Dennis Harvey

Dennis Harvey is a filmmaker from Ireland. He is best known for his short documentary The Building and Burning of a Refugee Camp (2024), which won the Swedish Academy Award (Guldbagge) for Best Short Film, was selected by the French Academy of Cinema (Les César) as one of the world’s best short films of 2024, and received many other awards. Dennis mainly writes and directs documentaries, but has also produced and edited his own films. His first feature, I Must Away (2023), was a kaleidoscopic essay about movement filmed over seven years in six countries. His second feature, Útóipe Cheilteach (2025), a musical portrait of Ireland as it comes to terms with its first 100 years of partial independence, premiered in Locarno. His latest short, The New Policy Regarding Homeless Asylum Seekers (2025), is an uncompromising interrogation of Ireland’s inhuman asylum system and a dedication to those resisting it. With a cinema vérité approach and a particular sensitivity to the human, Dennis’ work interrogates the political through the personal. He is a member of the European Film Academy, as well as Noncitizen, a film collective which works to hand over the means of making films to migrants.