses her hands animatedly.

Isadora Epstein, The Revivalist, still image from work-in-progress, courtesy of the artist. Videographer: Millie Egan, Design: Bureau Bonanza

aemi Rough Cut session – December 2021 - image courtesy of the artist Fiona Hallinan Making Dust (working title), photo © Faolán Carey 2021

A still image from a video artwork by Michelle Hall. The image is a close-up of hundreds of candle tealights. The crumpled metal casings of the tealights shows that the candles have already been burned. A light purple colour is used as a filter over the whole image.

Still image copyright Michelle Hall, 2022

This is a still from the short film 'Cabbage' (2023) by Irish filmmaker Holly Márie Parnell. This image features a side angle view of a man's face with light skin and brown hair in a lightly shadowed space. A bright spot of daylight illuminates his left eye, and we can also see part of his cheek and nose in the frame in the light shadow as he looks upwards. The background displays out-of-focus green foliage and dappled light.

Holly Márie Parnell, Cabbage, 2022, Ireland, image courtesy of the artist

aemi Rough Cut session - March 2021 - image courtesy of the artist Alasdair Asmussen Doyle

aemi Rough Cut session - March 2021 - image courtesy Amanda Rice

aemi Rough Cut session - March 2021 - image courtesy of the artist Amanda Rice

aemi Rough Cut session – July 2021 - image courtesy of the artist Trish McAdam. 10.12.17, Dublin. Protest at Iveagh Gardens against the proposed changes. Photo © Derek Speirs

aemi Rough Cut session December 2021 - image courtesy of the artist Fiona Marron, production still 2021