Joe Comerford Short Films

Emtigon / 10 mins / Ireland / 1971 In this pitch-black vaudeville of impotence and aggression, Emtigon tragicomically details a homeless old man’s covert intrusion into the life of a young woman social worker.

Withdrawal / 26 mins / Ireland / 1973 Withdrawal is about Jimmy, a heroin user in a Dublin psychiatric hospital. His thoughts and observations dominate, his subjective voice-over speculating on the lives of his companions. Jimmy leaves the hospital, returning to the city to reconcile with his loved ones, but his withdrawal leads ultimately to a dead end.

Waterbag / 8 mins / Ireland / 1984 A precursor to Reefer and the Model, Waterbag involves the relationship between two fishermen and a pregnant woman, and ends with an apparently self-induced miscarriage. Haunting images accompany composer Roger Doyle’s score.

RoadSide / 12 mins / Ireland / 2008 RoadSide, Comerford’s first digital short which evolved into an installation, is an audacious blur of ugliness and beauty. Drawing on found footage from personal archives, it outlines an encounter between a man and a woman in a stolen car.